C.E. Murphy, Spirit Dances

Spirit Dances

C.E. Murphy

Luna, Mar 22 2011, $14.95

ISBN: 9780373803255

Fifteen months of baptism under fire has led Joanne Walker to feel a bit more confident that she has the right stuff to be a shaman and a Seattle police detective although her use of her gun has her on edge while under a three day full pay suspension during the inquiry. The Troll Lady she saved thanks her with two tickets to a Native American dance gala. She asks her boss Police Captain Michael Morrison to accompany her and he accepts. Whereas, she needs rubber underwear for this assignment that she calls a date (and he just a concerned boss with his distraught employee) which makes the Urban Shamans think her battles with the Walking Dead and the Demon Hunt seem kindergarten.

During the transformative performance, Joanne begins to turn into a coyote until a dancer falls to the stage. The dancer is dead. Joanne learns that the homeless are vanishing without a cause. As she looks into the seemingly mystical death of the performer and why the homeless vanished, the Urban Shaman works the Seattle underground where a deadly creature resides that logically she knows cannot be real.

The sixth Walker Papers urban fantasy see demon Hunts) is a crossroads thriller as the heroine finds herself struggling between her two roles of coop during the day and shaman at night; as Michael asks her why didn't she use the magic instead of the gun. The story line is fast-paced from the moment the dancer dies and never slows down as the shaman cop spins into a Coyote while her heart is pounding. Fans of the series will be stunned by the great late twist; next stop to follow.

Harriet Klausner