Katherine Harbour's Blog - Posts Tagged "murder-mystery"

Darkhaven
Ayla is the daughter of the recently murdered, shapechanging overlord of the city of Darkhaven, a complex labyrinth of tiers. Her half brother Myrren, a kind and honorable young man, didn't inherit the ability to shapechange into a splendid creature (phoenix, griffin, etc;), but Ayla did. When she's accused of murdering her father in creature form, she must rely on a disgraced swordsman named Tomas Caraway to keep her safe.
A subplot involving a female assassin named Sorrow and a mistress of the overlord is also woven into the narrative, as is noble Myrren's relationship with a priestess who was attacked by the mysterious monster who murdered Myrren's father.
It's a murder mystery set in a high fantasy world and the shapechanging mythology adds an element of the strange. I'm looking forward to the sequels that continue the story of these intriguing characters.

Rosemary and Rue
October (Toby) Daye is a half human/half faery living in San Francisco. She is a knight serving the faery king of that region. After a case nearly destroys her life, she is lying low. Then an old frenemy is murdered, but not before cursing Toby to find her killer.
Toby has connections with each court in the city, some of which are perilous and tricky. There is a water faery in the Japanese gardens, the feral and sexy king of cats, and a criminal overlord who has a shady past with Toby. It's a murder mystery with a fierce heroine and a fun and fascinating cast of characters perfect for the setting. Best of all, it's only the first in a series.

The Night Sister
I love creepy mysteries. This is the story, told in three separate time frames (1950s, 1980s, and present day), of three young girls who discovered a dark secret at a motel in the 1980s. One of the girls, now an adult, visits her pregnant sister after their friend Amy murders her family and commits suicide. Amy's family owned the Tower Motel--the story of Amy's mother Rose and her sister Sylvie is significant and heartbreaking in the 1950s.
With its notes of the uncanny and the murder mystery, this story kept me turning pages up until its unexpected ending.

The Unseen
Taking place in the present and the past, the focus is on a murder that happened in the English countryside in 1911. In the present, Leah, a writer is investigating letters found in the pack of a mummified World War II soldier. These lead her to Cold Ash Holt and the descendant of the characters from the past.
The past is where young Cat Morley has been sent from prison to live with the young vicar of Cold Ash Holt and his wife, Hester. Cat has been imprisoned and abused because she was a serving girl who became involved with the Suffragette movement. She is simmering with anger and resentment. When a beautiful young man named Robin Durant arrives, claiming he is a theosophist and believes in the elemental fairies the vicar has claimed to have seen, a tragic murder is the end result.
Cat Morley became one of my favorite heroines, with her Bronte-ish tale and her refusal to settle for the life of a servant. The story itself simmers with dread, as you know someone is going to be killed. It's a haunting tale with brilliant characters.