Simon R. Green

After the war that had left the Nightside leaderless, Jeremiah Griffin, head of one of the last immortal human families, plans to fill the power vacuum, but when his granddaughter vanishes, he is forced to enlist the assistance of John Taylor and his special talents to find her, but someone--or something--is blocking his abilities. Original.

John Taylor, a PI for hire in Nightside, the dark underworld of London, must stop his not-quite-human mother from fulfilling a prophecy that will doom Nightside and destroy the rest of the world. Original.

I'm John Taylor. I was born in the Nightside, that square mile in the hidden center of London where it is always the hour of the wolf, where gods and monsters walk side by side and where every dark question ever asked can be answered--for a price. I left for a while, but I did come back, to make my living doing what I do better than anyone else: finding things--lost or stolen, real or imaginary. Recently, I found the most dangerous thing of all: the true identity of my long-gone mother. Turns out she's a being who's been around since before the dawn of history. Then, she created the Nightside--and now, for her own warped reasons, she intends to destroy it. To stop her before she even gets started, I've got to do some hard traveling--back in Time, through endless eons, into the very distant--and probably deadly--past...

Rupert didn't especially want to be a prince. And he certainly never asked to be the second son of a royal line that really didn't need a spare. So he was sent out to slay a dragon and prove himself-a quest straight out of legend. But he also discovered the kinds of things legends tend to leave out, as well as the usual demons, goblins, the dreaded Night Witch-and even worse terrors hidden in the shadows of Darkwood. Rupert did find a fiery dragon-and a beautiful princess to rescue. But the dragon turned out to be a better friend than anyone back at the castle, and with the evil of Darkwood spreading, Rupert was going to need all the friends he could get.

John Taylor is the name. I work the Nightside. Only in that dark heart of London where it's always three A. M., where human and inhuman can feed their darkest desires, do I feel at home. Probably because I was born there. What I do is find things--people, objects--and in this case, the truth about the origins of the Nightside. That's what Lady Luck has hired me to investigate. But the more I dig, the more I discover, not about the Nightside but about the great question in my life: exactly who--and what--was my long-vanished mother. Paying jobs are one thing. Personal quests are another. And I've been warned that uncovering the facts about dear old mum could be a very bad thing, not just for the Nightside but for all of existence. Still I can't stop... I'm John Taylor. Finding things is who I am. It's what I do. Whatever the consequences...

The name's John Taylor. I work the garish streets of the Nightside--the hidden heart of London where it's always three A. M., where in human creatures and otherworldly gods walk side by side in the endless darkness of the soul. I have a talent for finding things. People...property...no problem. But now I'm after something different. A local diva called the Nightingale has cut herself off from her family and friends, and I've been hired to find out the reason. I'm also wondering why her suicide--prone fans think she has a voice to die for. Literally. To get the truth, I'll have to lend an ear to the most enticingly beautiful and deadly voice in all of the Nightside--and survive.

Working in Nightside, the dark underworld beneath the streets of London, John Taylor, gifted with the ability of finding things that are lost, is determined to locate The Unholy Grail--the cup, rife with power and corruption, that Judas drank from at the Last Supper--before it falls into the wrong hands.

Taylor is the name, John Taylor. My card says I'm a detective, but what I really am is an expert on finding lost things. It's part of the gift I was born with as a child of the Nightside. I left there a long time ago, with my skin and sanity barely intact. Now I make my living in the sunlit streets of London. But business has been slow lately, so when Joanna Barrett showed up at my door, reeking of wealth, asking me to find her runaway teenage daughter, I didn't say no. Then I found out exactly where the girl had gone. The Nightside. That square mile of Hell in the middle of the city, where it's always three A. M. Where you can walk beside myths and drink with monsters. Where nothing is what it seems and everything is possible. I swore I'd never return. But there's a kid in danger and a woman depending on me. So I have no choice--I'm going home.