Narrelle M. Harris

I try like hell not to ping authors on social media too often to rave at them about their books, because it feels invasive even though I'm being nice. I had to with Kitty & Cadaver. I found the entire story so engrossing that it was difficult to put the book down long enough to do so, but that was precisely why I had to! The characters are engaging and captivating, the mythology and worldbuilding is a delight, and I'm cursing my past self for not buying [b:Scar Tissue: And Other Stories|44908471|Scar Tissue And Other Stories|Narrelle M. Harris|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1554941314i/44908471._SY75_.jpg|69575263] at Continuum when they had the chance (although to be fair, to afford another book past!Lauren would have had to not eat for the weekend, which would have sucked).… (meer)

Harris has written a very clever vampire themed who-dunnit. I loved so many of the details of this story, from Gary — the young looking guy who is stuck in the 1960s, but is still trying to learn everything he can about science — to the loving detail in which Melbourne of the early 2000s is portrayed. Particularly the locations and details of the goth scene.

It being vampires, the deaths are more gruesome than in more cosy mysteries, but unlike a lot of the grim ‘realistic’ oeuvre, they aren’t presented for the titillation of the reader. Yes, we have unnamed young women dead, but unlike some books I’ve was, they aren’t paraded naked in lurid detail. Instead, the story focuses on the action of our protagonist, Lissa, who find the bodies.

We get a lot of Lissa’s back story throughout, through their interactions with their sibling and parents (the former being a force for good in Lissa’s life, the latter chaos and disappointment). Harris has done a spectacular job of capturing a particular dysfunctional family dynamic. There were certainly moments where I imagine many readers would have the same reaction I did — “I see, you’ve met my mother.”

The stand out relationships in the story are those of the two siblings, learning how to work together as adults, and the developing friendship between Lissa and Gary, which starts badly, and gets mishandled badly by Lissa.… (meer)

I love this so much! It has all that I love in the original Sherlock Holmes stories: the adventures, the mystery, the danger. And it makes explicit what I saw implicit since the first time I read those stories: the love between these two men.

The story is happening just before 'The Empty House', in Australia! and the reunion... oh, the reunion makes so much sense. As Holmes' reasons to stay away does (although this may be a biased opinion, as I always thought the same :P)

The writing is perfect, the sense of the era, the characters (the ones we know and the originals), the settings, all is laid in a way that transports you with them, and when you finally arrive at the end of the story, you do it with your heart warm and a smile in your face. A beautiful, thrilling, wonderful story.… (meer)