Review: Deadly Lineage: Necromancer Tales Book I by MJ May

Rating: 5🌈

I’ve been desperately waiting for this book since Erasmus Boone , the Necromancer, and Aurelia, the djinn made their first appearances in the fabulous Perfectly Pixie series. Now, tied by past events , and magical connections, Erasmus and Aurelia have their own unique series, along with Erasmus’ human mate/romantic partner, Detective Franklin O’Hare.

Deadly Lineage is a superb introduction to Erasmus and Aurelia if you’re not already familiar with them from the previous series. May beautifully develops the storyline around Boone’s family, Boone’s neighbors and location, the necromancer history, and gives us new well defined characters in terms of the local MS police force where Detective Franklin O’Hare works and the investigations that come into play.

Boone’s complicated family just happens to include Nikodemus Holland , the feared, powerful warlock, father to Erasmus and his mother, Lydia Boone. May’s characterizations are well developed, vividly described and layered with personality. It’s doesn’t matter whether they’re human or paranormal, they’re believable in their love and concern for their son.

The Mississippi location is steeped in Southern sweet tea, wrap around porches with light blue ceilings, fans constantly swirling amidst the summer sweltering heat. The paranormal crimes committed are horrifying. The intense murder investigations are suspense filled and terrifying, and the romance between Erasmus and Franklin slowly burning.

Aurelia is an absolute gem of a character. A djinn who doesn’t act or even speak as anything other than what she is, an immensely powerful being, ones who has lived through the worst of origin stories and centuries of ownership. Each appearance sees more unexpected moments with her. More development, more revelations.

There’s so many great elements in this story. Whether it’s the side cases that Erasmus takes, his incredible neighbor, Mrs. Hart, and her tiny dog, Miss Pattycakes, each are a narrative treasure.

I was ready for book two as soon as this one was over. I love the universe, the characters and crossovers with the Pixies, and everything new May is creating here for Erasmus, Franklin as well as Aurelia.

This is a must read, as it the series before it. Highly recommended!

Another excellent cover design by cheriefox

Related/Preceding Series:

Perfect Pixie Series

🔹Perfectly Imperfect Pixie

🔹Perfectly Perfect Pixie: Peaches’s Story

🔹Perfectly Charmed Pixie: Parsnip’s Story

🔹Perfectly Perplexing Zombie: Wendall’s Story

🔹Purrfectly Peculiar Pixie: Phlox’s Story—End

Necromancer Tales:

Deadly Lineage #1

Buy Link:

Deadly Lineage: Necromancer Tales Book I

Blurb

Shunned by most species and abandoned by their warlock fathers, necromancers are marginalized, feared, and reclusive. Erasmus Boone is different. His warlock father chose love instead of abandonment. Unusually powerful and talented, Boone’s embraced his necromantic abilities and managed to carve out an existence within a world that would rather he not exist at all.

Humans aren’t the most respected species. Hell, they’re just a step above termites in the eyes of most. Detective Franklin O’Hare has never taken derision towards his humanity to heart. Determined to do the best given his human limitations, Detective O’Hare does whatever it takes to right the wrongs of the world—no matter the species concerned—even if that means working with a necromancer. Besides, Erasmus Boone isn’t so bad. In fact, he’s temptingly perfect.

Seeking solace after a difficult case, Boone walks the typically peaceful gravesites of Trinity’s Holy Cross Cemetery. The gentle hum of contented, long-dead souls ease Boone’s mind—until he’s hit with an unearthly cry unlike any he’s heard before. Unfortunately, that first soulful cry isn’t Boone’s last, each wail revealing a disconcerting pattern. There’s a serial killer in the wind, and their murders are resulting in souls with painful, missing pieces, leaving their voices incoherent and

indecipherable.

Boone and O’Hare must work closely together if they’re going to stop the killings. O’Hare learns quickly that keeping Boone safe from disgruntled clients and serial killers is a never-ending and nearly impossible task.

As O’Hare and Boone grow closer, so does the killer. They need to figure out who’s indiscriminately murdering seemingly unrelated species, and why the victims’ souls are devastated beyond repair, before Boone becomes another victim on the ominous list.

Deadly Lineage is the first book in the Necromancer Tales series. This series is a spin-off of the Perfect Pixie series and takes place in the same world but can be read as a stand-alone. Deadly Lineage is a M/M romantic fantasy mystery with an unusually sane necromancer just trying to make a living, a humble human detective attempting to ignore his attraction to the aforementioned necromancer, an arrogant but redeemably overprotective warlock father, a twisted serial killer, a questionably agreeable all-powerful djinn, damaged souls, humans-some redeemable and some not, a steamy Mississippi summer, and far too much sweet tea. Deadly Lineage has a HFN ending.

Mentions of violence, murder, souls bruoght back from the beyond, speciest bigotry, and a few characters of questionable morals and sanity.

• Publication date: July 18, 2024

• Language: English

• Print length: 359 pages