Novel (Series), Fiction: Hawk and Fisher

Includes Hawk & Fisher (1990), Winner Takes All (1991), The God Killer (1991), Wolf in the Fold (1992), Guard Against Dishonor (1991), The Bones of Haven (1992), as well as The Forest Kingdom book Blue Moon Rising (1991) (a prequel of sorts). There are others, but I need to read through them again - details are fuzzy.

The Hawk & Fisher stories are set in the port city of Haven, a corrupt city-state. The titular characters are a husband and wife team on the City Guard; they investigate crime, both mundane and magical; kidnappers, werewolves, pocket dimensions, and so forth. Magic is powerful, but often hard to come by; magical items are expensive and rare. Unlike most stories, sharp steel frequently beats fancy spells, and not in a "heroic last stand" sort of way - a necromancer tries casting a spell, and Hawk bashes his face in, exactly how I would imagine a fighter taking on a mage. In fact, the stories could very well be two-player RPG sessions; I must admit I've pulled people, places, and plots from more than one of the books. Assuming your players haven't read the series, you could easily use these as story-heavy, rules-light, system-agnostic playbooks. Er, not that I've done that... yet...