Reaping By Numbers: A Dead-End Job by Nicole Givens Kurtz; Fun and Interesting Take on The Grim Reaper

 Reaping By Numbers: A Dead-End Job by Nicole Givens Kurtz; Fun and Interesting Take on The Grim Reaper 

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: Nicole Givens Kurtz knows how to write mysteries set in unique settings or populated with unique characters. Her novel, Glitches and Stitches is set in the future where AI is so omnipresent that people have a hard time separating the orga from the mecha which complicates a murder investigation. Kill Three Birds is a murder mystery set in a world of anthropomorphic birds. Her latest Reaping By Numbers also has an interesting premise in which a murder is investigated by none other than the Grim Reaper, well a Grim Reaper anyway.

Note, I said a Grim Reaper, as in plural more than one. Kurtz’s take on Reapers is that it is a job like any other. They are mostly human but are led by demons who work for the original Grim Reaper, also known as G. They don't kill people or cause them to die so much as they are there at the point of death and escort them in the transition between life and lifelessness. 

Patrice Williams is one such Reaper. Her reaping skills come naturally because they are inherited from her father who was an excellent Reaper in his day. Her latest assignment puts her right in the middle of a murder investigation, a turf war between various demonic factions, a meddlesome angel, and demonic possession. Patrice has to use all of her skills particularly when her own family is involved, especially her niece, Brianna, whose body inadvertently becomes the vessel of a very angry and violent demon.

In a strange way, Reaping By Numbers is the complete opposite of my previous book, Secrets at The Aviary Inn by Maryann Clarke. Secrets explores an ordinary conflict of a woman researching her family history but gives it some enchanting touches in setting and character that almost makes it seem like a Contemporary Fantasy. Reaping By Numbers takes an otherworldly fantastic situation of reapers guiding people after death and finds a dark humor by exploring the ordinary mundanity of the situation. 

Patrice clocks in and out like everyone else, does her shift, takes her breaks, deals with co-workers and supervisors, some encouraging and others obnoxious, collects her earnings, and goes home. Okay she's dealing with the recently deceased but so do morgue attendants and funeral home workers. What's so strange about that? Alright, her bosses are demons that emerged from the darkest pits of Hell but aren't all of our bosses? Yes, she has to face some very unpleasant encounters with dark magic, soul sucking spirits, wrathful ghosts, and avenging angels but no job is perfect. The benefits are great, particularly when you are alive to enjoy them. 

The way that her family is portrayed is that of a loving supportive foundation but are divided on various issues. Patrice's father is proud that his daughter is following in his footsteps. He is very encouraging as they talk shop though he also sternly warns her about some of the more dangerous aspects of the job. 

Not all of her family is supportive, particularly her religious mother and intrusive sister. Her mother is concerned that her daughter is consorting with demons. Her sister is trying to live a normal life with her pastor husband and children and feels that Patrice's profession could bring unwanted trouble within their family circle. Her worst fears come true when her daughter is possessed by demons.

Brianna's possession is a central plot point in this book. Kurtz conveys the anguish and fear that her family has, particularly Patrice who has to actively remove the demon while dealing with her own guilt and uncertainty about her chosen path. Patrice's dialogue with Brianna is the strongest emotional core especially when the young girl shows some potential to be a Reaper herself. 

Reaping By Numbers conveys a lot of dark humor but a lot of emotions in this book about a woman who considers hanging out with the dead as just another day at work.

Weekly Reader: Murder By The Coven (A Belfast Murder Mystery Book 3) by Brian O'Hare; Supernatural Unnecessarily Brought In For Otherwise Thrilling Police Procedural Murder Mystery

 Weekly Reader: Murder By The Coven(A Belfast Murder Mystery Book 3) by Brian O'Hare; Supernatural Unnecessarily Brought In For Otherwise Thrilling Police Procedural Murder Mystery

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: Granted, I have only read two books in Brian O'Hare's the Belfast Murder Mystery Series, so it's hard to tell which is the weird one: Murder by The Coven for openly involving the supernatural or Murder on the Dark Web which is a police procedural which does not. Judging by the description of the other three books in the series, Murder by The Coven is the most likely outlier. Because of that, it is nowhere near as powerful and graphic as Murder on the Dark Web.

Now don't get me wrong, I love supernatural mysteries. I love when the protagonist has psychic abilities along with massive powers of deduction in their arsenal. I love when "murder by dark magic" could logically be considered as a means for murder. I don't even mind when genres mix. However, in a long term series it has to do it from the beginning. To throw supernatural demonic influences on a mystery series which was fine being a typical police procedural with human murderers and pedophiles is jarring at best and sends mixed messages at worst.

