Book 18, 2020

[chez_jae]

As Dead As A Vampire by April Fernsby

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I finished reading As Dead as a Vampire last night. It's the second book in the "Brimstone Witch" mystery series by April Fernsby.

Having recently learned she's a witch, Cassia Winter has been helping her grandmother investigate minor crimes in the magical town of Brimstone. Her gran decides it's time Cassia started handling investigations on her own, and she sets Cassia up in an apartment in Brimstone. The crime rate in town has been on the upswing, and it's Cassia's job to get to the bottom of it. While looking into an act of vandalism in the local bookstore, Cassia encounters a nasty vampire named Uriah Firenze. He's in the habit of loudly haranguing the other supernaturals in town, and he's made plenty of enemies. When Cassia finds Uriah dead, staked through the heart, her investigation takes on a greater importance. Sure, he was a horrible person, but the Winter witches don't let anyone get away with murder in their town.

The story was okay. Cassia is a fun character, and I really enjoy her familiar--a talking cat named Stanley. Many of the secondary characters were not fleshed out well, and the plot sort of bumbled along. How it unfolded made sense, but it was as if Cassia had no real plan and simply skipped from one situation to another.

Favorite lines:
♦ "Whoa there, jiggy-paws."
♦ "He said he'd bring me some amazing books back from the other world which I'd be able to sell here. I wasn't convinced until he brought me a Harry Potter book back." His eyes widened. "Have you ever read them? Wow. My customers can't get enough of them."

Giving this an average rating.