Moss finds himself working not one, not two, but three different cases, all sort of at once. For starters, old friend Hexene Candlemas of the powerful Candlemas Coven comes to call, a witch who has lost her familiar, a toad named Escuerzo, to kidnapping. While losing a familiar is typically pretty bad anyway, since Hexene and her coven are the most powerful witches in L.A., all of Hexene's spells are coming undone and it is wreaking havoc on the city, especially where the weather is concerned.
Not long after, old friends Henry and Alice Brooks come knocking, their sweet young daughter Aggie having been taken from her bed in the night. This is especially crushing since their son JJ, a few years older than Aggie, had vanished without a trace a few years prior. Of course, Nick has got to take the case, although more often than not, once he finds someone, they aren't what they used to be. Hopefully, he can get to Aggie in time.
As Nick is running down leads, and his sweet siren secretary, Serendipity Sargasso, is running down acting gigs, he stumbles across another missing persons case, a lovely young girl named Corrina Lacks. Although no one is paying him to find her (yet, anyway), the clues are telling him that she is somehow connected, so he agrees to look for her as he works the cases.
And then a really big case lands on his lap. Well, to be truthful, it kidnaps him from his driveway in the form of a chauffeur blob named Gelatine Keyes. When Nick arrives at his destination, it is the palatial home of none other than Los Angeles' only 50 ft. giantess, a red-hot blonde named Pilar O' Heaven, with a body to kill for, who is typically sporting a leopard print bikini as she swims ashore each morning for the patrons' delight at the monsters-only Isla Calavera Casino, run by her giant ape boyfriend, Kublai Khan. It seems Pilar has an admirer of the vampire sort, at least that's the tale the holes in her neck tell. She wants to know who it is, in case he is a better option than her current beau, who is a cheating jerk. So now Nick has four cases going and has started to anger all sorts of creatures with his digging. When he finally blows the case wide open, will he survive long enough to spread the news?
Once again, Justin Robinson provides an engaging and entertaining romp through the world of noir Los Angeles post-monster war. He's hilarious, his characters are endearing and boy, can he weave a mystery. If you enjoy your stories laced with comedic relief, but wrapped in a slinky fur of noir seduction and mystique, you'll love Fifty Feet of Trouble. However, I highly suggest you read City of Devils first, just to give you a nice background for the main character. It's not necessary, but why cheat yourself out of the first story?
