Lady of the Shades begins with horror writer Ed travelling to London from America to source inspiration for a new book. A stranger in a strange city, Ed is haunted (literally) by a supernatural presence, with a manifest of Ed's past sins. In his quest for a new horror plot (which delves occasionally and sporadically into spontaneous human combustion and the reality of ghosts), Ed's journey takes a turn when he meets and falls in love with a beautiful mystery woman, who is married to one of London's most notorious crimes lords, 'The Turk'.

The book is well-written, with a multitude of twists and turns, jumping between reality and the supernatural, with some crazy scenarios thrown into the mix. Is the whole thing set up by a genius, or is this supernatural? While occasionally complicated and far-fetched, Lady of the Shades is a page-turned and keeps you guessing until the very final pages, though in certain situations, you have to roll your eyes at ed's naivety. A supernatural/crime.thriller, the genre isn't clear until the final reveal.

In a word: Intriguing.