Maybe I am particularly hard on Murder By The Coven because I loved reading Dark Web Murders so much. In fact it was one of my favorite mysteries that I read this year so the follow up was bound to be lacking in comparison. Murder on the Dark Web subverted the ideas of heroes and villains, good and bad, by making the murder victims reprehensible and guilty of crimes in which they were never caught nor charged because of their wealth and power. The murderer was victimized by these horrible people and seeks vengeance the only that they can. However, the fact that they take it too far and harm innocent people makes the murderer a bit hard to root for though understandable. The subversion is ever present and was what made The Dark Web Murders so great.

Murder by the Coven also has some of those same themes. When it explores that theme, it is very exciting and thrilling.

The prologue is set in 1995 and takes place during a terrifying ritual. A woman is brutally murdered in a sacrifice by a Satanic cult. The cult members are hooded and unidentified. Twenty one years later, an older couple is murdered. Meanwhile, Sheehan and his team investigate the skeleton of a woman that has been dead for over 20 years. After some investigating, the team learns that there is a connection among the skeleton, the couple's murders, and the Satanic coven which is alive and well.

Murder by the Coven is similar to Murder on the Dark Web which the rich and powerful's crimes are buried because of names and connections. Many people are left suffering in their wake and one seeks vengeance because of a lifetime of suffering from actions that have gone unpunished. Some of the murderer's actions are unconscionable and their overall personality is very different from the previous murderer of the Murder on the Dark Web. Many times they are just as cold blooded and methodical as the coven of Satanists. The Satanists created the circumstances in which the murderer acts and the murderer takes it to a higher level. The Satanists are the cause and the murderer is the effect.

There is some heart stopping suspense and a nice subplot involving coroner, Andrew Jones and Selena Carrington, a young woman involved in the investigation. When Murder by the Coven is set in the procedural world, it works.

That is how this book should be, unfortunately it isn't always like that. In the last book (and from reading the descriptions of the other books), faith is a strong theme throughout the series. Sheehan is a die-hard Catholic and in Belfast, the struggles between Catholics and Protestants are still present. In fact, the book is set against the backdrop of The Twelfth, an important day in Ulster history honoring William of Orange, the Protestant King of England. The Twelfth is still a day of contention between the Christian denominations in Northern Ireland. Sheehan and his team put their own religious divide and personal animosity to keep the peace. Faith and spirituality is important to the series but it has always been in the background until Murder by the Coven.

What doesn't work is that the book takes a hard left into the paranormal. One of the coven members invokes a demon to curse Sheehan and his crew. Suddenly,this awesome police force and their loved ones act like bickering and whining children accusing each other of infidelity, police corruption, and sloppy investigation tactics. If these were presented as legitimate concerns that the characters have had over the years that manifested itself into internal suspicion, petty bickering, or even joking asides or disagreements, it could be symptomatic of buried resentments now coming into focus because of a stressful case. But no, instead one minute they are acting as a team and the next they can't stand to be in the same room together. It takes the work of an exorcist to break the curse.

This subplot could have worked as a maybe magic maybe mundane situation where coincidences or hidden circumstances that could be attributed to otherworldly forces but it is so blatant here and seems to come from The Exorcist rather than a realistic crime drama.

This passage almost sends the book to an unnecessary detour into the supernatural. The Sheehan series seemed to exist in a regular real world where human beings sometimes did despicable hateful

things to other human beings. They didn't need demonic influences to act. Sometimes the darkest hearts can be with humanity itself and they get justly punished for their actions. Inserting paranormal forces into a series that didn't occur before is like throwing a dragon into Ed McBain's 87th Precinct series. It may shake things up and it was probably O'Hare's intention to do something different with this book. But it comes across as awkward and in this case contradicts messages from the other books.

Murder by the Coven seems to imply that the coven got where they were: rich, powerful, and corrupt because of their pact with Satan. It's the old "Devil Made Me Do It" defense that demonic influence, not human behavior, is the real enemy. So in this world if the Devil influences characters, does that work for the rest of the series? (I hope not. That club in Murder on the Dark Web are complete human a$#@_&es who definitely didn't deserve such an out.) Putting demons in a series that previously didn't have it removes the thought that ultimately humans are responsible for their actions for good or bad.

In a different book, the supernatural might have been an interesting addition to a crime drama series, but not in this one which operates and depends so much on real world issues and real world laws. Perhaps instead O'Hare could do a supernatural based series which directly involves such diabolic vs. angelic conflicts but not in a 

police procedural series and, volume in particular, which worked just as well without it.

