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Monday, February 13, 2012

eBook Review: The Banshee Charmer

// Tiffany Allee Site
When she’s sent to a crime scene and finds her second dead woman in as many weeks, half-banshee detective Kiera “Mac” McLoughlin is convinced a serial killer is on the loose. Incubi are extinct, her boss insists. But what else can kill a woman in the throes of pleasure? When her partner is murdered after using witchcraft to locate the killer and Mac is thrown off the case, her frustration turns to desperation.

Certain the killer is an incubus, Mac works behind her department’s back to chase down slim, sometimes perilous leads. While the killer eludes her, she does discover handsome Aidan Byrne, an investigative counterpart from the enigmatic Otherworlder Enforcement Agency. Mac typically runs her investigations fast and hard, but with Aidan at her side, she’s running this one “hot” as well. But Aidan knows more than he’s letting on—something that could shatter their blazing romance and add Mac to the killer’s growing body count…


This wasn't quite what I was expecting, but I say that in a good way. Kiera (or Mac as most people call her), spends just as much time trying to track down leads and getting her hands dirty with quasi-legal measures as she is in mooning over the OWEA agent Aidan who's helping on the case.

As a mystery goes this fell flat for me. Allee is heavy-handed with the hints and foreshadowing in regards to both who (or what) the killer is and Aidan's past, so by about a third of the way through I just wanted Kiera to realize what was going on and move past the 'but incubi are extinct!' thought process. 


The romance was a stronger player here for me.  It took a while for Kiera to trust Aidan, and she's not stupid.  A little bit gullible, but not stupid.  She puts two and two together about Aidan's origins (faster than I thought she would, but still slower than the average paranormal romance reader will) and doesn't let his pretty eyes and charming smile bamboozle her (too much).

Aidan for his part must have had a riot dancing around his origins.  There wasn't any question of who's side he was on, but Allee made him seem just shady enough to make you question if he was being totally legit.


This was a solid read, a good start to a new series and certainly entertaining enough for me to want to read more about what happens to Kiera and Aidan now.  I would have preferred more world-building, or a better explanation as to how (or why) the Otherworlders are part of the world, but all comes in time right?



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