Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Psychic medium Simon Kincaide and his boyfriend, Myrtle Beach homicide Detective Vic D’Amato, find that the only thing more frightening than murder might be navigating their first holiday season as a couple.
A trip back to Pittsburgh to spend Thanksgiving with Vic’s large, exuberant family means dodging old frenemies and a bitter ex-boyfriend. A cold case comes back to haunt Vic when a murdered woman’s ghost begs Simon for justice. Then a new murder back in Myrtle Beach looks suspiciously familiar, and the dead man’s ghost isn’t playing nice.
When Simon gets a vision of the next victim before the crime occurs, he realizes that all the murders are supernaturally linked. Catching the murderer will take his psychic sleuthing skills along with Vic’s street smarts to avert a tragedy.
Can they do right by ghosts past, present, and yet to come without ending up in the crosshairs of a killer for Christmas?
I read Lucky Town when it first came out and enjoyed it but I was doubly curious to see what Kale Williams would bring to the story and if that would change my outlook on the novel. Turns out the answer is yes.
There was a space of time between the ebook and audio version that enabled me to become more familiar with Morgan Brice and the marvelous interconnected series of paranormal romances and their foundation universe of entwined allied couples. local mythology of ghosts/demons, and murders/mysteries. I’m talking not just the Badlands series which includes this story but the Witchbane series, the new Treasure Trail which starts a new series and more. All have couples that are mentioned in each others books and are connected through the work they do.
Which means I could now approach Lucky Town, the second time around with a wider foundation myself of its background and appreciation for the universe its author is still creating.
Plus I get the invaluable Kale Williams, a narrator I adore, delivering a remarkable narration that brings both men and the various other characters right to life. There are ghlosts, bourags, and all sorts of things that nastily go bump in the night here. Plus Simon and Vic still settling into their relationship and home in Myrtle Beach.
One of the many elements I have come to look forward to and appreciate in droves is the use of each locality and its mythology in the series. If it takes place in Myrtle Beach then that beachtown is explored, casually, through the storyline, as you would if you lived there. And it’s local ghosts and legends pop up as you would expect them to. Or just those southern scary monsters of the region spun out and taken another look at.
The human relationships are real and complex. And intertwined with the paranormal. Here the edge between the two is thin and murkey to our endless entertainment. And chills.
I loved listening to Lucky Town. I thought Kale Williams narration elevated the story a tad for me. Made it more exciting.
As I’m already connected to this series and couple, that’s saying a lot.
So yes I recommend this audio version, yes, to the series and yes to this story. Now to wait for the nest releases to arrive.
Cover art works as does the models for the characters.
Buy Links
Audio Details:
Audiobook
Published March 29th 2019 by Tantor Audio (first published October 29th 2018)
Edition Language English
SeriesBadlands #1.5
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 