Kim Harrison, The Good, the Bad, and the Undead

The Good, the Bad, and the Undead

Kim Harrison

Harper Torch, Feb 2005, $6.99, 453 pp.

ISBN: 0060572973

After being given crap cases that she felt were below her talent, witch Rachel Morgan broke the cardinal rule by resigning from the human managed federal government's Inderland Security. EEO and merit promotion fail when it comes to the glass ceiling for witches and other assorted ilk. Rachel opens up a firm with Jenks the Pixie and Ivy Tamwood the ill-tempered Vampire, but though she loves the independence, she worries about the rent.

Her former agency contracts out an assignment to Rachel. In Cincinnati, a serial killer is murdering witches, which makes Rachel the perfect witch to stop the culprit. The preliminary evidence points towards Trent Kalamack, who would cherish feeding his black magical soul with the prowess of his victims. With her helpers not much help as Ivy still needs to cut her teeth and Jenk is stuck in polyester and her boyfriend is tied up with demons that he conjures, Rachel patrols the night by herself knowing that she risks her life to stop an evil from feeding on her sisters.

This sequel to the delightful DEAD WITCH WALKING is a wonderful, paranormal, private investigative tale that in many ways will remind readers of the works of Kelly Armstrong and Charlaine Harris. The storyline is terrific as Kim Harrison displays insider knowledge to the workings of a bureaucracy when they force Rachel to quit, but hire her back as a contractor for more money and full use of her skills. The key to the tale is the cast who will turn believers of skeptics that vampires, pixies, witches, and an assortment of other supernatural beings exist. That is the magic of Kim Harrison.

Harriet Klausner