Caged: Little Yokai Series Book 1 #1 (PB) (2021)

They say no good deed goes unpunished. That went double for Little Yokai.

My name is Keiko Miller. I've been an agent at the Los Angeles Bureau of Souls office for four years, and I'm one of the best. I ought to be - I'm half Yokai. So trust me when I say I know all about the supernatural entities that spilled into Japan thirty years ago. I'm one of them.

But that's a secret I guard like my job and my life depend on it, because they literally do. So when I secretly help a Yokai who winds up dead just hours later, I'm worried about more than just finding her killer. Making matters worse, my Bureau boss tasks me with solving the murder case and assigns me a by-the-book partner who doesn't like me to begin with.

Now I'm carrying around a metric ton of guilt and trying to solve this mystery without giving away my Yokai secret. The smart thing would be to play nice with my partner, mark the case unsolved, and quietly walk away.

Guess I'm just not that smart.

* * *

Caged is the first installment in the Little Yōkai series, which introduces a world where Japanese spirits known as Yokai walk freely in the physical plane. Yokai includes demons, spirits, ghosts, and hundreds of other supernatural entities.

When the veil separating the spirit world from the physical plane temporarily fails, Yokai find themselves trapped in the mortal realm. Spirits and mortals attempt to find a way to peacefully coexist, with varying results. In response, Japan creates the Bureau of Souls, a global organization dedicated to helping all countries grapple with a Yokai diaspora.

As Yokai quickly learn, being able to cast magic does not make them immune from the same kinds of threats that have haunted mortals for millennia.

Bureau of Souls agent Keiko Miller is committed to protecting Yokai, even if that means breaking her oath as an agent. Keiko's dedication to helping those in need comes from a secret she's kept her entire life: she's half-Yokai. With the help of a friendly spirit, she's been able to navigate the world as a mortal. And Keiko needs it to stay that way because if the Bureau found out she's half Yokai, she'd be deported back to Japan - or worse.

After an attempt to help a Yōkai who's being hounded by criminals winds up going sideways, Keiko must risk exposing her secret if she's going to live up to her oath.

Caged delivers a thrilling, action-packed read in the law enforcement procedural format, all with a supernatural twist.