MurderByDeath
I found this book through a review by Spare Ammo and she made it sound so good I broke down and bought the paperback from Amazon - the only place it was available. I'm glad it I did - it was excellent!
Delaney is the oldest of three sisters dedicated to policing the town of Ordinary, Oregon; a town with the not-so-ordinary distinction of vacation land of the gods. As chief of police, she makes sure that the gods and mortals alike abide by the law. As a Reed, she makes sure each god checks his or her power at the city line because while they're in Ordinary, they are mortals. And if one dies while they're in Ordinary, Delaney is the holder of that god's power until she can find a mortal willing to take it on. So when she finally gets a chance at her lifelong crush the same week her ex-boyfriend shows back up, the Rhubarb Festival begins and a god is found dead, Delaney's having bad week.
Really well written with a moderately well-plotted murder mystery, great characters, awesome setting and a really original (I think) premise, I'm surprised the author had to self-publish this. I had a great time reading it. I'd have rated it even higher except I grew frustrated with Delaney's obtuseness when it came to finding the new mortal for Heimdall's powers and I really disliked the trite direction Monk took the romance; it verged on formulaic. Still, I loved the sisters and I'm a bit worried about how much I liked the character of Death. Why is death always the most interesting character?
There's at least one more book, out this month, and it will pain me to do it, but I'll buy it from Amazon if I must; I want to know what happens next. (It's like the Urban Fantasy version of Eureka!) I was going to use the 9th Charley Davidson cover for my Book with a terrible cover, but I'm going to use this one instead - what is it about UF book covers??)