The Demon Cross by Nathan Shumate

Rennie Avalon is a private eye, landlord, and mother. She is comfortable with the strange and unusual in her investigations. This experience proves useful with her latest case. A keeper of rare books comes to Rennie for help recovering a book stolen from him. Her investigation leads to White Supremecists, Nazi's, and a dark power that threatens the world.

The Demon Cross is a fast paced read that is a step above the normal PI story. Rennie is a strong, smart, yet real character. In fact, the most enjoyable aspect of the book is the story is grounded to a reality. There are no instances of self-awareness or irony to the story. Rennie makes mistakes and worries about the many responsibilities she has. I want to spend more time in her world and read more of her investigations. This fun read left me wanting more. To be fair, part of that reason is the length of the book and certain sections feel as if something has been left out. These instances could be plot points for future stories. Even with a short running time characters do get devlopment, "bad" characters give compelling reasons for their behavior. These sections are quite compelling and help the story reach a higher quality.

If you enjoy supernatural PI stories, but are tired of the cliches that fill so many of them, then joim Rennie Avalon on a journey to prevent the apocolypse.