HEART OF STONE - C E Murphy

From the back of the book: What secrets lie shrouded in darkness?

Okay, so jogging through Central Park after midnight wasn't a bright idea. But Margrit Knight never thought she'd encounter a dark new world filed with magical beings--not to mention a dying woman and a mysterious stranger with blood on his hands.

Her logical, lawyer instincts told her it couldn't all be real---but she could hardly deny what she'd seen...and touched.

The mystery man, Alban, was a gargoyle. One of the fabled Old Races who had hidden their existence for centuries. Now he was a murder suspect, and he needed Margrit's help to take the heat off him and find the real killer. And as the dead pile up, it's a race against the sunrise to clear Alban's name and keep them both alive.....

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Oh boy! I have heard of C E Murphy before. I have URBAN SHAMAN on Mt Git'r'Read (the nightstand section) and will read it soon. HEART OF STONE was my intro though. And what an introduction!

There are some awesome action scenes and excellent characters of the Old Race sort. Vampires, gargoyles, djinn, selkies, dragons....all kinds.

What I really enjoyed about this was that the main character, Margrit (Grit), is a normal human who doesn't have any magical, paranormal, any kind of Other about her (at least so far). She is smart, funny, stubborn, and brave. Grit doesn't take any crap and thinks fast on her feet, just like she runs.

My favorite character is Janx. I know I shouldn't, but he is intriguing as all get out. He's not a 'good guy' but he has honor and he admires strength, so he admires Grit. Read the book and find out more about him. *wink*

I requested this from LibraryThing and was lucky enough to win it to review last month. Had some problems with the e-book version and the publishers were sweet enough to send out the handheld version for me to read.

Five Old Races are everywhere diamonds.....