Reviewed by Irene

TITLE: Canines, Crosshairs and Corpses

AUTHOR: Angel Martinez

PUBLISHER: Amber Allure

LENGTH: 183 pages

BLURB:

What’s a Lord of the Dead to do? Hades’ bride of several thousand years has served him with divorce papers and she doesn’t just want him out of her life, she wants the palace and the dog, too. Hades’ nephews and his faithful ferryman, Charon, are determined to find their uncle something to distract him before he expires of brooding misery.

Tiberius Snyder had a good future, until his mother dies and his employer shuts down. When he finds himself alone with nowhere to live, he turns to panhandling and to drink, depression slowly killing him.

He just wants a place to sleep out of the cold wind, but Death finds him in a dirty alley. Odd. Ti never thought Death would be so hot…

REVIEW:

Murder mystery? Check. Contemporary setting with a touch of film noir? Check. Greek Mythology? Check. Understated humor? Check. Hot guys? Check. Twists and turns? Check. Mix together expertly in a big bowl, bake for a couple of hours and decorate with one fuck-hot Hades and his trusty side-kick Charon (portrayed much in the style of classic Frankenstein and Igor) That, ladies and gentlemen, is a recipe for a successful novella!

The somewhat unusual use of Greek mythology in a modern setting works very well and the understated humor will make you chuckle, if not outright laugh your ass off, to put it bluntly. Particularly Hades’ relationship with dogs – any dogs – will make you melt, and his absolute ‘take everything literally’ tendencies makes ground for some rather funny situations along the way!

The plot is, sorry to say, somewhat generic – murder mystery, killing spree among the homeless of the city, Florence Nightingale syndrome etc. but it’s pulled off expertly and with a few twists and turns that keeps it interesting.

Especially the use of characters from mythology and their personal abilities keep up the interest factor for a fantasy geek like me, as well as the theories about the interdependency of gods and humans. It’s well thought-out but never gets dry and boring.

The plot is fast-paced and a quick read, but that doesn’t derive from the quality of the story at all – actually, it’s not only good as a stand-alone story, but could easily be used as part of a smaller series where more layers of ‘gods relocated to contemporary time and settings’ could be explored. So Angel – get to writing! We want more!  

RATING:

BUY LINKS:   AmberAllure, Amazon