James' roommate Zach also visits and accidentally mentions that he knows a pallid large-eyed man. While Grant is recovering in hospital, Lesley tells him she has confirmed Beale, Gallagher and Carroll are all descendants of the founders of the Unbreakable Empire Pottery corporation. They pursue them, eventually reaching an Underground platform, where ones of the individuals uses magic to tear the platform apart, burying Grant in the process. Grant and a team investigate in the railway tunnels, but they are attacked by pallid large-eyed individuals. Its founders were instrumental in excavating the tunnels that later became the heart of the London Underground railway. It is owned by The Beale Corporation, which was historically the maker of 'unbreakable' pottery. Peter realises some of the pieces incorporate pottery identical to the pot shard murder weapon and a bowl found at James's flat.įollowing this lead, Grant and Lesley discover a warehouse where similar pottery is taken and stored. Grant visits James's art professor, and attends an exhibition of work by Irish sculptor Ryan Carroll. Grant is called in for a murder investigation at the Baker Street Underground station: the victim, American art student James Gallagher, was fatally stabbed with a pot shard. It quickly emerges that there is not merely a supernatural component to the case but that a secret world lies beneath the streets of the 'mundane' (non-magical) metropolis, and that the supernatural semi-human subterranean inhabitants may be no more harmless than the entirely human population who are blissfully unaware of their existence.Ĭonstables Peter Grant and Lesley May, and Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale form the magical branch of the Metropolitan Police.

The victim, an American student found stabbed to death at Baker Street station was killed with a pot shard, raising the suspicion the death may be Falcon (police code for 'Folly') related. Peter Grant of Metropolitan Police department in charge of magical crimes (AKA The Folly) is called in to assist in a murder investigation. Whispers Under Ground is the third novel in the Peter Grant series by English author Ben Aaronovitch, published 2012 by Gollancz.

Ben aaronovitch whispers under ground