Balthazar, an ageless former necromancer is on a quest to rid the world of the evil necromancers that remain. His latest bounty brings him to Egypt where he quickly dispatches John Mortlake. However, the easy kill comes with strings attached. John Mortlake has debts with the djinn and a daughter who absolutely refuses to pay the debts for a father she equally despised. Balthazar gets waylaid after Mortlakes death by a beautiful woman and ends up on a Nile cruise. Balthazar's wiles get the best of him though, as the woman he is chasing steals the talisman that has kept him alive for over 2000 years. In trying to retrieve his talisman, Balthazar gets tied up in the woman's troubles and finds himself imprisoned by the djinn in a magical desert kingdom and now must retrieve a sword from a demon in order to escape with his life and his talisman.

Enchanting, fun and action packed, Balthazar's Bane continues the world of the Gaslamp Gothic series. I really enjoyed getting to know Bathazar and Lucas better. The writing dives into some of Balthazar's lengthy past and his history with Lucas without slowing things down. I was in a love/hate relationship with Zarifa's character based on her changing actions. She was strong, independent and free thinking, mostly one step ahead of the guys. Most of all, I loved being transported to the magical city of Al Miraj and exploring the many inhabitants of the city along with their dwellings and items. The trails that the demon led had me enthralled as Balthazar deftly fought his way through. Thoughtfully weaving in themes of growth, good vs. evil and respect for all living things, Balthazar's Bane entertained from beginning to end and I can't wait to see what these characters get into next. This book was received for free in return for an honest review.

My reading has been more biography-heavy than usual, and after finishing the first volume of Bullock's life of Ernest Bevin I wanted something different. Fortunately I had a Ross Macdonald novel handy and it's proving the perfect alternative. It's one of his later ones, so all of the rhythms are there; though he's taking longer to move past the preliminaries, the first body (there's always a couple) has turned up and I'm sure the next one will be showing up in another hundred pages or so.

Pit Stop: Baby! by Taryn Quinn

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Audio Review: Pit Stop: Baby! (Crescent Cove, #4) by Taryn Quinn, Narrated by Kai Kennicott and Wen Ross

The bigger they are the harder they fall. Crescent Cove grabbed me many books ago and has retained it's hold on me ever since. I love to watch how a baby changes the dynamic of two people who never saw it coming. Gage and Rylee pulled me into their hangups and ran away with my heart. Ross and Kennicott gave even more vibrancy to one of my favorite series. Refreshing, heartwarming and humorous are temptingly addictive fun.

Wow and not in a good way. No stars. 

I picked this up because I was hoping for something along the lines of the Jackman and Evans series by Joy Ellis, or the Shetland series by Ann Cleeves. The plot summary looked promising, and the setting, an island off the coast of Northumberland, was right up my proverbial alley. I checked it out for free from the KU.

I can take a fair amount of unreality in my mystery fiction, but this book absolutely beggared belief. Without spoiling it too deeply, the notion that an island of two hundred people could harbor a large pagan cult led by a homicidal psychopath who is also one of the most prominent citizens of the community is just too much.

Add on top of that one of the shallowest and most unbelievable cases of instalove between the very handsome DCI Ryan and the very beautiful Anna and it was just ugh.