Spell Struck

Spell Struck

By Nicole J. Fawcett

4 out of 5

Synopsis
Rhiannon Grey is a detective in a hectic police headquarters. She’s also a witch, in a society that’s learned not to think too highly of the supernatural, and her boss is a two thousand-year-old vampire. Rian has discovered the hard way that trouble is always just around the corner.

This time, trouble is called Griffin King, a fifteen year old runaway whose strangled corpse is found floating in the river. He’s not the first street-kid to vanish recently, or to turn up later, very dead. When Rian starts to suspect he was a witch, too, and that his magic led to his death, her investigation turns into a personal crusade. 

No one seems terribly concerned about the fate of a few disappeared urchins, though. And when a series of brutal murders starts panicked speculation about a nest of vampires, Rian’s boss has other things on his mind.

But Rian won’t be distracted. Not by bureaucracy, not by murder, and certainly not by her dysfunctional private life. Her family think she’s going to end up dead; her friends think she’s going to end up dead lonely; and her lovers are dead frustrated . . .

Review
This is set up in an alternative Britain where witches and vampires, and all manner of creatures are real, and openly live alongside normal people. I found it very easy to slip into this world, to accept all the rules and movements that were set up.
Witches are widely accepted, by law. But they can still cause tension, fear and apprehension in normal people on an individual scale. Some see magic as something to be praised, others see it as something to be hidden.
So add into that the SIST - the Supernatural Investigations Special Team, a branch of the police that employs witches. They have to work twice as hard to maintain a good reputation within the police force; and they have to fight to keep their cases, so Vice don't take the best ones...

I really enjoyed this book. After growing up watching Morse, Lewis, Midsommer Murders, and many others, I have an appreciation for detective stories; and this one trickled out just enough information and misleadings to keep me guessing the whole way along. I was so proud that I worked out who the big bad was as soon as they showed their face, but I have to admit that [spoiler]David Howarth had me fooled all along![/spoiler]
And of course it being set in Yorkshire, I loved the Britishness of it.

It only stopped being a 5 star for me, because I felt that it was a good detective story, then a good paranormal story, then had a romantic story. It all came together well at the end, but occasssionally in the build-up it felt a little disjointed.
Oh, and euros. Why euros?

Goodreads link
Amazon.co.uk