Monday, August 30, 2010

Grave Witch-Kalayna Price

Grave Witch
Kalayna Price
Roc, Oct 5 2010, $6.99
ISBN: 9780451463807

Having met Death when she was five years old, Grave Witch Magic Eye Alex Craft makes a living by raising ghosts for living clients. The Nekros City police department consults with Alex on some recent homicide cases. However, she is stunned when one of the shades she brings back, that of a murder victim, attacks her. That has never happened before and she thought it was impossible.

Following a call from her frantic sister Casey, Alex probes the corpse of assassinated Governor Theodore Coleman, which made their father George Caine governor. Alex finds someone cast odd but dangerous spells. Homicide detective Falin Andrews makes it clear that he is unhappy with Alex intruding on the official investigation. When Alex learns from the ghost of Roy Pearson that the late governor’s body is actually his, the witch fears a powerful spellcaster is operating in the area.

This is a terrific private investigator urban fantasy with a noir feel to the story line; not so much by the heroine, but more so by the uneasy dysfunctional relationship between the normal, the paranormal, and the practitioners that bring the two uncomfortable groups together. Fast-paced from the moment Alex leaves an unhappy customer to answer her sibling’s call pleading with Alexis to help her, fans will be hooked and demand more Alex Craft cases.

Harriet Klausner

No comments: