Tag: dark urban fantasy mystery

Review:  Ghost Guy: Hell to Pay (Ghost Guy Series Book 1) by M. M. Crumley

Rating: 5⭐️

I just talked about the fluidity of M. M. Crumley’s series timelines and character appearances in the various series that make up this universe. m playing catchup here with this fantastic character of young boy Nevin Tucker who inhabits the body of TJ Bryant, a police detective who died in the same bomb blast that killed Tucker. 

How that happened and the ramifications are fully explained and remain a part of Tucker’s journey. Crumley is so gifted at characterization that Tucker becomes rawly believable.  So complex and incredibly layered as Tucker is, a young boy/ ghost who, without any real desire or design, wakes up in a grown man’s body and has to adapt.

He’s “seen” by all except those in the “know” as an adult. But mentally, emotionally and for all intents, including knowledge, he’s a kid inside. One who has lost his older sister, and been extremely poor and vulnerable. 

That dichotomy sets up a character driven narrative, a urban fantasy horror story that is fraught with poignant moments and yet filled with humor, albeit unintentionally funny scenarios that a young boy doesn’t understand but a man would. 

Tucker is first introduced in The Immortal Doc Holliday Book 6, a novel I haven’t gotten to as yet. But he’s has been in several books since, and Doc recently introduced him to the Graves family, who play a prominent role in this book.

This fantastic story, and it’s filled with character development as Tucker must look at his own life and think about who he is and what he wants to become, while solving a horrific situation.  And it ends on a heart stopping cliffhanger. 

Oh no. So if you don’t want to read a cliffhanger, wait for the next book to be released, then read through. And check out the Immortal Doc Holiday series or The House of Graves, or any other series listed below. 

Honestly, I need a separate bookshelf just for this author. She’s fantastic. So are these series. 

Highly recommended. 

Connected Universe and crossover series: 

  • I believe this is the reading order. But characters do appear within each other’s series at any given point in time. But Doc is the original source for them all. 

The Immortal Doc Holliday Series (21 book series plus )

The Legend of Andrew Rufus Series (7 book series)

Janey Falke: Saint Killer Series (4 book series to date)

The House of Graves Series (6 book series) 

Ghost Guy Series (3 books to date series)

Hell To Pay #1

Length of Days #2 – Sept 6,2026

Reckoning #3 – Tbd

Buy link

        Ghost Guy: Hell to Pay (Ghost Guy Series Book 1)

    

Blurb 

Even the dead need a hero.

Nevin Tucker is a snarky young detective who just happens to be dead. This paranormal PI spends his days (and nights) as Ghost Guy: the only occult detective willing to take cases from clients who can’t pay, can’t be seen, and who really need a hero. But as a ghost in someone else’s body, Tucker has his own issues to deal with, and most of his issues are members of the House of Graves. Dive into a hidden world of magic and mayhem now! Available in print, eBook and audiobook formats

Lone Ghost Publishing

Publication date

March 4, 2026

Language

‎English

Print length

357 pages

Book 1 of 2

Ghost Guy Series

Review:  Fire Burn & Cauldron Bubble (The House of Graves Series Book 3 by M. M. Crumley

Rating: 4.75⭐️

Another great story. Angst and action filled as the Patron continues to strive for control over Tessa Graves’ mind and body. 

Each book ups the suspense and emotional tension as Tessa and those around her search for answers to the magical bindings within her mind and the Patron’s identity .

Crumley excellently crafts such a heartbreaking, complicated story that pulls the reader intimately into Tessa’s mind and heightened state as she reaches out for help to witches with her longtime bindings created by her father and the Patron 

As the helplessness grows and her other cases continue, the reader becomes even deeper immersive into her life and the dark world she inhabits .

Incredible storytelling and a  memorable character who I’ve taken to heart. 

Highly recommended. What a series. 

Connected Universe and crossover series: 

  • I believe this is the reading order. But characters do appear within each other’s series. But Doc is the original source for them all. 

The Immortal Doc Holliday Series (21 book series)

The Legend of Andrew Rufus Series (7 book series)

Janey Falke: Saint Killer Series (4 book series)

The House of Graves Series (6 book series) 

Ghost Guy Series (3 books to date series)

The House of Graves Series (6 book series) :

Three Little Graves & the Big Bad Wolf # 1

Over the River & Through the Wood # 2

Fire Burn & Cauldron Bubble #3

A HUNTING, A HUNTING WE WILL GO BOOK 4

AND HE WALKED A CROOKED MILE BOOK 5

HOLIDAY SPECIAL: DECK THE HALLS BOOK 6

Buy link:

        Fire Burn & Cauldron Bubble (The House of Graves Series Book 3)

    

Blurb 

If letting the most powerful witch in the world rip her mind apart is the only way to protect her family, then that’s just what Tessa Graves will do. No matter the cost… As the Patron’s noose tightens down around the House of Graves, Tessa finds herself seeking the aid of Thomas Jury, a witch who’s powerful beyond measure and just as dangerous. But even with Jury’s so called ‘help’, will the Patron’s power prove too much for Tessa to withstand?

