Rating: 4.25🌈

The Night Vision: A Nelson & MacIlwraith Mystery (Moon Murder Mysteries) by K Sterling really improved upon the previous story and those characters here, especially Lord Smoak who, along with his Park Ranger lover have important roles here and show huge character developments or make that revelations. 

The Moon Murder Mysteries is evolving into a group of powerful characters that Demi Sun God/anthropology professor Lennox “Nox” MacIlwraith, and his mate, Agent Nelson, along with Merlin, one of their magikal found family of witches, hellhounds, and medics is gathering together, book by book to help him fight the darkness. 

Sterling’s is a rich tapestry of Irish mythology, Celtic lore and language as well as literature . She  then matches this with the deep historical context of the American mountain culture and tapping into the world of the paranormal and ancient traditions for a dark, compelling mystical tale.

It can work too well as it does here with the Wolves of the Ossery, a horrific element that needs further foundation as well as  exploration to due justice to such a uniquely powerful piece of this narrative. Its introduction is detailed and memorable. Dark and damaging. And pieces of it, history and their culture pops up in the story in various ways. But there’s no resolution,  no insight into what happened to them. 

What Sterling crafts so beautifully is a mystery. Here with visions from the Oracle (another story and person brought into the circle), is used by Nox and Parks Service investigator, Agent Silas Shelby to locate a mysterious man they believe will be killed soon if they don’t help him, Tighe Ossor. 

Silas was featured heavily in the previous story, Dead Air, which was about the Ranger, Niall, and the demon, Cenn, aka Lord Smoak.  Here, Lord Smoak becomes the character who is worthy of the name. Here, his character evolves to become the overwhelming threatening force with its own agenda, something that we didn’t see before in his and Niall’s book. 

Other characters are showing signs of their own new powerful abilities and adaptations as new threats emerge. 

The instant connection between Silas and Tighe Ossor is believable, intimate and even mystical. So the reader is eager to see how this relationship develops between them. I would liked to have had actually less sex and more time spent with them getting to know each other, especially as Tighe is so much a man “out of time “. 

The Night Vision suffers from having too much of a narrative agenda to get through and not enough pages with which to get it done throughly and with all the storylines well developed. 

Sterling has offered up fantastic content and ideas here. So much to think about and take into consideration. Just the idea of the emergence of a new god, its evolution and what it means for the universe and other realities is mentioned here.How much control does that god have over its own creation? 

That’s just a small part of the story. 

The villain is barely a part of the book. Blink twice and you will miss him. A dramatic moment and what’s highly anticipated about it is glossed over, but it’s there. One sentence. 

This is a small narrative suitcase that’s bulging with all  important storyline things, the sides are separating as stuff is trying to fall out. But even more is needed. 

It ends on a sort of cliffhanger. Which will lead to an explosive start I’m sure to the next in the series. 

We’re on the journey of an evolution of a god that started with the first trilogy, now he’s gathering his set of warriors. 

I can’t wait to see what happens next. 

No, not one is a standalone story. 

Definitely recommend. But there’s many trigger warnings for multiple reasons. Read them. 

Great covers.

Cover art by @KillerLaurent

Moon Mysteries 1 – 3 (first series)

Nelson & MacIlwraith Mystery (Moon Murder Mysteries sequel series)

Back in the Hunt #1

The Tides of March #2

Dead Air #3 

The Night Vision #4

Buy link

Amazon.comhttps://www.amazon.comThe Night Vision: A Nelson & MacIlwraith Mystery (Moon Murder …

Blurb 

A vision of a corpse in a stream. A man with a heart too wild and a soul too pure for this world.

Parks Service investigator, Agent Silas Shelby, isn’t supposed to chase prophecies. But when an oracle named Tony shows him the skull of a man he’s never met, obsession takes hold. The trail leads him to Tighe Ossor—a descendant of ancient warrior-hunters hiding in the Appalachian wilds.

Tighe walked away from his brutal pack to live free, only to be hunted by a necromancer bent on power. To protect him, Silas must rely on anthropology professor Lennox MacIlwraith, Agent Nelson, and their magikal found family of witches, hellhounds, and medics.

Together, they must outwit dark sorcery before the oracle’s vision comes true. But with destiny, danger, and desire colliding, can Silas save a man fate has already marked for death?

The Night Vision can be read as a standalone but it includes numerous spoilers for the rest of the series and the original trilogy.

* [ inserting note of my own: imo not one of these complexly interwoven books can be read as a standalone story. Why this author and others seem to be adding this comment to blurbs for their series as a standardized note is puzzling, especially considering taken on their own merits, essentially all the characters foundation and the world building is lost without each others story ] 

Publisher

Bawdy Books

Publication date

November 20, 2025

Language

‎English

Print length

201 pages