History Literature / JillKismet

* AbsenteeActor: Saul spends the entirety of ''Redemption Alley'' with his dying mother in South Dakota and doesn't return until the next book.

* MentorShip: Jill and Mikhail's relationship was sexual as well as apprentice-and-master, which Jill regards as a natural consequence of two reasonably heterosexual individuals with high-stress, high-adrenaline jobs living together.

* WriteWhatYouKnow: The story is set in the American southwest. Lilith Saintcrow lives in Vancouver, WA, but was born in New Mexico.

* WeirdWest: The series leans rather more heavily on the UrbanFantasy side, but it ''is'' set in the American West and that informs some of the backdrop. Jill behaves somewhat like an Old West sheriff, and most American Weres are of Native American ancestry, referencing skinwalker legends. Also includes strong elements of NewOldWest: among other things Santa Luz appears to be somewhere in one of the American-Mexican border states, and a section of town controlled by various Latino gangs is referred to as the ''barrio''.

* WeirdWest: The series leans rather more heavily on the UrbanFantasy side, but it ''is'' set in the American West and that informs some of the backdrop. Jill behaves somewhat like an Old West sheriff, and most American Weres are of Native American ancestry, referencing skinwalker legends.

* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: "Jillian Kismet" is not her birth name, but rather a pseudonym she took on while under Mikhail's tutelage. Just as well: she has a fairly long rap sheet under her birth name, Judith, that might get in the way of working with the cops, including several solicitation busts.

* FantasticReligiousWeirdness: Jill is Catholic, but as a hunter she is barred from Confession and Communion for trafficking in the supernatural and the sin of murder committed almost every night, though by special dispensation she can still be buried on consecrated ground (if there's enough of her left to bury).

* HistoricalRapSheet: A massive demonic outbreak triggered the Great Depression and the world's hunters have barely been able to keep a lid on the nightside ever since.

* AffectionateNickname: Some of Jill's friends and acquaintances nickname her "Kiss".
* ApocalypseCult: Sorrows cults are worshipers of Elder Gods, essentially making them the next best thing to Cthulhu cultists.

* BrokenBird: Jill. Grew up in a broken family, spent her teenage years as a prostitute, rescued by Mikhail only to have him get murdered, and spends every waking moment slaying monsters and stopping people from Trading with demons.
* ChurchMilitant: The Jesuit Shadow Order, a secret society within the Society of Jesus that was established to fight on the nightside. More generally, Weres don't like the Catholic Church much because a lot of innocent Weres were killed by the Inquisition.
* DealWithTheDevil: Hellbreed and ''arkeus'' make pacts with mortals, granting the mortal a measure of the hellbreed's power in exchange for services. Often they're rather one-sided and require the Trader to do horrible things (like kidnap babies and present them to their master), though Jill was a good enough negotiator that the price for her deal with Perry was to spend a few hours a month with him. The activity ''du jour'' is torturing Perry himself, for unclear reasons (Jill has given up trying to figure it out).

* HerosClassicCar: Jill drives an orange '67 Chevy Impala she restored. That this is the same year, make and model as the car used by the Winchesters in ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' probably [[ShoutOut isn't coincidental]]. It gets destroyed in book three, and during the TimeSkip to book four she acquires a '68 Pontiac Bonneville.

* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: "Jill Kismet" is not her birth name, but rather a pseudonym she took on while under Mikhail's tutelage. Just as well: she has a fairly long rap sheet under her birth name that might get in the way of working with the cops, including several solicitation busts.

* TheSheriff: A town's hunter is essentially this for the supernatural community, and works with the regular law enforcement apparatus. They appear to have pretty broad police powers: human Traders get exorcised and handed over to the police, the hunter essentially has ''carte blanche'' on anything else.

* OurWerebeastsAreDifferent: Weres have VoluntaryShapeshifting and are normally benign (for a given value of "benign": they don't hunt humans but they also don't tolerate being messed with). They're also charmingly skilled at household chores, preferring to keep a clean "den". However, ''rogue'' Weres do happen and are extremely dangerous. The ones we interact with the most are cat Weres (Jill's LoveInterest Paul Dustcircle is a werecougar), though they reportedly come in all kinds, from canine to bird to reptilian.

* HerosClassicCar: Jill drives an orange '67 Chevy Impala she restored. That this is the same year, make and model as the car used by the Winchesters in ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' probably [[ShoutOut isn't coincidental]].

* FantasticReligiousWeirdness: Jill is Catholic, but as a hunter she is barred from Confession and Communion for the sin of murder committed almost every night, though by special dispensation she can still be buried on consecrated ground (if there's enough of her left to bury).

->''"Cover me with Thy shield, and with my sword may Thy righteousness be brought to earth, to keep Thy children safe. Let me be the defense of the weak and the protector of the innocent, the righter of wrongs and the giver of charity. In Thy name and with Thy blessing, I go forth to cleanse the night."''

* DealWithTheDevil: Hellbreed and ''arkeus'' make pacts with mortals, granting the mortal a measure of the hellbreed's power in exchange for services. Often they're rather one-sided and require the Trader to do horrible things (like kidnap babies and present them to their master), though Jill was a good enough negotiator that the price for her deal with Perry was to spend a few hours a month with him. The activity ''du jour'' is torturing Perry himself, for unclear reasons.

* MentorShip: Jill and Mikhail's relationship was sexual as well as apprentice-and-master, which Jill remarks isn't uncommon.

* OurWerebeastsAreDifferent: Weres have VoluntaryShapeshifting and are normally benign (for a given value of "benign": they don't hunt humans but they also don't tolerate being messed with). They're also charmingly skilled at household chores, preferring to keep a clean "den". However, ''rogue'' Weres do happen and are extremely dangerous.

* WeirdWest: The series leans rather more heavily on the UrbanFantasy side, but it ''is'' set in the American West and that informs some of the backdrop. Jill buys some of her charms, particularly the copper bracelets she uses as a PowerLimiter for her hellbreed pact, from a Native American medicine woman.

* UselessSpleen: Jill's was injured when her pimp beat her on the night she shot and killed him.

* HerosClassicCar: Jill drives an orange '69 Chevy Impala she restored. That this is the same year, make and model as the car used by the Winchesters in ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' probably [[ShoutOut isn't coincidental]].

* DealWithTheDevil: Hellbreed make pacts with mortals, granting the mortal a measure of the hellbreed's power in exchange for services. Often they're rather one-sided and require the Trader to do horrible things, though Jill was a good enough negotiator that the price for her deal with Perry was to spend a few hours a month with him. The activity ''du jour'' is torturing Perry himself, for unclear reasons.