The first of Helen Harper‘s Firebrand novels does not inspire any desire to follow the series, suffering as it does from the crippling issue of having a garbage protagonist.
The main issue here is that despite being a trainee, she acts as if she’s a veteran detective with complete and total authority over anyone she meets. No one questions this and anyone who provides any notable pushback is framed as being in the wrong (she also lies through her teeth to someone presented as a caring and supportive boyfriend). The worst part is all the author had to do was start her out as an experienced detective to avoid most of these issues. Why make her a trainee when all it does is undermine the story?
A lesser issue would be that no one on this fantasy-infused Earth has ever heard of a demon or phoenix before. Seriously? No one has any suspicions of what she could be despite resurrecting in flames? Just bizarre.
The first two books in Vanessa Nelson‘s Grey Gates series (Outcast and Called) are more grounded with a strong Kate Daniels energy to them. While there are some notable similarities with the Order organization for the most part this series very much does its own thing, which works well for it more often than not.
While I’m not completely sold on the demon angle it will be interesting to see whether the protagonist ever ends up getting revenge on the people who set her up in the past… and the fuel protests were a nice touch.