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
Juniper Wiles and the Ghost Girls
by
Charles de Lint
urban fantasy in a Kindle edition that was published by Triskell Press on November 29, 2022 and has 328 pages.
Explore it on Goodreads or Amazon
Other books by this author which I have reviewed include The Dreaming Place, "Newford Spook Squad", Juniper Wiles
The second in the Juniper Wiles subseries (twenty-second in the Newford urban fantasy series) and revolving around Juniper, a reluctant detective in this “real” world. It’s been a couple months since Juniper Wiles, 21.
My Take
We’re introduced to bigotry right away, for while Cray will use a voudoon priestess and fortunetellers as consultants, he draws the line at a former actress. Then that actress, Juniper, discovers how Cray treats other supernaturals. Juniper has her own continuing bigotry when it comes to the Eadar, another type of being who are considered less.
To be fair, Juniper’s perceptions are colored by her frustration with people who confuse her with the fictional character she played in the TV series.
It is interesting how skeptical Cray is and yet Pearse is accepting of it — the weird has happened too often for him not to. What is scary, however, is how far Cray is willing to go with his psychological warfare. What does it say about a cop who’s willing to abuse his consultants? I do like how supportive Christy and the others are for Juniper.
Unfortunately, or is that fortunately?, Juniper has a soft heart, that gets a wake-up call to this supernatural world. More fortunately, even though Juniper doubts her detecting abilities — we know this from first person protagonist point-of-view from Juniper’s perspective — yet she’s discovering the lure of detective work.
As in Juniper Wiles, Jilly is a good and giving person who brings the cozy into this story, always going out of her way to help and encourage people. It’s also the story in which Juniper had first learned that Jilly’s tales of Faerieland and otherworlds is true. Juniper’s thoughts on this continue in Juniper Wiles and the Ghost Girls.
I do appreciate Christiana’s take on art:
” . . . if someone likes something, they’ll still like it when you’re done explaining why they shouldn’t.”
Juniper and Tam both grew up in a commune, an environment that has them open to Jilly and her crowd, brought up by parents who encouraged the sister and brother to dream big. It’s a great and welcoming group of people who are supportive of each other. Jilly calls them her family of choice and Juniper thinks of them as her tribe.
One quirk in the story is how Juniper feels about Nick, and it does add a tension.
Christiana’s home sounds fascinating.
As disappointed as Juniper is with life in LA, she’s coming to appreciate all that she learned while working on Nora Constantine.
I do love those portals Christiana creates in this. It cracked me up how fascinated Juniper is with the portal in her linen closet!
I do like how de Lint incorporates present-day issues in his story and that includes trans issues. De Lint points out how people drive out those they can’t accept but then want them back so they can fix AND punish them.
No one has the right to tell others how to live.
There’s action in Juniper Wiles and the Ghost Girls, but it’s more about characters thinking and talking. A supportive story that explores the fantastical, the “reality” of book worlds, and the choices people make.
As Davey says:
”Each of us is a whole mess of stories, all of which get tangled up with those of other people . . .”
Whoa, whoa . . . that was an unexpected ending, and so perfect. I can’t wait to read what comes next in the Juniper Wiles series!
The Story
Coppercorn and Wiles, Private Investigations, has begun to get cases, small ones, but their discoveries do bring closure to friends and family.
There’s a missing persons case, a cursed box that Captain Cray can’t open, a serial murderer to catch . . .
And it all comes down to what you’re willing to give up from a part of yourself.
The Characters
Newford is a city of magic. The Light of India is one of Juniper’s favorite restaurants — and it does make me hungry! The Black Fox. Gracie Street is where the LGBTQ community hangs out. The Half Kaffe Café. Turtle Moon is another secondhand bookstore.
Juniper “Joon” Wiles, an actress who once played a teen detective in Nora Constantine, has retired to her hometown of Newford and took up painting again. She’s discovered she sees ghosts. Sonora is the bull terrier she adopted in Juniper Wiles. Tamarack “Tam” Wiles is Juniper’s musician brother who shares the house they inherited from their grandmother. Nick Burns, Juniper’s boyfriend, manages a second-hand bookstore, Burns Books, for his uncle.
It was in Juniper Wiles that Jilly decided that she and Juniper should become Coppercorn and Wiles, Private Investigations.
Bramleyhaugh is . . .
. . . a huge house on Stanton Street inherited by Jilly Coppercorn and Sophie. It’s been converted to an artists’ colony and inhabited by Jilly, a popular artist, and her husband Geordie Riddell, a musician; Sophie; Christy, a writer and Geordie’s brother, who consults for the Spook Squad; Saskia, who lives in a digital world; Wendy, a brilliant computer hacker who loves to read; and, Mona, who creates a comic strip, lives there with her werewolf boyfriend, Lyle. The Grumbling Greenhouse Studio had been a greenhouse behind Bramleyhaugh, which Jilly converted to an artist’s studio. Bobo is the terrier/poodle mix Jilly adopted in Juniper Wiles. Olaf “Goon” Gooneskara, a king of the skookin, had been the professor’s housekeeper.