Weekly Reader: Mystic Guests (A Mystic's End Mystery Book One) by Leanne Leeds; Magical Mystery is Memorably Marvelous

 

Weekly Reader: Mystic Guests (A Mystic's End Mystery Book One) by Leanne Leeds; Magical Mystery is Memorably Marvelous

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Earlier this year, I discussed the Cozy Mystery subgenre in Mysteries. The cozy mystery has a sub-sub genre in the Paranormal Cozy. It is similar to a traditional cozy in that it is set mostly a rural community, stars an amateur detective usually female with an occupation or hobby which puts them in close proximity to murder, and a close group of friends or family who aid them during their investigation.

What makes a Paranormal Cozy stand out is the magical aspects present. Sometimes said amateur detective has intuitive abilities, psychic powers, or has visions of the murders or their victims. Other times, the supernatural aspects are more overt with witches, ghosts, vampires, fairies, and other paranormal creatures along for the ride and taking part in the small town crime wave shenanigans. 

Such examples include Bewitching Mysteries by Madelyn Alt, Aunt Dimity Series by Nancy Atherton, The Faerie Apothecary Series by Astoria Wright, Ghost Dusters by Wendy Roberts, Karma Crime Series by Claire Daniels, Ophelia and Abby Mysteries by Shirley Damsagaard, and Sookie Stackhouse Southern Mystery (better known by the TV series name True Blood) by Charlaine Harris. I would be remiss if I did not shout out the Harry Dresden Files by Jim Butcher but the supernatural is less gentle and darker, the murders are more violent, and the character of Dresden is more reminiscent of a hard boiled professional detective than a cozy amateur detective. 

A great example of the Paranormal Cozy is The Mystic End Mysteries by Leanne Leeds. It has a bewitching brilliant lead in Fortuna Delphi, witch,artist, former carnival performer, and amateur detective. It captivates with a memorable setting in Mystic's End, Arkansas, a small town with a magical past leading to its paranormal present. There is a great first volume with Mystic Guests which combines ghostly premonitions with human murder.

Fortuna has left her life behind as a painter and fortune teller at the Magical Midway to get some answers. As a child, she was abandoned in the small town of Mystic's End and she wants to know why and where she came from. However, she gets more questions than answers.

When Fortuna moves into her new apartment, she encounters Spike, the ghost of a murdered young man. She helps reveal the location of Spike's body behind the walls of her apartment and art studio, which used to be a record store. So she is driven to discover who killed Spike despite the stonewalling and suspicious threats from townspeople that would rather not find out.

This is a great mystery within both the paranormal and cozy genre. In fact, the paranormal aspects make the cozy ones much better. 

Mystic's End is a typical picture postcard of a seemingly perfect small town found in such books but what makes it stand out is its mystical history. According to legend, a coven of witches fled the trials in the early part of American history and moved to a town that they called Mystic. When other wealthier families moved in, they forced the witches to conform to the new church or else. Some did, but others practiced in secret leaving a long train of magic users and a magical energy surrounding Mystic's End. 

Unfortunately, modern day so far reveals only two practitioners living in Mystic's End these days. One of them is of course Fortuna. The other is Miss Bessie, an elderly woman who can also communicate with Spike and who gives off the impression of being just a befuddled eccentric to disguise her real abilities.

Fortuna herself is an interesting lead character with a very unique backstory. Her life at the Magical Midway is very colorfully described as she recalls her friends like the ringmaster, Charlotte and the shapeshifters that transform into animals for the animal acts. She also recalls a time when she faced the Witches Council which suggests that she has some very powerful magic coursing through her veins. (Leeds also wrote a series about Fortuna's time in the Magical Midway. It should be quite an interesting read.) 

Besides showing a strong aptitude for magic, Fortuna displays a lot of courage and kindness just like any normal protagonist in a mystery. She becomes a close friend to Spike when she realizes that she is one of the few people in town who developed a genuine connection with him in life or afterlife. 

She uses a more human form of persuasion to save the life of a greyhound who becomes a loyal pet. She also attracts the attention of two men, Officer Gabriel Wilcox and the wealthy and flirtatious, Martin Salvi during her investigation.

Unfortunately, it will take Fortuna's normal and paranormal abilities to see through the corruption and conspiracies that cover Mystic's End. With the help of Gabe and newspaper reporter Pepper Stanford, Fortuna learns that some of Mystic's End's most prominent citizens are extremely reluctant to have people poking around and asking questions. People like Rev. Dexter Kane, who takes the opportunity to use Spike's funeral as a means to shout his HellFire and Brimstone opinions about the rest of the townspeople (excluding himself of course), Evangeline Laroux, a former cheerleader who left her small-town for stardom and came back with a wealthy husband and an interest in gold digging, and The Abernathys, a wealthy and connected family that own various properties including the music store where Spike's body was discovered and is now Fortuna's apartment and shop.

Mystic Guests is an excellent addition to the Paranormal Cozy Mystery subgenre. It is memorably magical and marvelously mysterious.