May Day 

by Josie Jaffrey 

5 out of 5 

Synopsis 

If the murderer you’re tracking is a vampire, then you want a vampire detective. Just maybe not this one.

It’s not that Jack Valentine is bad at her job. The youngest member of Oxford’s Seekers has an impressive track record, but she also has an impressive grudge against the local baron, Killian Drake.

When a human turns up dead on May Morning, she’s determined to pin the murder on Drake. The problem is that none of the evidence points to him. Instead, it leads Jack into a web of conspiracy involving the most powerful people in the country, people to whom Jack has no access. But she knows someone who does.

To get to the truth, Jack will have to partner up with her worst enemy. As long as she can keep her cool, Drake will point her to the ringleaders, she’ll find the murderer and no one else will have to die.

Body bags on standby.

May Day is the first book in Josie Jaffrey’s Seekers series, an urban fantasy series set in Oxford, England.

Review 

Jack Valentine is a Seeker in Oxford - part of the paranormal police whose main job is to make sure the vampire society remains hidden from humans. When a human body drops at their feet during busy May Day festivities in Oxford, it’s up to Jack and her colleagues to get to the bottom of it. At first, they think it’s a scab (a feral vampire), and just want to stop them from killing publicly again, but soon there are more threads and mysteries than they could possibly follow.

May Day is the first book by Josie Jaffrey that I have read. This is the first book in her new Seeker series but is connected to her Solis Invicti and Sovereign series (all are part of the Soliverse novels). I think this explains why the world that Jaffrey has created feels so solid and believable. There were a few moments where, as a newcomer, I wondered if I was missing something, as some character relationships were already very developed, but overall, I really enjoyed the ride. I thought the vampire lore, the almost-police-like investigation, and the often ill-fated romance were all really strong threads of the story. I felt that all of the parts would have been strong enough to be a story on their own but mixed together, it made a book that was hard to put down. Despite all the serious stuff, there was a lot of light humor threaded throughout, and I loved the interactions between Jack and her friends. I can’t wait to read the rest of the series.

I received a free copy from Readers Favorite in exchange for an honest review.

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