Rob Thurman is perhaps better known for her (yes, Rob is short for Robyn) Cal Leandros series, but I haven't been able to locate a cheap copy of the first book in that series, so I had to give her Trickster series a try first. This book brings a little different cast of characters than the bread and butter elf, vampire and werewolf fare, with a little homemade jam of angels and demons instead. Trixa Ixtomi is a bar owner in Las Vegas, who seems to have a part time hobby of burning down nightclubs near the Strip which belong to demons. Her chief bartender Leo, is a native american of indeterminate tribe - and he can get really rude with the tourist who ask him his Indian name - whose history with Trixa goes back a long time. They have a mascot at the bar, Lenore, a male! raven who quotes Poe and others freely.
Trixa has a tendency to take in strays, it appears, and she has a particular soft spot for a pair of runaways named Griffin and Zeke. Griffin is an empath, and Zeke is a telepath, but also a sociopath, whose notions of right and wrong are so black and white that Griffin has to keep an eye on him at all times, lest he execute all thieves, rapists, and molesters on sight. All of the cast of characters are pretty good with guns and knives, and ready to mix it up with the demons which infest sin city in a heartbeat.
Trixa's brother was murdered by a demon some years ago when they lived in Hawaii, and she has spent the intervening time trying to find out which one is guilty of the crime. She has heard a rumor about an artifact called the Light of Life, which has immense power and which the legions of both Heaven and Hell desire go gain control of. She believes she can find it, and trade it to whichever side hands over her brother's killer.
This one's got some really interesting characters, great plot twists that I never saw coming, and has a great treasure hunt motif. I just have to wonder what Ms. Thurman is going to do in the next book to top this one.
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