Newford in its early days was a city that overlapped a magical world, where the realms of myths and fables intersected with our modern world of cars and crime, galleries and coffee shops. Relatively few people knew of or believed in the mystical hijinks that some Newford residents got into, and the faerie world was a tightly kept secret.

Well, those days are gone. The magic and mystery of Newford has, apparently, grown beyond the capacity for its denizens to keep quiet. It's grown so large, in fact, that Newford city police have formed a special Paranormal Investigations Task Force, or "spook squad," to deal with everything from ghosts and mages to vampires and werewolves.

Juniper Wiles, the titular hero of Charles de Lint's 2021 novel of the same name, is a former TV detective who retired young, returned to her hometown of Newford, became fast friends with artist and faerie-friend Jilly Coppercorn, and found herself hip deep in Newford's paranormal world. Now, with her friends' encouragement and support, she has joined Jilly in a partnership that seeks to help otherworldly beings in need. When Ghost Girls begins, she's trying to get to the bottom of a collection of ghosts -- all teenage girls, and each apparently the victim of a horrific murder -- who are tied to a mysterious wooden box that's held in police custody.

There's also a good deal of dimension-hopping, as Juniper discovers that imagined worlds can be every bit as real as her own. Some are created for individuals and require only a certain level of belief to be maintained, while others are thrust into existence by the rabid imaginations of fans who watch or read stories and become invested in those fictional places.

And it turns out that one fictional world -- where young mages study wizardry at a magical school -- ties into the ghost story as well as a missing person subplot that also involves gender identity and family acceptance.

Juniper definitely takes center stage in the story, as she should, relegating Jilly and a host of familiar characters from past Newford stories to a variety of supporting roles. Some prove more useful than others, and you can count that, if Juniper needs something, Jilly will know someone with a connection to the faerie realm who has just the power or ability required for the task.

She also has to work with the police -- particularly one hard-nosed cop who runs the spook squad but has a hard time believing in it or in Juniper's special skill set.

Juniper Wiles & the Ghost Girls is another solid tale in de Lint's well-established Newford mythology. While I personally miss the older stories -- when Newford was a secret shared with fewer of the city's residents -- it's reasonable to assume that so many stories set within one municipality would at some point become widespread knowledge. While de Lint has populated the city with a host of characters we've come to know over the years, Juniper is a refreshing protagonist to take the lead in this new series of books. Can't wait for the next one!

[ visit Charles de Lint's website ]