More murder. More mayhem. More champagne.
Toni Windsor is failing at ‘happily ever after,’ but it really isn’t her fault.
All she wants is true love and the perfect wardrobe, but it doesn’t look like they are coming her way any time soon. Instead, there are murders to solve and zombies to raise, and she’s broken her phone again.
Worst of all, her shiny new boyfriend turns out to be a jerk; maybe dating a vampire wasn’t her best decision ever?
I was delighted to be asked if I’d take part in the blog tour for this book. Regular readers will have noticed that I’ve been doing far fewer tours in the last year or so. Therefore it takes a special book to tempt me out from behind the piles of books and onto a blog tour.
Grave Danger is that book.
It’s the second in the Lavington Windsor Mysteries, coming hot on the heels of Grave Secrets. The first book arrived at just the right moment and I absolutely loved it. It had everything; murder, mystery, zombies, politics, work, relationships, how to get blood out of clothing, necromancy, stylish zombies, the works.
So it was with some great excitement that I found myself with a copy of book 2: Grave Danger. More Lavington Windsor? Sign me up.
Following on hot on the heels of the first book, we find our plucky heroine, Lavington ‘Toni’ Windsor, estate agent by day, necromancer by night, back in action. There’s been a murder at the local school and Toni’s brother needs her help. Except Toni has enough problems on her plate with her crappy vampire boyfriend (sorry, he’s a terrible person/vampire) who seems ever more insistent on turning her into his vampire girlfriend (see?), and the Assemblage demanding more and more of her.
Oh yeah, you probably want to read the first book, erm, first. But you did that when I first reviewed Grave Secrets, didn’t you.
*stern look*
OK, fine. Go read it now. I’ll wait.
Right, while they’re gone (honestly, some people are such slackers) we can talk about book two. But if you’ve read the first book (well done you!), then you know just how good it was, and therefore should need very little encouragement from me to read it.
Where was I? Oh yes. Murder mystery, dead girl at school, our Toni gets called in to have a chat with her on account of being a necromancer and being able to do such things (just don’t forget the snacks, the undead get peckish). Oscar is being frankly awful and Toni is starting to get fed up with him.
Hijinks ensue.
The murder investigation forms the meat and bones of the story, with Toni discovering her place in vampire society as a thread running through the book. It was great to see more of how the world of the vampires worked here. Coupled with some fantastic secondary characters all doing interesting things for interesting reasons, and our lovely Toni’s delightful line in witty dialogue, Grave Danger is a splendid second instalment in what I hope will be the long-running Lavinton Windsor Mysteries.
Funny, dark, gory, love story with a side order of whodunnit. What more could you want? Hugely recommended, if you hadn’t guessed.
Book three is out later this year, and I for one can’t wait to read it.
Grave Danger by Alice James is published by Solaris, and is out in the UK on 25th May 2023. Many thanks to the publisher for the advance copy of the book for review.
More lovely bloggers will be sharing their thoughts about the book as part of the tour. If I haven’t convinced you (lord alone knows how you can resist after this), maybe they can. Go say hi. Take snacks.
espresso coco
This has a nice blend of multiple genres but the whodunnit really has my attention. Great review, sir. Thanks for sharing! 🙂