The City of Lost Fortunes by Bryan Camp

After Hurricane Katrina, demigod Jude has decided to lay low as his power of finding lost things has gone haywire. In a city where so many have lost so much, he is forced to seclude himself from people so as not to be overwhelmed by their loss. He is pulled out of his six-year exile by Dodge, the Fortune god of New Orleans, to play a game of poker with the local trickster gods, the winner fated to become the new “Luck of New Orleans.” Jude is quickly pulled into a fight he wasn't ready for, a game he doesn’t understand, and consequences that will affect the future of New Orleans. When Dodge turns up dead and Jude is the main suspect, he finds himself neck deep in a world he couldn't imagine and forced to push himself and his magic further than he ever thought possible. At each turn, Jude becomes less sure of who he can trust (these are tricksters, after all). With such a complicated plot, this story could well-have gone off the rails, but I'm happy to say that the rich details and complex characters were well-crafted and imaginative. This is a great read for fans of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods or adult readers of Rick Riordan’s demigod series.

- Portia

Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge by Paul Krueger

Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge is a fun read set in the Ravenswood neighborhood of Chicago where bartenders are not just friendly servers or mere mortals, but supernatural hunters tasked with protecting the city.

After Bailey Chen graduates from college, she moves home broke and unsure of her future. When her friend Zane hooks her up with a job at his family’s bar, she thinks it will be a fun and easy way to make some money while she tries to find a “real” job. Little does she know that the bartenders of Chicago are really unsung heroes who use perfectly mixed cocktails that give them super powers (super-strength, telekinesis, and more) to fight invisible beasts called tremems. But fighting demons is rarely as easy as it seems and Bailey and Zane soon learn that tremens are not the only thing out to get them. It will take brains, courage, and the mythical powers of the Long Island Iced Tea to save themselves and their city.

Fresh, witty, and entirely original, Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge is a fresh addition to the urban fantasy genre. A great read for fans of Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files series.

-       Portia

Midnight Crossroad by Charlaine Harris

When psychic Manfred Bernardo moved to Midnight, Texas, he was expecting to be the eccentric in the sleepy, little town. Little did he know what Midnight had in store for him. Across the street, Fiji Cavanaugh owns a New Age shop and claims to be a witch. The minister has a wedding chapel and a pet cemetery, and the family that owns the convenience store are surely hiding something. Manfred’s landlord, Bobo, owns the local pawn shop (open 24/7) and looks to have secrets of his own. When the town holds a picnic near the river, they discover the body of Bobo’s missing girlfriend, Aubrey. As the investigation into her death begins, life in Midnight gets even weirder: dangerous looking strangers wander the streets, a private detective comes snooping around, and that’s just the beginning.

Charlaine Harris made her name with the Sookie Stackhouse novels, which became the TV show, True Blood. Midnight Crossroad is the first in a new series that looks to have all of the depth of her earlier books along with quite a bit of lighthearted humor. While the characters may seem outrageous, Harris writes them with such uniquely human qualities that it’s easy to see yourself or someone you know in each of them. This is a great book for readers who like a good dose of fun and fantasy along with their mysteries.

The second book in the series, Day Shift, comes out May 5.