October Read: A Death in Door County (A Monster Hunter Mystery #1) by Annelise Ryan

 

The cover of this mystery caught my eye and led to me checking it out of my library. Then last week, I was at my book group and one of my friends talked about it--I made sure he didn't give the ending away because I wasn't quite done with it!

 I finished it and enjoyed traveling to Door County, WI. I'm putting it on my bucket list of places to visit. It's not terribly far from where I live now, and even though my family took vacations every summer to Rhinelander, WI when I was little, we never got to Door County. 

Anyhow. This was kind of like a cozy mystery, but one with a little more oomph to it. Morgan Carter owns a unique bookshop called Odds and Ends in Door County. Her hobby, inherited from her parents, is the study of cryptids. Crypids are creatures people are sure exist, but just have never had definitive proof: Bigfoot, Loch Ness, Abominable Snowman. New police chief Jon Flanders hires Morgan to investigate the possibility of a cryptid swimming around Lake Michigan, after two men are washed ashore drowned but showing signs of being crushed by something powerful. Could it be a lake creature? 

As Morgan begins to dig into her research, she uncovers more questions than answers. We also get to meet her employees Rita and Devon, her beloved and very protective dog Newt, and see her cautious relationship develop with Chief Flanders. There is some uncovering of Morgan's past that answers some questions of how she is an expert at cryptids, and why she has such an unusual bookstore. 

I was deep into this mystery pretty quickly. It's clear Annelise Ryan knows Door County. It sounds absolutely lovely and she painted a heck of a picture. I deliberately kept away from looking online so I could keep it all in my head. There are a few sad moments, but overall I just let the mystery reveal itself as I read. There's no "ooh, maybe this person did it" as there is in cozy mysteries. I truly had no idea until the end. 

I'm happy to say the last few sentences lead to the possibility of the next mystery in the series and I'll be picking that up--it involves Bigfoot! 

Rating: 5/6 for the vivid writing that brings Door County to life, along with a very interesting main character with a special knowledge unlike any other mysteries I've read. I like the slow development of Morgan and Jon's relationship which leaves something for more mysteries to explore. 

Available in hardcover, ebook, and audio. 

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October Read: A Death in Door County (A Monster Hunter Mystery #1) by Annelise Ryan

Krewe Of Hunters Is At It Again

 I've been reading Heather Graham since my teen years.  She writes good stories, whether they're historical, suspenseful, or paranormal.  Her latest trilogy involves the Texas Krewe of Hunters.  They're a group specially formed by the FBI that all have one common talent:  they can see and speak to the dead.  They first appeared in The Unseen, which takes places in San Antonio and involves ghostly happenings and murders at a hotel.  Logan Raintree and Kelsey O'Brien first meet to investigate the hotel, and from this book the Texas Krewe of Hunters is formed.  Logan, Kelsey, Sean, Kat, Jane, and Tyler all become trained and certified with the FBI to travel the country and investigate crimes that have a touch of the paranormal.  They're smart, gifted, and have a reputation as "unusual FBI agents".  

The Unholy takes the group to Los Angeles, and the investigation of a murder involving the son of the owner of a well known special affects company.  The studio is located directly next to a very old cemetery, and the studio itself has been around for decades.  They're currently producing the costumes and effects for a remake of a 1930's film involving a mummy, an ancient curse, and murder. The original film was clouded in murder, too.  But now someone is killing people disguised as Amun Mopat, the alleged  evil magician who lived during the time of Ramses II.  How is it all connected?  And can the Krewe--especially Sean, a film effects wizard, put the pieces together before more people are killed?  How will his budding feelings for artist Madison Devril play into this investigation?  Oh--and guess what--Sean and Madison can both see and hear the dead.  One very special spirit even hangs out at Madison's apartment.  

The story of Amun Mopat continues in the second novel of this trilogy The Unspoken.  While still in Los Angeles, Kat is tagged to go to Chicago to find out if the drowning of a diver in Lake Michigan was an accident or murder.  It's got the Krewe's attention because the diver was a well known expert on a local shipwreck:  The Jerry McGuen, which mysteriously sank in the lake 100 years before. When the ship sank, it was on its way to Chicago with a cargo hold full of artifacts from the real Amun Mopat's burial site in Egypt.  The ship went down with 60 souls, and no one has been able to find it.  Until now.  

But someone is willing to kill for the treasure.  But who is dressing up as a mummy?  Who is diving the wreck?  What are they looking for?  Kat soon arrives and meets Will Chan--a member of the original Krewe of Hunters.  He's been in Chicago on other business, and finds himself becoming part of this investigation.  The two soon find themselves diving the newly discovered wreck; Kat is having dreams and visions of what happened to the ship just before it sank.  What are all the dreams and visions trying to say?  The rest of the Krewe soon arrive in Chicago and the investigation swings into action.  Just who was Amun Mopat, and why is someone trying to steal the artifacts from the bottom of Lake Michigan?

I found The Unholy to be a bit thin as far as a storyline goes.  It's definitely readable and an entertaining story, but not much to it.  The Unspoken was much much better.  I loved the Egyptian history and diving the wreck of the Jerry McGuen.  There was a much more solid story and more to work with in this novel that the previous story and many more suspects.  I figured out who "did it" in the The Unholy pretty quickly, but The Unspoken  took a little longer to figure out.  

The third in this trilogy is called The Uninvited and it will be out in paperback this week.  I will definitely pick it up.  

Ratings:  The Unholy 2/5 for weak storyline and not much action.
The Unspoken 3/5 fascinating look at Egyptian history and shipwrecks.

Both are available as mass market paperbacks and e-books at your nearest bookstore.

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Krewe Of Hunters Is At It Again