P.L. Matthews

An enjoyable light murder mystery set in an alternate modern day Sydney, Australia with witches, vampires, fae and gargoyles. It's part of a series and although I haven't read the earlier books, this one worked well anyway. Rhianne is asked to investigate the murder of Albert in Lord Bellmont's House, one of the local Vampire establishments. Rhianne, along with her group of friends, who include gargoyles, an incubus and a couple of friends who she isn't quite sure what they are and hasn't liked to ask too much, set about using their shared skill sets to solve the crime. I read an early reviewer copy of this book through Librarything's early reviewer program.… (more)

Rhianne Alkenn is a half fae/half witch who owns a gardening business. She has also gotten a reputation as someone who can solve a mystery. When her mother tells her that she needs her help to solve a murder for the Vampire Master Lord Bellmont, Rhianne is surprised. She doesn’t have a close relationship with her mother and wasn’t aware that her mother even knew about her investigations. Rhianne has seven days to solve the murder before Lord Bellmont collects a blood debt from her mother. Luckily she has the help of her supportive group of friends, her (not really) dog Toto and her tech mage boyfriend.

Blood Debt is the third book in the Green Witch Mysteries series. Although it is helpful in order to get the background on the world-building and characters, it isn’t necessary to have read the earlier books in order to enjoy this mystery. The series takes place in an alternate Sydney Australia populated with all manner of supernatural beings. Rhianne’s best friend is an incubus and her employees are gargoyles. However, this book is more of a murder mystery than a paranormal fantasy. While Rhianne is learning more about her powers during the story, the book is mostly a murder mystery. Rhianne questions various characters who are suspects, learns more about the murder victim and works on solving the mystery in a fairly mundane manner. I found her relationship with her mother, and the changes and growth in that and in her character interesting. I was a bit disappointed in the role of her boyfriend, Kai. He didn’t have very much to do in the story other than be supportive and it would have been nice to see some more interaction and development with his character.

Altogether, this was an enjoyable murder mystery with paranormal elements. Some violence, but not excessive and no sexual content.… (more)

Blood Debt by P.L. Matthews is the third in the Green Witch Mystery series. I haven’t read the others, so this one definitely works as a stand-alone.

Known to others as a low level witch, Rhianne has started to establish herself as detective for the magical community. She has the help of her human boyfriend, Toto- her dog (most likely some type of fae) a succubus, a couple of gargoyles, and her very powerful mother. When a vampire calls on them to solve a murder in his home, she has to learn more about their world.

I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this—both the magical elements and the mystery were very well done. There is a lot of humor and connection between old friends, as well as some rivalries and jealousies. The pacing was great with a lot of action but still some time to develop characters and narrow down the suspect list. Rhianne is still trying to develop and understand her own magical skills but what we currently know of them seems fascinating, connected to plants and trees. My only very small complaint was that there was a bit of repetition in a couple of places such as Rhianne coming up with a profile for each person she was interviewing, and then later reviewing those almost word for word with her mother. Sometimes mysteries beat you over the head with reviewing clues. That really wasn’t the case here, but, it did stand out to me.

I’m glad to be introduced to this series. I’m going to read the earlier ones and will look forward to more. Thank you to Librarything and PL Matthews for providing a reader copy.… (more)