Casting spells is quaint, but for material boys and girls, conjuring up private jets, SUVs, and luxury hotels is even more enchanting. Why not use magic to make something other than mere coins appear out of thin air? That’s the MO of the Cabals at the centre of Kelley Armstrong’s latest novel, Industrial Magic. The Cabals are powerful sorcerer families who use their supernatural savvy to boost their bottom line.

However, their ruthless business tactics – think otherworldly meets underworld – don’t charm everyone. Cabal teens are being stalked and killed by a mysterious assassin. Like the mafia, the Cabals want to keep their investigations all in the family. Too bad the rivalry between them is worse than the interstate rifts on The Sopranos. While Cabal CEOs keep their cards close to their chests, the murders continue.

Enter the unlikely detective duo of estranged Cabal heir Lucas Cortez and his girlfriend Paige Winterbourne, the sassy witch from Armstrong’s prequel Dime Store Magic. While Lucas has mixed feelings about his father and Paige shares her breed’s enmity to sorcerers, they take on the Cabals’ case when they learn that innocent lives are at stake. What ensues is a paranormal thrill ride through Miami (and other dimensions) worthy of any Disney theme park.

There are werewolves, ghosts, vampires, and even a helpful TV show psychic/necromancer in on the action in Industrial Magic. But even if you think witches belong at Halloween parties, Kelley Armstrong’s deftness at “supernatural realism” is sure to enthrall. What’s scary about the vampire John isn’t that he’s a vampire, but that he wears outré MC Hammer-style pants. Lucas and Paige may mutter incantations as foreplay, but their sexual banter is wonderfully true to life. The most haunting demons are those within the characters’ own psyches. Armstrong is becoming a master of a genre all her own.