Customer Reviews

Along Came a Demon (Whisperings) (Whisperings Paranormal Mystery)

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Take a peek inside, and the first sentence hooks you: "There's a naked woman in the garden," Jack said.

The narrator, Tiff Banks, lives in the fictitious city of Clarion, Utah. She sees the ghosts of people whose death is the result of an act of violence, and she knows there are other unnatural beings around, what she calls demons. With the help of these ghosts, Tiff assists the local police in their investigations. As she says, "the dead are all around us, and they`re always watching." Ms. Welch sets up the plot by telling the reader that ghosts follow certain rules, then introduces her latest ghostly encounter, who has broken those rules. Tiff sets out to find ghost Lindy Marchant's missing son, and along come the demons. What begins as a missing person's case turns into something on a much larger scale. As if a ghost who doesn't follow the rules makes Tiff's life difficult enough, a demon who is also a rule-breaker is foisted upon her by the Clarion Police Department: Detective Royal Mortensen. Tiff can't tell friend from foe, but determinedly continues her pursuit of young Lawrence and whoever abducted him.

Apart from a few slower areas - where Tiff describes her surroundings, and a little history, thereby setting the scene for the reader - the plot carries you along at a fast clip. This is a lively read and hard to put down. Relationships with ghosts who look and act like the living is not a new concept, but Ms. Welch brings new angles and a fresh perspective. The ghosts are engaging characters with eccentric charm, and Tiff Banks is a great heroine, a strong-willed woman who has come to terms with an extraordinary ability and uses it to her advantage. She speaks to the reader with a dry, edgy impatience that reminds me of In Plain Sight's Mary Shannon.

Ms. Welch gives a preview of the next book in the "Whisperings" series at the end of Along Came a Demon. I shall definitely look out for it. I want to know more about Tiff Banks and whatever uncanny case she takes us on next.

This is a solidly constructed, well written, nicely executed story. It's not every long, but it's the right length for the introduction of these 2 characters who will have to somehow come to an accommodation with each other.

One's a human woman with a talent (that isn't psychic) for seeing and speaking with the ghosts of murder victims. The other is a man from another dimension whose species seems awfully much like demons, maybe crossed with vampires, and he's spent a career as a cop. He now considers himself a permanent resident of our dimension.

They are going to be in each others life, and that is not going to be easy!

This volume contains a novella that is complete in itself, and a preview of the next installment. This is a good place to start.

Ok, I thought well I will give it a try. I read paranormal and mystery all the time. This book combined the 2 with a excellence such as authors like Charlaine Harris and MaryJanice Davidson.

I started reading it and couldn't put it down. Good thing you can't see my droopy eyes and dirty house......lol

The characters are well developed and interesting. You want to know more about them. You can't stand that the book ends!!

This book had a great plot and it was NOT one of those where you know what was going to happen!

I hope that Linda will continue to bless me with her books to review! I look forward to the rest of this series!!!

There was a lot to like about this book, mostly the plot lines--a woman who regularly sees ghosts and communicates with them including the two who live in her house because they are buried in her basement. (She didn't know when she bought the house.) The book opens with a wet ghost standing in her backyard, something the ghost shouldn't have been able to do since they stay where they were killed. Tiff tries to find out how the woman died and why she is in Tiff's backyard. Then Tiff finds the dead woman had a young child, whom the police don't know about. On top of that two demons are trying to kill her, and one demon who may be trying to help her.

All in all a promising start--interesting characters, an engaging story line, a mystery. So what goes wrong? I think it was the inexperience of the writer, although I have no idea what her writing history is. A plot should develop with actions building upon one another. Welch just seems to throw things in without having them move the story line forward--the ghost of a horny old man at the side of the road is one example. I'm not sure why that was added.

The climax wasn't developed well. She could have created more a sense of danger, a realization on the part of Tiff that she was in trouble. Instead we have everything go black and she wakes up a prisoner of the bad demons. We also know that Tiff had just figured out where the boy was, but that seemed arbitrary. It would have been nice to read about her thought processes. And finally the story about what the child and his mother ghost were was incomplete.

I think this could have been a much better book with more editorial direction. I wish it had been better. I am uncertain about reading the next book in the series.

I read a lot of paranormal books. They have to have great characters, a lot of humor, a little sizzle, and an edge-of-your seat plot. This book has it all. From the opening sentence, I was hooked, and couldn't put the book down. The minute I finished this one, I bought the sequel. I can't wait for the next one, and hope Linda Welch writes many many more!

I really enjoyed this book. It was very well written and you really got into the head of the narrator. I also really enjoyed the unique take on demons and how they aren't all bad. One of the great parts of this book is the interaction Tiff has with the various ghosts she meets.

