3.5 stars. I wanted to love this one but the pacing was a little slow and it was just missing… something. I don’t know what it was but it just fell a little flat for me.

I wanted more character development and more connection between Sam and Hel— it’s billed as a queer story but they shared one kiss and very little chemistry.

This is a gorgeous debut by the author, clearly well researched and cleverly crafted. I adored early 20th century Paris as a setting, made all the more interesting with fantastical beasts and other curious creatures. I must say where the novel isn’t so strong is in the interpersonal -there is supposed to be a blossoming romance happening between the main characters but there isn’t actually an awful lot of interaction between them; they seem mainly focused on solving the series of crimes they’ve been assigned mostly separated, only to come together occasionally. Sam seems more romantically interested in each of the men she comes across, which is strange when she then suddenly throws herself at Hel. We are left with an incredibly slow burn which I hope might continue to develop in future novels. The book is clearly set up to have a sequel, and I have liked this enough to want to read on.

Only one bugbear… surely it’s will-o-the-wisps??

No, two bugbears, actually… I did school French so was able to translate about half of the French in this book… but having to turn away to look up phrases on the regular ended up being quite distracting. If you do not want the translations within the text, perhaps add a glossary to the back? I think the general French comprehension of the average reader has been greatly overestimated!

My kindle formatting was unfortunately broken. I wasn't able to read so leaving five stars. I saw a note about "EPUB available late May" so I will try downloading again later in the month.

Good luck to Inky Phoenix Press on your first launch!! Rooting for you :)

Field Agent, Hel Moriarty (Helena), and Sam Harker (Samantha) Research Librarian. for the Royal Society of Abnormal Phenomena are sent to Paris to solve a series of murders that seem to be the work of a werewolf.

Paranormal mystery, very light same sex elements, strong feminist theme.