Michael Barnes
I hadn't encountered Tanya Huff prior to this stand alone novel, though she has a prolific 40 year history of publishing. This is cosy horror romance meet-cute, or given these are eldritch horrors meat-cute (sorry, not sorry) .
Maggie over at the Lesbrary sums it up well "… town of Lake Argen is remote and isolated because it likes it that way. The idyllic small town is a little too idyllic—because generations ago the town founders made a deal with a dark power for prosperity. They keep outsiders out, deal with the odd incursion, and in return they watch the silver flow from their mine and their town prosper. Cassidy Prewitt runs the town bakery and has also been chosen as one of the servants of the Dark. When a wealthy visitor disappears in Lake Argen, it falls to Cassidy to deal with both official questions and the private investigator that the man’s family sends to the town. To Melanie Solvich, a recently unemployed teacher, the chance to earn a much-needed windfall just for driving to the middle of nowhere and asking a few questions seems like the perfect opportunity. She is not prepared for how strange the town is, or how cute the town baker is…"
The story is told from alternating points of view between the dark's Cassie (there is a discussion about how to punctuation this horror from beyond highlighting just how amusing this book can be) and our incomer Melanie (I think incomer is the towns name for those from outside the initial family founding lines).
This story is charming. The Dark (see comment about punctuation) is hilarious and sweetly awkward, (“HAVE THE TWO OF YOU SHARED THE VIVISECTION OF AN ELDRITCH CREATURE BY THE DARK OF THE MOON?”) and I would love to discover more of this town the dark, its guardians and quirky inhabitants, in fact it would make a great TV series. If you appreciate Welcome to Night Vale I think this story will entertain.
I hadn't encountered Tanya Huff prior to this stand alone novel, though she has a prolific 40 year history of publishing. This is cosy horror romance meet-cute, or given these are eldritch horrors meat-cute (sorry, not sorry) .
Maggie over at the Lesbrary sums it up well "… town of Lake Argen is remote and isolated because it likes it that way. The idyllic small town is a little too idyllic—because generations ago the town founders made a deal with a dark power for prosperity. They keep outsiders out, deal with the odd incursion, and in return they watch the silver flow from their mine and their town prosper. Cassidy Prewitt runs the town bakery and has also been chosen as one of the servants of the Dark. When a wealthy visitor disappears in Lake Argen, it falls to Cassidy to deal with both official questions and the private investigator that the man’s family sends to the town. To Melanie Solvich, a recently unemployed teacher, the chance to earn a much-needed windfall just for driving to the middle of nowhere and asking a few questions seems like the perfect opportunity. She is not prepared for how strange the town is, or how cute the town baker is…"
The story is told from alternating points of view between the dark's Cassie (there is a discussion about how to punctuation this horror from beyond highlighting just how amusing this book can be) and our incomer Melanie (I think incomer is the towns name for those from outside the initial family founding lines).
This story is charming. The Dark (see comment about punctuation) is hilarious and sweetly awkward, (“HAVE THE TWO OF YOU SHARED THE VIVISECTION OF AN ELDRITCH CREATURE BY THE DARK OF THE MOON?”) and I would love to discover more of this town the dark, its guardians and quirky inhabitants, in fact it would make a great TV series. If you appreciate Welcome to Night Vale I think this story will entertain.