The descriptions of all settings and characters are fantastic and allow you to really imagine Tiff's world around her and I really loved the repartee between Tiff and the other characters she comes into contact with, especially Royal. And how great is the name Royal?

Tiff is a very strong and independent heroine who I really admired but I also loved the fact that she had a soft spot, especially toward the children ghosts she comes into contact with.

I thought the pace was perfect and there is never a dull moment. I literally had to fight with myself to put the book down at night! I'll definitely be reading the follow up book and would recommend this book to anyone who loves Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance.

I have been an avid mystery fan for much of my life. I read before going to sleep every night and the books that usually make up that reading material are mysteries of the cozy type. Agatha Christie, P D James, Elizabeth Peters, Ngaio Marsh, Sara Paretsky, Martha Grimes, and the list goes on. When I saw that Linda Welch had requested a review for her psi-fi mystery, Along Came A Demon, I leapt at the chance to read and review it. I was not disappointed.

Tiff Banks, nicknamed the Ice Queen by the Clarion police department for her tall stature and ice blonde hair, works as a consultant for the police in murder cases. She has told them that she is a psychic, but in actuality, she sees dead people as flesh and blood and they whisper to her. Tiff, who hates to be called Tiffany because of the image that projects, was orphaned as a baby, grew up in a variety of foster homes, and always felt she was a little different than everyone else. Happier being by herself than with a group of people, Tiff left Utah as soon as she was able and went from place to place and job to job. Until, after landing in San Francisco, boom, out of nowhere she started seeing and being able to talk to dead people. She returned to Utah to the small town of Clarion in the hopes that there wouldn't be too many murdered people trying to get her attention. Unfortunately for her, she moved into a house where there were two ghosts in residence, as well as two who lived on her street. So much for trying to get away from them.

Along Came A Demon starts with Tiff being told by Jack and Mel, her ghost couple, that there is a naked woman dripping on her front grass. Tiff is cranky that she has to deal with a dead person before she can even get her morning coffee

"A naked wet woman in the garden. Dripping wet."

I sighed and turned to lean against the counter. I would rather she were an escaped lunatic wandered into the neighborhood than what she really was. Although why she was wet on that chilly November morning was anyone's guess.

"I've been watching her from the bedroom window," Mel said, coming through the door from the hallway, mussing up her permanently mussed red hair with one hand. "She's been standing there, wet, for half an hour."

Not a disorientated stranger in the wrong back yard. Not an escaped loony. Worse. One of them. I sighed again. I did not want to deal with it that early in the morning. "She'll have to wait till after I've had my coffee."

Tiff was trying to figure out how the naked woman came to be on her grass as usually, the dead are bound to where they passed. Lindy Marchant passed away in the apartments behind Tiff's house, and she is concerned about her son. Tiff promises to find out about her son so that hopefully, Lindy will leave her alone, as she doesn't want to live with a naked woman in her orchard. The only problem is that once she checks with the Clarion police department, it appears that Lindy Marchant had no son.

Not willing to give up, Tiff requests to search the apartment. Under the refrigerator she finds a drawing by Lawrence, which is given to the police to goad them into searching for the missing child. So starts the twisted case which involves the missing child Lawrence, which blossoms into a nationwide case where over 200 boys born on November 9, 2002 had gone missing.

In addition to being able to see the murdered, Tiff can also see the otherworldly, whom she had heard about from her psychic friend, Lynn.

Lynn was trying to be ethnically sensitive when she call them the Otherworldy. That was too much of a mouthful for me - I called them demons. Not that I thought they were creatures from Hell - I didn't know what they were or where they came from. They could be aliens from outer space for all I knew. But with their pointed teeth and glimmering eyes, demon seemed a fitting description.

And a little later on, Welch provides some more description of her demons.

I would never call a demon cute. Incredibly handsome. Charming. Deadly. Not to be trusted. According to Lynn, they did not blatantly lie but could do so by omission when it suited them. And you could ask them a question and they would answer in such a way that, without exactly lying, they didn't give you the truth.

Tiff stays as far away from these demons as she can, but to her chagrin is partnered with Royal Mortenson, of the Clarion PD to work on the missing child case, and he is a demon. While wishing that she could shoot him instead of partnering with him, Tiff becomes suspicious of Royal, who has been moving from police department to police department, never staying too long in one location. She suspects that he may be involved in this missing children case from an inside perspective.

Linda Welch pens a engaging tale, full of action and adventure. A definite page turner full of twists to keep you guessing until the end.

Originially reviewed for the LL Book Review.