Christiana, a shadow of all the things Christy didn’t like about himself and Geordie’s sister, has her own place in an otherworld, the wild. She can step sideways as well. Meran Kelledy, faerie royalty, also lives on Stanton Street, in Kelledy House. The Bone Circus Gallery is owned by more friends: Eliza, an artist with a studio out back, and Sarah.
Allison who played “Gabi” in Nora Constantine is still friends with Juniper. ”Gabie” and “Nora Constantine” still exist as Eadar in their otherworld Crescent City. “Charlie Midnight” had been the big bad in Juniper Wiles.
The Spook Squad is . . .
. . . more formally known as the Newford Police Department’s Paranormal Investigations Task Force and is led by the incredibly rude and obnoxious Captain Sam Cray. Other members include Detectives Assi Namome, Chad Waller, and Ramirez. Some of their consultants include Phara Torreau, a voodoun priestess, fortunetellers, and Joe, a.k.a. Bones or Animandeg, who is half-canid, half-corbae, and all Kickaha, who easily steps sideways into otherworlds. The fortunetelling Cassie Washington is Joe’s wife.
The seven ghost girls from different eras include Blondie, a cheerleader whose name turns out to be Sandy Collins; Debbie Owens, a.k.a. MisRule; Victoria Bell; the grungy Brooke Hardy; Caitlin Burns; Patti Green; the nerdy Victoria Bell; and, Della Boyd. Loretta Jones, Elena Brown, and Monique Wilson appear through the years.
The Kingsmoor Chronicles
Daisy Fairweather, a.k.a. Davey Fayre, an Eadar from The Kingsmoor Chronicles by Colin Bishop, is missing. Duncan Fairweather, a wizard, is her worried fictional twin brother — he’s got a dependence issue. Master Mage Stoddard is the head of Kingsmoor College. Oliver Tye is a hero who became a Master Mage; Lionel is his bodyguard. Arden Tye, a rogue Master Mage, is Oliver’s evil uncle. Jerad Sloan is the Big Bad. More characters, er, Eadar, include the sports-minded Adria who plays krakenball; Euna Wentworth; Dora Nowlin, who had been Oliver’s girlfriend; and, Nida Dill, a hedge mage. Friends of Davey’s include Amos, Kristen, and Colby. Someone evil lives in The Warrington Towers.
In our-world, Matt is a friend of Davey’s. Jaden Storm is the artist for the books. Magers are die-hard readers.
The shadow girl lives in an otherworld. Mother Crone, a.k.a. Galfreya, is a faerie seer with a court at Woodforest Plaza Mall. Hazel is a protector. Edgan is part of Mother Crone’s court. Tatiana McGree is the Queen of all the local Seelie Courts. Ollie Thistledown is a healer. Cynthia Norton had wanted Donald Lee Hale, Esquire, who had been married to that floozy, Essie Holmes.
The places where Jilly volunteers include St Vincent’s Home for the Aged, the soup kitchen, the animal shelter, and the Katharine Mully Memorial Arts Court — a drop-in center for street kids to give them a creative outlet. Pearse O’Shaunessy, Juniper’s boxing coach, runs a gym: The front half of the building caters to the yuppie crowd while the back half is all about boxing. Annie is a part-time employee at Burns Books.
Old City is a part of Newford that got dropped underground. Raven’s World is our world. Infinite otherworlds exist and the space between our world and an otherworld is called the between. Eadar are characters from books, who come to life when enough people believe in them. Tedious, a.k.a. teddies, are non-magical people. A cousin is a shapeshifter. The cousins call humans five-fingered beings. Anna had been Christy’s grade school crush. A ghost glove is a dangerous artifact but may help with communication. Hedge mages can only beg, borrow, or steal magic. They tend to squat in the Round Ways. Ethan Law was a client from Juniper Wiles. Edward had been Ethan’s transgender boyfriend. Devin Nash is a crook who successfully embezzles from law enforcement.
The Cover and Title
The cover is about one of my favorite parts: The portal that Christiana creates in Juniper’s linen closet. It features the back of a red-haired Juniper wearing a red tank top and light brown jeans with a gun tucked into the back of her pants, as she stands before the open linen closet door, looking out over Christiana’s wild of meadows. The linen closet shelves are on the right with Sonora sitting in front of them. All the text is white with the title at the top above Juniper’s head. The author’s name is across her thighs with an info blurb below that.
The title is the inciting case, Juniper Wiles and the Ghost Girls.
