A Kiss Before the Apocalypse by Thomas E. Sniegoski

Want a great action-adventure story with both legendary swordfights and present-day crimesolving? Check out A Kiss Before the Apocalypse by Thomas E. Sniegoski, where the leading man is part angel, part film noir detective, living in modern times.

Sniegoski's one of my favorite novelists. He's able to combine legends and mythology with comedy, and he creates complex characters, both heroes and villains, who square off in kick-butt action sequences.

Don't just take my word for it - Check out author Christopher Golden's praise of the book: "The most inventive novel you'll buy this year. A hard-boiled noir fantasy by turns funny, unsettling, and heartbreaking. This is the story Sniegoski was born to write, and a character I can't wait to see again."

Here's the official summary:
Boston P.I. Remy Chandler has many talents. He can will himself invisible, he can speak and understand any foreign language (including the language of animals), and if he listens carefully, he can hear thoughts.

Unusual, to say the least - for an ordinary man. But Remy is no ordinary man - he's an angel. Generations ago, he chose to renounce heaven and live on Earth. He's found a place among us ordinary humans; friendship, a job he's good at - and love.

Now he is being drawn into a case with strong ties to his angelic past. The Angel of Death has gone missing - and Remy's former colleagues have come to him for help. But what at first seems to be about tracing a missing person turns out to involve much more - a conspiracy that has as its goal the destruction of the human race.

And only Remy Chandler, formerly known as the angel Remiel, can stop it.

If you dig A Kiss Before the Apocalypse, you'll also enjoy Sniegoski's series The Fallen. It too offers good guys, bad guys, mythological characters, and loyal canine companions. You may have seen the TV series on ABC Family last year and the year before that - These are the books upon which that show was based, and the books are even better than the series. More action, more angels, more twists and turns.

Go pick up Sniegoski's stories. You won't be disappointed.