What You Leave Behind by Wanda M. Morris

February 20, 2024

What You Leave Behind by Wanda M. Morris

Lawyer Deena Wood's life is in tatters: her marriage has gone down in flames, she lost her prestigious job in Atlanta, and she is still reeling from her mother's death. She returns to her hometown of Brunswick, Georgia, where her father married her mother's close friend Ruth a few months after her mother's death. Trapped in a dead-end job, living in her childhood home, Deena is trying to re-make her life, when she encounters an elderly man living on one of the islands off the Georgia coast. When he goes missing, she feels compelled to find out what happened to him.

I don't particularly care for mysteries with a supernatural element, but if that's your jam, you'll probably like this one. For me, it was just okay. I did not find Deena to be a likeable or sympathetic character: she is almost completely self-focused (which she should have grown out of, since she's almost 40), and has little empathy for anyone else. She views her dad's second wife as someone who always coveted what her mother had. It doesn't occur to her that her dad is lonely after his wife's death, or that maybe her mom's best friend misses her too. Unbelievably, a GUY has to explain this to her. 

The plot focuses on the difficulties of lower and middle income people (particularly in the South) when it comes to proving ownership and inheritance of property that has been in their families for years, yet there is no paperwork to support their claims. The author's plotting can be complicated at times. There are also a lot of characters, and it's hard to keep them all straight. I figured out about halfway through the book who the real mastermind was. 

Many thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

Brunswick, Georgia

Gallant by V. E. Schwab

June 22, 2022

Gallant by V. E. Schwab

Olivia Prior grew up in the Merilance School, essentially an orphanage for girls. All she has left from her mother is a journal that has several pages ripped out. But then a letter arrives, inviting her to Gallant, her mother's family's home. But when she arrives, no one is expecting her or admits to having invited her. Her cousin is hostile toward her, and Olivia sees shadowy figures, but she is not about to leave until she gets some answers. One day, Olivia crosses through a gate at the bottom of the garden and finds herself in an alternate version of Gallant.

The atmosphere is gothic and the writing is good but the plot is sketchy. The main theme is that everything has a mirror image that is the opposite. I like Schwab's adult books better than her YA books. It didn't really hold my attention, although I did like the cover.

Strange Practice by Vivian Shaw

June 17, 2022

Strange Practice by Vivian Shaw

Dr. Greta Helsing (descendent of Abraham Van Helsing, the vampire slayer) has a very specialized practice. She is a doctor to the undead and the supernatural, treating mummies for bone loss, vampires for garlic poisoning, and chronic bronchitis in demons. Her practice is family tradition, a field of medicine unknown to most humans. When a cult of monks begin killing humans and supernaturals alike, Greta must stop the cult to save her patients, her practice, and herself.

Fun and creative. A new take on the horror story, where the undead are integrated into society and live among us as productive citizens. There are clever references to classic horror tales - the undead usually don't care for the way novelists portray them. Recommended if you enjoy a non-traditional spooky story.

The Dead Travel Fast by Deanna Raybourn

October 26, 2022

The Dead Travel Fast by Deanna Raybourn

Orphaned following the death of her grandfather, Theodora Lestrange is a 23 year old spinster living in Edinburgh with her sister and her husband and their five children. Theodora does have a suitor, but rather than entering a life of domesticity, what she really wants is to travel and write a novel. When a school friend invites her to come and stay at her family's castle in Rumania, Theodora jumps at the chance to leave Scotland and her sister's house and have an adventure.

I have enjoyed the author's other books, and while I'm not much of a romance reader, this is a good choice for the Halloween season. It is much different than her other books, much more a traditional gothic novel with castles and legends and a mysterious count, all set in Transylvania. The story pays homage to both Dracula and Northanger Abbey. It does have kind of a racy cover.

Castle in Transylvania

A Dead Djinn in Cairo by P. Djeli Clark

July 20, 2020

A Dead Djinn in Cairo by P. Djeli Clark

Set in 1912 in an alternate-universe Cairo, Special Investigator Fatma el-Sha'arawi of the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities is called in to investigate the suicide of a djinn.  She quickly realizes that something isn't right about the case and begins to follow the trail of the djinn's contacts, which leads her through the bizarre supernatural underworld of Cairo.

At just 43 pages, this falls somewhere between a short story and a novella.  An interesting aspect is that when the local populace let magic into their midst, they were able to evict their British colonizers.  There are steampunk elements, supernatural beings, and a skillful use of myth, magic, and religion to advance the story.  The main character is erudite, smart and confident, and she picks up a supernatural being who assists her and whose powers are interesting to say the least.  This is a fast-paced read as the characters race to save the world as they know it.

This was a perfect antidote to the historical mystery that I was reading and gave up on (see next review).  The author has several more novellas set in this parallel world, not necessary about the same set of characters.  I already downloaded her next novella, The Haunting of Tram Car 015.