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
"Dead Heat"
by
Patti Larsen
cozy mystery, detective mystery, urban fantasy in a Kindle edition on October 5, 2023 and has 86 pages.
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Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Merry Little Mystic Murder, Drawn to Death, "Dead Weight", Dead Even, Dead and Buried, Dead as a Doornail
A prequel novella, 0.75 in the Whitewitch Island cozy paranormal mystery series, revolving around Inquisitor Georgia Drake and her mastiff sidekick, Benjamin.
My Take
Benjamin is such a sweetheart! While Larsen uses first person protagonist point-of-view from Georgia’s perspective, we hear from Benjamin as well. Well, that’s because he can speak out loud AND into her mind, so it’s still from her view point. You’ll enjoy Benjamin’s snarkiness about some of the characters *grin*.
Ah, Larsen confirms in “Dead Heat” that Benjamin failed out of the program when he was two months old and not the implied one month from “Dead Weight”.
Larsen is prepping us for the first full-length novel in the Whitewitch Island series . . . that ending . . . phew.
Part of the conflict in the story is Georgia’s family. They despise her career choice and are constantly pressuring her to take up a more prestigious position. It didn’t help Georgia amongst her coworkers that they all dislike her for her family background.
Silo is such a suck-up! Not that Xandros is much better, the lying jerk. Anyway, Silo thinks he knows all and constantly tries end runs around Georgia. The boy does not think!
The primary issue in “Dead Heat” is an “illegal” fight club. It seems there are “legal” ones, and the supposed difference is that the former is more of an exposure risk to the humans.
Larsen’s world has many of the problems ours does what with immigration issues and crazy one-sided laws. It is sad, although the plan Aziel and Thiago cooked up was pretty clever.
It’s a confusing wrap-up with so many characters trying to claim Sibyl. As for the cause of death?? I dunno. It seemed contradictory. It feels as if Larsen was rushing through this story.
There’s action with the undercover at the fight and the mop-up afterward with plenty of character interaction. A good bit of which didn’t make sense.
The Story
Guild Artemis Inquisitor Georgia Drake stumbles on a paranormal fight ring thanks to an unliked contact. But when her sting ends in murder, she’s left with more suspects than she can shake a spell at.
Can she uncover the killer before some of them are deported for illegal activity? And where the Hades is her partner?
The Characters
Inquisitor Georgia Drake, who has dragon blood and necromancy powers, works for Guild Artemis. The sweet, prudish Benjamin is her sidekick, a black mastiff puppy, a failed Hell Hound, Georgia adopted from the Hades Hound program (“Dead Weight“, 0.5). Conscio and Caprice are a mated raven pair Georgia rescued from a bad situation who now work with her. The Drake family appears to be high muckety-mucks — her grandfather seems to be a dragon? He is a Dragon Sentinel while grandma is also a Sentinel. Mattew is Georgia’s older brother who is a rising star in the World Paranormal and Supernatural Forum. Her mother, Morgana, is Emissary to the North American Magic League, and Dad is the Guild Nemesis’ Chief Defender.
Elias Barrow is Georgia’s hunter partner who’s missing.
Guild Artemis is . . .
. . . magical law enforcement. Lead Lorne Ortos heads up the team that includes Georgia and Elias. Hunter 1st Rank Lake Silo is a new hunter who knows everything. A special snowflake, he’s related to Guild Artemis Sentinel Harrison Kane. Nepotism, anyone?
Agent Brine, a merman, is part of the Hades team. Thaumaturge Wither Ground is a necromancer and medical examiner. I’m not sure what Guild Hestia is. In charge of sentencing maybe?
Xandros Ashbourne is an only son of a wealthy family, wasting his money on self-enhancements, and spoiled rotten.
Marcellus Granite, a stone giant, runs the fight club. Boaz is Marcellus’ brother. Sibyl Bael is a demon assistant owned by Marcellus and wanted by so many others. Octavius Dole, a human, owns the property where the fights are held. One of the fighters is Aziel, an imp, who is managed by Thiago Rush.
Dante Laught, an incubus, used to run the fight club.
There’s a formidable enemy out there, one who’s changed the rules of the game. Hel is where the illegals come from. I think Imperious is a “city” in Hel?
The Cover and Title
The cover has lightened up with the rays of pinks angling across the ceiling in the background with the lightest pink a spotlight for the fight ring behind Georgia. Part of that background appears to be a crowd of people. Georgia takes up most of the left with her long dark hair, blue sunglasses and huge hoop earrings. She’s wearing a burgundy, purplish suit jacket with a white blouse and that pink scarf around her neck. In the upper right just under the author’s name and the info blurb is the black Conscio, backwinging to attack someone. The title starts at about Georgia’s chest and ends with series info about this novella. All the text is white with a black outline.
I think the title is a reference to how the victim died, but the “Dead Heat” still doesn’t make sense.
