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
Drawn to Death
by
Patti Larsen
amateur sleuth, cozy mystery, paranormal fantasy in a Kindle edition that was published by Patti Larsen Books/Mayhem and Murder Ink on July 31, 2021 and has 198 pages.
Explore it on Goodreads or Amazon
Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Merry Little Mystic Murder
Third in the Phoebe Monday cozy paranormal mystery series and revolving around an insecure second sibling in a family that should be only three people. The focus is on the art exhibition and Phoebe, the amateur sleuth, and her friends and their fellow artists.
My Take
It’s all about Phoebe, naturally, and Larsen is using first person protagonist point-of-view from her perspective, with that first page exciting me as she describes hauling Dark’s artwork about. It beautifully describes so much of Phoebe’s world and her two best friends, setting the stage for the tenor of the story.
It’s exciting that Dark is able to exhibit in this prestigious art show, and even more exciting how much Phoebe is enjoying her own living space amongst other artists. This feeling of empowerment is countered by her worries about how her leaving has impacted her family — Selene cries nightly. Grandmother has cut Phoebe off. Mom accepts.
There’s Phoebe’s constant — oy — focus on her insecurities. Although, I do admire her acceptance of her luck “power”. It’s not an ideal gift, as her compassion towards people always results in it backfiring on her. Gotta keep that balance. As for leafing through people’s memories. Part of me thinks it’s pretty cool and the other part feels it’s so invasive. I can see how it would be helpful when sleuthing though.
There are so many positives for Phoebe in this: her discovery of a new use for her gift, being her own self-supporting person in her own element, and the approbation she’s receiving from so many sources(!), Anna Morales’ suggestion — talk about conflicts, lol.
Her new community is full of like-minded souls, and Phoebe no longer feels like an outsider in her family. Not that her family isn’t loving and supportive, it’s that the Mondays are “supposed” to be a triunity.
”All we want to do is make art for ourselves and those who appreciate it.”
All this upbeat positivity is contrasted with Phoebe’s break-up with Hudson, which appears to be one of the series conflicts. It is sad AND annoying, as Phoebe goes on and on about it. Well, at least Phoebe is consistent in her obsessions.
There’s a weird event in which Phoebe describes one of Dark’s pieces, and it doesn’t make sense. I think it depicts the reverse of how a blade is used. I think.
Genesis has her own high drama what with being behind on producing her art. That reveal about Brielle’s art was shocking and so sad.
I’m becoming more aware of the off-beat pronoun use of they and their to refer to a single person, but dang . . . it’s still confusing. Although Larsen did screw up later in the story on Genesis’ pronouns. It’s not just me!
I do like how life works behind-the-scenes and Drawn to Death fulfills that as we experience the artists when they’re not “on-stage” with the public but face-to-face with fellow artists.
Hoo, boy. There’s plenty of action, all driven by the characters and their attitudes. The art theft, the murder, the support . . .
It’s amazing what love will cause you to do.
Oh, man, that danged cliffhanger Larsen sticks in at the end . . . I have got to read Remains to be Seen, 4, to find out what happens!
The Story
Dark Mood is apprehensive and excited about this upcoming exhibition that will include one of their works, Liberation Reborn. Happy for him, Phoebe throws some good luck his way, knowing the balance, the bad luck, would come back on her.
Only, Phoebe never expected the bad luck to rebound in murder.
The Characters
Phoebe Monday is the unexpected second child in the Monday family, famous for their Maiden, Mother, Crone aspects as embodied by Selene (older sister), Morgade (Mom), and Isolde (Grandmother). Phoebe has several gifts: one is the luck she can throw and the other is her ability to freeze-frame the memories of others. Another gift is her artistry which has finally enabled her to move out of the Monday household. The Heathenry is the herbal shop the Monday family operates in the front of their home. Jinks is Phoebe’s pet fox, with his own definite personality, lol.
The green-loving Pickle Pickford (who transitioned to his true gender) is Phoebe’s best friend and fellow artist. I gotta agree with Phoebe. It’s so brilliant that Pickle made that bully’s nickname for him his own. Dark Mood is another friend and artist, who owns the warehouse collective, Earthhome, where Phoebe now lives and paints. The warehouse includes Lofty Aspirations, an art gallery.
Caesar Gallery is . . .
. . . owned by Naomi Caesar, whose partner, Tamara Halston, has recently died. The obnoxious and arrogant Genesis is the featured artist — Maya Kenny is their “dead” name. Brielle “Bree” Skylar is Gen’s partner, a painter who gave up her career for Gen. Lydia Dow is an incredibly angry artist, spewing vitriol everywhere. Donnie Chang and Kenner Major are fellow painters.
The obnoxious Sothran Alcandor, a booking agent and promoter, has signed Gen for an upcoming show, for which she is behind. Marco Findlay, an online rep for artists and buyers, is also waiting on a painting. The mysterious Tobias Kash is a harsh critic. Maria Calavera is a collector.
Jansen Wright is the head of fraud investigations for Whiteguard Insurance. Then there are those multiple identities: Rupert, Jacob, Colin, and more.
The Crescent City PD, 11th District
Officer Cooper Hudson loves, er, loved, Phoebe, who loves him in return but has such conflicts about it! Detectives Anna Morales and her partner, the messy Nathan Sallow, are friendly with Phoebe and frequently use her services as a sketch artist — Phoebe is so accurate with her images. Thomas Green is the captain. The disgusting alcoholic, Dr Ian Percy, is the coroner. Another of Phoebe’s friends, Mirabelle Whitehall (another witch and a necromancer, who is almost through her training in forensic pathology), is Percy’s assistant.
Emily is a victim. The Ritual Room is a popular magic-user nightclub that the bullying Jericho Richmond, the oldest son of the ruling family amongst the witches, frequents with his posse.
The Cover and Title
The cover is shades of blue with its night sky and pale blue moon-like brightness to the right of the gnarled old tree that fills the background. The title is at the top in Larsen’s trademark trio of texture and color on each word: a purple outlined in black, a gradation of pale teal to pink, and a teal with white texture. Below the title is the series info in a black-outlined white. The author’s name is at the bottom with her first name in the gradated teal to pink and the last name in a black-outlined bright royal blue. The foxy Jinks is perched on the last name, looking up at the title.
The title is so Phoebe, as the artist in her is Drawn to Death.
