In A Murder of Crones, SW Fairbrother continues the adventures of Vivia Brisk, her hag hero. This is a sequel to the Secret Dead, but can be read stand-alone as the background is developed within the story.

It is hard to discuss the plot without spoiling the first book, but Vivia is back. This time she has a time limit: only one month to investigate a ninety-year-old murder after the victims demanded it. When it occurred during the blitz and everyone involved is dead, this is going to be hard even for a hag, but she has no choice. If she fails to solve it, she will die – permanently this time. Fortunately as a hag, the fact that the people involved are mostly dead isn’t insurmountable. What she finds is disturbing, intriguing and keeps you hooked to the last page.

Hags, shape-shifters, fairy tales and more: with this book, the series strikes out entirely into its own mythos, and is the stronger for it. It’s an excellent read, tightly plotted and the characters are distinct and vivid. Vivia is intelligent and sympathetic, if understandably a bit sharp on occasion – thirty days is not a long time to have left to live.

This is one for horror, paranormal, dark fantasy readers…actually, anyone who enjoys good writing should give it a look, but horror, paranormal, fantasy and modern fairytale fans will adore it. For a real treat get this and the Secret Dead and read them back to back.