Just a quick disclaimer: This was a random book I picked up on Kindle. I don’t know how I stumbled upon it but I’m really glad I did because I literally read this in one night. I, unexpectedly, stayed up all night and I literally couldn’t put it down. So I would highly recommend checking it out if you like urban fantasy with a variety of magical beings, a slow burn romance, murder, mystery, and  plenty of action. I, for one, will be diving head first into the next book once it is published. 

J.C. McKenzie really got the pace right with Death Maker. She lets the reader figure things out for themselves, rather than info dump in chunky blocks, which I really respect because I like to create my own picture of the story within my mind and figure things out for myself.

The story takes place in an urban fantasy world that is very familiar to in our modern society, so the story doesn’t need a whole lot of world building anyways. Death Maker starts off with a bang, introducing an interesting premise, and the plot flows along well throughout the book. J.C. McKenzie drops little morsels of mystery to hold your interest, so overall excellent pacing in my view.

The story is told in first person,  single POV by Lark, the female main character. She is a necromancer who works for an agency to settle disputes (like will and estate disputes) so she raises these poor, deceased people back from the dead to settle arguments between their relatives or whoever objects to their will. She also consults with the police department to help solve murders and crimes by questioning deceased victims. She’s a pretty bad-ass woman who’s actually secretly very powerful, more powerful than the people around her realise.

She also finds herself indebted to the local Vampire Lord and he’s not someone you really want to find yourself  working for. He’s promised to help her family (which is her life‘s mission/focus at the moment) so she can’t really say no to his deal.  Her twin brother and her brother’s partner are absolutely the cutest things ever.

She’s got a detective kind of sniffing around the bush (if ya know what I mean), who I think will shine in the next book and I predict that their eventual romance is going to be rather delicious. 

The other characters, particularly the villain, in this book were written so well. The author really did a great job at writing dynamic characters who are more than what they seem at first which really enhances the mystery of the whole story. 

There is a lot of tension and angst, but everyone is fairly well behaved and keeps their clothes on so I’d say it’s not a very spicy read. It is a very slow, slow burning romance and I have high hopes that the spicy will be kicked up a notch in the next book. So, if you like a slow burn with lots of tension you’ll like the romance in Death Maker by J.C. McKenzie.

I was so pleasantly surprised with Death Maker by J.C. McKenzie. Like I said, it was just a random book I took a chance on the Kindle store that didn’t have a lot of reviews but the reviews it did have were all quite positive.

The paranormal/urban fantasy market is flooded with hundreds of books that all have similar plots, characters, and stories, which is fine if you enjoy them, but, for me, it’s always refreshing to find a story that’s unique in its premise and its presentation.

If you like mystery, tension, and  twisty plot turns, I think you’ll really enjoy Death Maker by J.C. McKenzie.