Paranormal Nonsense

tags: humor, mystery-crime, supernatural, urban fantasy,vampires 

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads

If Jack Reacher was a paranormal investigator…

The paranormal? It’s all nonsense but proving it might just get me killed. I won’t tell you what I used to do in the army, it’s not important. Let’s just say I picked up some skills. Now those skills are proving useful, but I didn’t choose my second career as a paranormal investigator; I don’t even believe in vampire and werewolves.

Sometimes though, I secretly worry that I might be wrong. People call on me to solve cases too weird for the police to take on. Take today for instance; a third victim was found with a bite mark in her lifeless throat. It’s happening in my town and I take that sort of thing personally. I’ll take the case on without having a client, but one soon arrives in the form of Amanda Harper, a disillusioned police officer who wants the killing stopped just as much as me. Together, and with back up from a cast of friends, we are going after whatever is behind the deaths, but my probing draws its attention and now my family are the hunted. But when someone I know is taken, a race against time begins which will pitch me into a battle for my life. Good thing I have some skills then.

If you are a fan of fast-paced paranormal thrillers, then this urban fantasy series is sure to please.

This is the first novel written in 2017 by the author, Steve Higgins. I read 2 of his newer books and I find them just so so. 

I like this one better than the "culinary tour" murder mystery series. The ex military main character, Tempest Michaels, reluctantly opened a private investigation office for paranormal activities because of a typo in the advertisement. He let the mistake pass so he started accepting jobs with supernatural complaints, not to validate or solve them, but to prove they are nonsense and that they don't exist. 

He lives alone with his 2 cute dachshunds, Bull and Dozer, Dozer being the dumb one but very sweet. (aren't all dachshunds dumb? ) He visits his parents in their home regularly and vice versa. Sometimes, he is assisted by a group of male friends in uncovering some incidents. 

The guy is very health conscious, flirts with several women, and a bit annoying but I can't help but compare him to M. C. Beaton's Agatha Raisin who has a sharp tongue and can't stand insufferable people. The author just like Beaton, is not afraid to be politically incorrect specially when he described  one female character as overweight, oversexed, and unattractive because she has a Lando Carlissian moustache.  

The writing is not very good but it is fine with me. It is his first book published and he just needed to polish his writing. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the books in this series.

In Plain Sight

tags: magic, paranormal, runewright, urban fantasy, YA

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads

When a magical plague is released in a Depression-era New York soup kitchen, private detective Alex Lockerby finds himself in a desperate hunt to catch a madman before he can strike again.

His investigations lead Alex to a famous thief, a daring heist, and the search for a mythic book of ancient magic, but none of that brings him any closer to finding the man responsible for the massacre.

With the police and New York’s Council of Sorcerers desperate to find the culprit, Alex becomes a suspect himself, thanks to his ties to the priest who ran the soup kitchen.

Now Alex has his book of spells, a pack of matches and four days to find out where the plague came from, or that authorities will hang the crime squarely on him.

The book is free to borrow from Amazon Prime. I believe this is under YA category but I find it okay for adults who like reading urban fantasies, magic, private detectives, 1930s noir, mystery, etc. 

Alex Lockerby is a Private Detective occasionally working with NYPD using runes he writes and gets paid for it. The book has 3 different cases that are tied to each other. The first is a man-made bioweapon that killed a priest and several poor people his mission feeds everyday. The priest is like a father to him. He took Alex in as a child until he was of age. The second case involves the murder of a man who worked at a warehouse for imports, and the last one is a missing person who is also an amateur runewright. 

Alex helps solve the crimes with his cop friend, Danny Pak (a Japanese with a Korean name and explained later why), some FBI agents whose leader is a beautiful sorceress, and his landlord, a British doctor who is in his 70s and also knows runes and magic.

This is the first book in Arcane Series by this author. The writing is very simple, probably for young adult readers. I don't mind as long as it tells a good story, doesn't have sex scenes and bad language, and highly entertaining. 

Highly recommended.