Living with the Dead-Kelley Armstrong

Living with the Dead
Kelley Armstrong
Bantam, Nov 2008, $22.00
ISBN: 9780553806649

After her husband dies tragically, Robyn Peltier moves to Los Angeles and gets hired as an assistant to a celebrity Portia Kane; her immediate job is to clean up the woman’s image. At a luncheon Portia innocently takes a picture of her “frenemy” Jasmine, which starts a chain of events that lead to the woman’s death. Robyn finds her corpse and she runs from the scene which makes her look guilty.

Robyn visits her friend Judd Archer to ask for his aid; he gladly agrees to help her. When she goes to the bathroom in his home, she hears a shot; she finds Judd murdered and once again flees the crime scene. Detective Findley, who Judd called just before he was killed, arrives to find the corpse. He has the special skill of being able to see and communicate with spirits, which is why he is the department’s best detective at solving homicides. Robyn enters the supernatural world because the dead bodies have her dealing with factions who want a powerful clairvoyant like the killer is to join them. Robyn’s friend part chaos demon Hope and her lover Karl, the werewolf, help Robyn while seeking to bring the troublemakers to supernatural justice.

The latest Otherworld novel is a fantastic exciting tale that readers will devour in one session. The humans and supernatural live side by side yet the former know nothing about the latter. When Robyn gets caught in the crossfire between two groups, she concludes she can get a job helping the supernaturals conceal their secrets from humanity. Hope and Karl are interesting support characters who look like they will a novel of their own soon. Kelly Armstrong provides a great urban fantasy whodunit.

Harriet Klausner