Straight Reading from the Library: Floats the Dark Shadow by Yves Fey

The Library was fortunate enough to receive a copy of Floats the Dark Shadow by Yves Fey for review as part of her virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Yves will be awarding a Hardback copy of Floats the Dark Shadow (US ONLY) to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour. You can see the rest of the stops here: http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2014/02/virtual-nbtm-review-tour-floats-dark.html.

READ THE BLURB

Floats the Dark Shadow is the winner of four Indie awards in both mystery and historical categories.

Young American painter Theodora Faraday struggles to become an artist in Belle Époque Paris. She’s tasted the champagne of success, illustrating poems for the Revenants, a group of poets led by her adored cousin, Averill. When children she knows vanish mysteriously, Theo confronts Inspecteur Michel Devaux who suspects the Revenants are involved. Theo refuses to believe the killer could be a friend—could be the man she loves. Classic detection and occult revelation lead Michel and Theo through the dark underbelly of Paris, from catacombs to asylums, to the obscene ritual of a Black Mass. Following the maze of clues they discover the murderer believes he is the reincarnation of the most evil serial killer in the history of France—Gilles de Rais. Once Joan of Arc’s lieutenant, after her death he plunged into an orgy of evil. The Church burned him at the stake for heresy, sorcery, and the depraved murder of hundreds of peasant children. Whether deranged mind or demonic passion incite him, the killer must be found before he strikes again.

READ THE REVIEW

I am so excited... I have just found a new series and I love it! If you are a fan of Caleb Carr's The Alienist or like Anne Perry's Inspector Monk series, give this new series a try.

Children have gone missing and there seems to be a link between them and the Revenants. Theo Faraday and Inspector Michel Devaux form an alliance to try to solve these murders--Theo, because she hopes to prove that it's not her cousin that's behind them.

The book is not only beautifully written, evoking the beauty of Paris, it's also a darn good mystery. The reader right with the main characters as they work through the clues. And, there is more than one mystery to solve so the clues have to be carefully sifted to see where they belong.

One of the reasons I really liked this book is that the characters are just wonderfully rich. They both have full back stories that are slowly brought out by the author and that explain their present. There is growth in them and they develop a respect for each other. I'm looking forward to further books in this series to see more interaction between these two.

Congratulations, Ms. Fey. Five Stars.

MEET THE AUTHOR

Yves has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Oregon, and a BA in Pictorial Arts from UCLA. She has read, written, and created art from childhood. A chocolate connoisseur, she's won prizes for her desserts. Her current fascination is creating perfumes inspired by her characters and by Paris. She's traveled to many countries in Europe and lived for two years in Indonesia. She currently lives in the San Francisco area with her husband Richard and three cats, Marlowe the Investigator, and the Flying Bronte Sisters.

Buy the book at Amazon.

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