Lone Ghost Publishing

Publication date

January 14, 2024

Accessibility

Learn more

Language

‎English

Print length

319 pages

Book 3 of 6

The House of Graves Series

Review: Untethered Magic: An Urban Fantasy Thriller (The Realm of False Gods Book 1) by Steve Higgs

Rating: 4⭐️

Untethered Magic is the first book in The Realm of False Gods series by Steve Higgs and although I think it was well written, I don’t think I’m going forward with the rest of the series.

There’s not much to the world building. The reader is given to understand that the general human population doesn’t recognize that there’s a magical/other paranormal element existing, even when multiple kidnappings and murders start to occur. 

The location is in Bremen, Germany so everything/everyone is , naturally, German, from their names to the various law enforcement agencies. The main character. wizard detective, Otto Schneider, is a strange man.

One, for some reason, he believes he’s the only magical person in existence. Just because he hasn’t met anyone else like him. 

Ok that’s pretty funny actually in its mentality.  And it’s indicative of the narrative issues here. 

There’s actually more interesting characters here. One is a fantastic woman police officer who believes in Otto and his powers to the detriment of her career. She’s got a large, loving husband and family as support. The other main character is a werewolf of enigmatic history and identity. He’s got his own journey ahead. Really liked them both. 

Paranormal beings start popping in to drain, and murder humans. Others are kidnapped. Otto is drawn into the scene and investigations for his own agenda. 

It’s a paranormal action thriller with kidnappings, murders, disbelieving police departments, and demons with evil intentions.  And only occasionally did I feel engaged with the characters. And that was towards the final chapters. 

The ending of this book left me feeling unsatisfied.  It was irritating to me how the main character was handled by the author as well as the lack of follow through on important side characters at the end. 

As my books are bought and aren’t arcs, I feel that I didn’t enjoy this enough to justify going through with the series.  And I usually exclude any storylines that involves slavery elements, which this has. 

If Higgs is an author you enjoy, here’s a series for you. 

The Realm of False Gods (11 book series)

Untethered Magic #1

Buy link

        Untethered Magic: An Urban Fantasy Thriller (The Realm of False Gods Book 1)

    

Blurb 

Today’s tasks:

1.Escape from secret organisation’s underground cell

2.Recruit a snarky d-bag werewolf to help

3.Invade the demon realm and rescue a little girl

For wizard detective, Otto Schneider, magic has always kept him out of trouble. Now it’s working in reverse …

… and if he doesn’t get himself killed, his partner probably will.

March 6, 2020

Language

‎English

Print length

194 pages

Book 1 of 11

The Realm of False Gods

Review: Three Little Graves & the Big Bad Wolf (The House of Graves Series Book 1) by M.M. Crumley

Rating : 4.5 ⭐️

I honestly dislike when Amazon or the author’s publisher goes overboard in its marketing efforts for a story, needlessly I think, to say things like “laugh-out-loud humor” or “among the best female fantasy books”.

Because first I enjoy making my own impressions, especially if the writer is new to me, as Crumley is here, or it is realistically not true. This isn’t the best female fantasy story ever but it’s absolutely terrific in a horror story, PNR, thriller manner. 

Crumley brings the reader into the story at the funeral for Tessa Graves’ father. Standing at the gravesite, she’s the last Graves now in the powerful, old family firm of Graves, Graves, and Graves. A man apparently mourned but none but herself. 

Turns out with excellent reason. 

Step by harrowing step, the author shatters Tessa’s well constructed, calm and orderly life. Her life and her household, when her “crazy aunt” and her “unstable butterfly” grandmother move back into the family mansion she’s inherited, along with the butler who’s been living there for centuries. 

But the horror arises when evil is discovered. Not one but two villains (one deeply in the shadows) and  the beginnings of the heinous acts they have committed.

There is a series prior to this one, The Immortal Doc Holliday Series , and those characters figure greatly here in this one. And there’s a carryover plot from this series into the Doc Holliday Series in book 17 I believe. 

The writing is detailed, emotionally charged and very terrifying/horrifying in the dark physical and mental trauma that the main character is enduring constantly. To say that I was hurting for her and those who cared for her is saying the very minimum. 

Incredible storytelling and series. Yes I’ve finished it. Binged it in a day. Highly recommended.

Connected Universe and crossover series:

The Immortal Doc Holliday Series (21 book series)

The House of Graves Series (6 book series)

Ghost Guy Series (2 book series)

The House of Graves Series (6 book series) :

Three Little Graves & the Big Bad Wolf # 1

OVER THE RIVER & THROUGH THE WOOD BOOK 2

FIRE BURN & CAULDRON BUBBLE BOOK 3

A HUNTING, A HUNTING WE WILL GO BOOK 4

AND HE WALKED A CROOKED MILE BOOK 5

HOLIDAY SPECIAL: DECK THE HALLS BOOK 6

Buy link:

 Book 1 of 6: The House of Graves Series 

Blurb 

Working as an investigator for the supernatural elite means living by three simple rules: don’t ruffle feathers, keep the clients (vampires, shifters, witches, etc.) happy, and never give them a reason to want you dead. Simple. Unfortunately, Tessa Graves just can’t seem to follow the rules. And that’s why 300 bloodthirsty wolf shifters are hot on her trail. Adding insult to injury, her newly-retired aunt and feisty grandmother have decided to become her new sidekicks… and roommates… and life coaches whether Tessa likes it or not. Can these three strong-willed women survive each other long enough to avoid being torn to shreds?