"delightful whodunit fantasy"

Mercury Crossing bookstore manager and witch Garnet Lacey muses about how many dead essences live in Madison, Wisconsin. However, she also ponders fate that by being late she missed a sure date with death as a Vatican paramilitary assassination squad killed the other eleven members of her coven (see TALL, DARK & DEADLY). Of course conjuring up Lilith to dispatch the Vatican killers helped.

Garnet and her boyfriend at that time, Parrish the vampire disposed of the bodies and other related evidence. Meanwhile to her chagrin, a zombie student paid for a copy of "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Voodoo" with counterfeit money. That is followed up by FBI Special Agent Gabriel Domingues investigating the homicides of six priests whose corpses have returned with all evidence pointing towards Garnet. She informs her current boyfriend, Sebastian the vampire that she needs Parrish's help. Sebastian is outraged by this while the zombie populace is growing geometrically with some of them not even students at U of W. Garnet and the new Voodoo queen have a high noon showdown as this college city is only big enough for one practitioner.

The second Garnet gem is a delightful whodunit fantasy starring a likable protagonist who keeps the tale together as she relates what is going on, mostly wrong, in her life in a sort of offbeat chick lit style. The story line is fast-paced and can stand alone though references to the previous novel abound. The supernatural species like vampires, zombies, and FBI agents seem genuine even though the plot is tongue in cheek. Tate Hallaway combines romance, paranormal and mystery into a fun read.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted May 27, 2007

Summary

From the author of Tall, Dark & Dead, the second in the paranormal series featuring "a gem of a heroine" (Mary Janice Davidson).

Tall, Dark & Dead introduced Garnet Lacey, a bookstore manager/witch who accidentally unleashed the dark goddess Lilith on Vatican assassins. Now she has other things to worry about-like pesky frat boy zombies, a gorgeous FBI agent hot on her trail, love spells gone wrong, and keeping her vampire boyfriend a safe distance from her vampire ex-boyfriend. There's just no rest for this Wiccan...