In the last year or two I've probably read more books with some kind of paranormal twist than I had all the remaining years of my life combined. I've been amazed to discover the number of ways authors have to give a novel a paranormal twist. "Along Came a Demon is among my favorites." I was happy discovering they aren't all glittery vampires.

As I evaluate the reasons "Along Came a Demon" was an enjoyable read for me several things come to mind. Part of it is the mystery portion. Ignore the paranormal part and this book is like a police procedural or private investigator mystery, which are genres I've read and enjoyed for years. Unlike the typical paranormal book, Tiff's skills and the existence of paranormal creatures aren't treated as if they are normal. Tiff assumes most people wouldn't acknowledge or accept her talents or paranormal beings exist, so she hides the true nature of her abilities and the existence of the paranormal. This adds a different twist to the story. Hiding certain things like that, most notably two "dead" people who reside in Tiff's house, adds plenty of humor to the book.

**Originally written for "Books and Pals" book blog.**

NO SPOILERS or plot summaries. Recommendations included.

HIGH LEVEL: This is book 1 in an urban fantasy series that is told from the perspective of a woman who sees dead people... and otherworldly creatures she calls demons. I picked this up on a whim and I have to say- WOW, I got so much more than I expected. If you're tired of blade-toting alpha females but have no tolerance for cowards, Tiff will probably be a breath of fresh air - she's very down to earth, considering. Mid-level intensity story: there was a dash of violence, but nothing too gruesome, a low-simmering sexual tension that rested mostly below the surface and the magic was understated and controlled. All in all this was a solid UF that held my attention from beginning to end.

CHARACTERS: Tiff was a GREAT character- she's not a bad-ass in leather, but she's not a wilting flower either. She had just the right balance of attitude and realism, courage and self-preservation. There was no whining and no posturing- she was just as likely to run away as she was to turn around and shoot her attacker point blank. She was a very well-rounded woman with a complex history that just made her awesome to spend time with. NICE. The best supporting characters were definitely her ghostly roommates, Jack and Mel. Sexy demon Royal was a little cardboard, but likeable nonetheless.

PLOT: This is not a fire-works display of action, but rather a well thought out cop-like mystery. Pacing steadily increased through the book. Started a little slow. The plot also grew as I read- the stakes growing from chapter to chapter. It was well done to hold your interest, but never went out of control. Unfortunately, the end felt a little sloppy after how well everything fit together up to that point. Climax and resolution almost felt accidental and lacked complete closure. The set up for future books was somewhat bitter sweet as not all of the little details of this story were brought to satisfactory close- I won't say more than that except that it wasn't anything major. But- it's the little things that get the 5th star, so this one only gets 4.

BOTTOM LINE: Recommended- it isn't your standard UF. The tone is more subtle than most. I think this is a series to keep an eye on as it can only really get better from here.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

1. Ann Aguirre's psychometric investigator in Blue Diablo: A Corine Solomon Novel

2. Katherine Bayless' fun, if somewhat overwritten Deadly Remains: A Clairvoyant's Complicated Life (Volume 1) where society openly deals with the psychically gifted

3. Laura Bickle's cool, fire-laden Embers - not as much of a bad-ass-chick and more of a blue collar girl with fire elementals, ghosts and more

4. Jim Butcher's wizard private eye Storm Front (The Dresden Files, Book 1)

5. Jennifer Estep's stone-magic wielding, hard, cold, vicious assassin Spider's Bite (Elemental Assassin, Book 1)

6. Diana Pharaoh Francis' Bitter Night - kick ass story with a creative spin on vampires with witches and fae

7. Nancy Holzner's fabulous take on zombies in Boston in Deadtown (A Deadtown Novel)

8. Faith Hunter's bounty-hunter shifter series Skinwalker (Jane Yellowrock, Book 1)

9. H.P. Mallory's Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble: The Jolie Wilkins Series, Book 1 - poor young woman accidentally discovers creatively drawn world of fae, vampires, weres and more. Weaker female character, but still well written

10. Seanan McGuire's fae-private eye series Rosemary and Rue (October Daye, Book 1)

11. Karen Marie Moning's Darkfever (Fever Series, Book 1) - dark, sometimes brutal struggle between the seelie and unseelie in Dublin

12. Katie Salidas' Immortalis Carpe Noctem - girl is turned after an attack and then tries to adapt and cope with a little bit of guidance

Welch provides an intriguing mystery with fun characters that you want to get to know better. Tiff is tough; Royal is enticing; and Tiff's roommates are a hoot, even if they are dead. This was a quick read without a lot of unnecessary filler to get in the way. I couldn't wait to start on the next book in the series.