Book 67, 2019

[chez_jae]

The Gathering by Mary Bowers

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



This past weekend, I finished reading The Gathering by Mary Bowers. It's the sixth installment in the "Tropical Breeze" mystery series, featuring animal advocate Taylor Verone.

When the shelter dogs begin barking in the wee hours of the morning, Taylor grabs a flashlight and one of the alpha huskies and goes to investigate. In the cemetery of Cadbury House, she sees a small, alien looking thing that leaves her shaken. She finds out later that other people in Tropical Breeze have had these "alien sightings". Taylor's friend, Edson Darby-Deaver, is convinced that the so-called creatures are actually bots, created by a colleague of his. With several paranormal heavy hitters in town for ParaCon, a paranormal convention, Ed's theory seems sound.

Taylor is satisfied with the explanation and willing to get on with her life, but Edson asks her to attend ParaCon with him. There, she meets Orwell Quest, a reclusive hero among the para-crowd. When a woman close to him is murdered, Taylor finds herself once again dragged into an investigation. It's going to take the help of a motley cast of oddball characters to suss out the real killer before anyone else winds up dead.

This may be my favorite of this series so far. I enjoyed the characters, both familiar and transient. So many of the con-goers were delightfully eccentric! I also enjoyed how many of them revered Taylor's cat, Bastet--made famous by a book that Edson wrote about her.

Favorite lines:
♦ "I may be an older woman, but the fear in the animal's howl sent me straight into battle mode."
♦ "We all come alive a little when the moon is full."
♦ I had a quick vision of me explaining to Michael that we were rampaging into the night to get retribution for the Wee Folk.
♦ "Oh, all right, but don't blame me if it turns out to be actual aliens and you get abducted right along with us."

Interesting, a twee bit creepy, and funny as hell. Five stars!