I received this book for free from my own shelves in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Source: my own shelves
Death Warmed Over
cozy mystery, paranormal fantasy in a Kindle edition that was published by Patti Larsen Books/Mayhem and Murder Ink on September 11, 2020 and has 205 pages.
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Second in the Phoebe Monday paranormal cozy mystery series and revolving around Phoebe, a struggling artist in Crescent, Washington. It’s been five months since Merry Little Mystic Murder, 1.
My Take
Poor Charlotte. What am I saying? Poor Phoebe! Charlotte loves to talk on and on and on about her favorite topic, and Phoebe is bored to tears.
Luckily her side hustle as a sketch artist for the police is quite satisfying — Phoebe can see into the victims’ minds, ride their memories, a trick that’ll come in handy later.
Larsen does a nice job of introducing us to Phoebe’s character and her world of magic with its rules and prohibitions. It does help that Larsen uses first person protagonist point-of-view from Phoebe’s perspective. Poor Phoebe is a klutz, due to her magic, and accepts everyone’s judgment of her with resignation. She’s also a very kind, insecure woman, who feels so out of place. Lord knows why since her family is so accepting and supportive.
As for Officer Hudson, Phoebe is very attracted, but due to her background can’t be with a mundane. Phoebe’s ambivalence about Cooper is SO annoying, leading the poor guy on. There’ll be a wee cliffhanger at the end. At least she finally comes to a bit of truth about how she could use her bad luck.
Pickle. Well, Pickle is full of joie de vivre. Dark Mood is a binary character, and I gotta say he was confusing to read about. And it took me awhile before I picked up on the distinction. He and Pickle are odd yet sweet and very supportive of Phoebe.
That Dr Percy is such a jerk, ragging on Mirabelle, who is the one covering up for him. It was his cover-up, blackmailed into it.
Then there’s the deception lurking behind Charlotte’s belief in all her father’s valuable artwork.
Death Warmed Over is a story with conspiracies and fraud galore.
The Story
This commission should give Phoebe enough money to move out, be financially independent, and live in her own apartment. If she can just survive her client! Then there’s that curse, the origin of which the family finally learned about, the one that rebounded and tied itself to Phoebe’s own magic!
Then Charlotte’s dead father turns out not to be dead! And Phoebe breaks Cooper’s heart.
The Characters
The cursed Phoebe Hecate Monday, a.k.a. “Beebs” or “BeeBee”, was an unexpected addition to the powerful and respected Monday family. An artist slowly coming into her own. The magical Jinks is Phoebe’s playful fox. The rest of the Mondays are a wonderworking triunity of Maiden, Mother, and Crone. Selene is the exuberant and sweet Maiden, Phoebe’s sister. Mom, is the Mother, Morgade, who teaches mystic Tantra — and is quite frank about sex — and is acknowledged as the finest herbalist in the Northwest. She’s also an incredible baker. The very snarky Isolde is the Crone, Grandmother, who keeps her husband, Humphrey, as a tiny homunculus in a gold birdcage. Yeah, the Mondays aren’t known for permanent masculine attachments. She’s got her own Tardis of a closet! The Heathenry is the apothecary and magic supply shop the Mondays operate from the street entry side of the house.
Pickle Pickford, a lawyer, is Phoebe’s best friend who revels in all things green, one who has embraced the nickname bestowed upon him in high school by a bully. Pickle is in love with his law partner, Emery Fable. Dark Mood, a they who wears a black tartan skirt and massive boots in true Goth fashion, is the owner and landperson of the warehouse in which the art gallery, Lofty Aspirations, is located. Phoebe currently rents a studio in the building. Willow Morse is a wood sculptor.
Mirabelle Whitehall is Phoebe’s only real witch friend — her power leans toward necromancy, and she works as an assistant medical examiner for the evil and alcoholic slouch, Dr Ian Percy, at the hospital’s morgue. Isabella Lopez is a woman without a lot of time left. Gus is a slacker of a security guard at the hospital. Harriet is a nurse at the hospital.
The Crescent City PD, 11th District
Phoebe works there as a sketch artist. The very kind and statuesque Detective Anna Morales is partnered with the slobby Detective Nathan Sallow. Officer Cooper Hudson is secretly, sort of, in love with Phoebe, and they’ve been dating since Christmas. Officer Bobby Theron is older.
Simon “Thirsty” Thirston is a fence. One of his clients is the Liberty Pawn Shop.
Charlotte Easton is a client with a faint hint of magic, fussing over and over with changing clothes. Margaret Wells is her disapproving housekeeper. Father dear, Archibald Easton, who died sixteen months ago, loved to buy art. Lyle Grayson is Charlotte’s irritating family lawyer, who had been one of her father’s best friends. The adorable Henry Wells is Charlotte’s groundskeeper and Margaret’s disabled brother who is artistically savant. Belle was the nurse the Eastons’ had hired to care for Archie. Belle’s mother had worked for the Easton family.
Some of the police victims are Mary, the mother who is slowly losing her memory, is the victim, and Lucy Shimple is her worried daughter. Braelyn Horthon had but a single memory.
Some of the magic circle include . . .
. . . Jericho “Richo” Richmond, a real jerk and a bully, is the son of the leaders of the Academy of Adepts. Circe Dunmore, from New York, is even worse and Jericho’s most recent girlfriend.
Some of the people from whom Father bought art included the Fairchilds. Jean-Richard Gautier is an in-demand sculptor. The Ritual Room is a popular magic-user nightclub. Pickle is active in the LGBTQIA2S+ group. The law of contagion connects Phoebe to Charlotte.
The Cover and Title
The cover is a smoky blur of pale blue, some of which forms into ghosts against a dark blue background. The title is at the top in a blend of textured letters and fonts, each word different. the first is a grayish lilac outlined in black. The second is a gradient of lilac to grayish green to teal and purple. The third is a purple background with an overlay of pale gray circles with the letters outlined in black. Below the title is a pale grayish purple outlined in black that informs us as to the series info and its genre. At the bottom is a right-aligned author’s name with the first name using the same gradient as above and the last name mirroring the colors of the first word of the title. Sitting atop the “L” and “A” is a cartoon Jinks in orange and yellow, looking over his shoulder.
The title is true enough, for Archie’s is Death Warmed Over.
