Title: May Day
Author: Josie Jaffrey
Genre: Fantasy, supernatural, science fiction
Publisher: Silver Sun Books
Pages: 377 pages
Publication Date: 9th July 2020
My Rating: 5/5
If the murderer you’re tracking is a vampire, then you want a vampire detective. Just maybe not this one.
It’s not that Jack Valentine is bad at her job. The youngest member of Oxford’s Seekers has an impressive track record, but she also has an impressive grudge against the local baron, Killian Drake.
When a human turns up dead on May Morning, she’s determined to pin the murder on Drake. The problem is that none of the evidence points to him. Instead, it leads Jack into a web of conspiracy involving the most powerful people in the country, people to whom Jack has no access. But she knows someone who does.
To get to the truth, Jack will have to partner up with her worst enemy. As long as she can keep her cool, Drake will point her to the ringleaders, she’ll find the murderer and no one else will have to die.
Body bags on standby.
May Day is the first book in Josie Jaffrey’s Seekers series, an urban fantasy series set in Oxford, England.
May Day is an excellent start to the Seekers series and I for one, cannot wait to find out what happens next. It’s essentially a murder mystery story with a vampire detective agency tracking down murderers of the paranormal kind.
Josie Jaffrey has a fantastically witty style of writing that brings her characters to life. The story follows Jack Valentine, the youngest of the Seekers as she attempts to find the murderer of a man who was thrown off of a building on May Morning.
Jack is a hilarious vampire protagonist who is determined to solve the case, no matter which way the case may lead. Even if it means having to tolerate others who she dislikes in order to get to the places she needs to be.
It took a while to get into the story initially and the pacing felt slightly slow. However, it felt necessary to build the world around the characters and let the readers feel fully immersed in the Silver world.
Every society has its fair share of weirdos and this is just the same for vampires. There’s a couple of particularly gross characters in this story who live on the fringes of society and are barely legal in what they do, even for vampire standards. One character in particular really creeped me out for a number of reasons and I hope to find out what happens to the character next…
It’s also refreshing to read a book with a main character who is openly bisexual with a gay best friend. The relationships Jack develops in the story are brilliant and I was rooting for her to get with one of the characters and I’m still not sure how I feel about who she chooses.
I need to read more of this author’s writing, it’s brilliant. The story flows effortlessly and is sheer joy to read. The book is exciting, steamy and an adventure from start to finish. I cannot wait for book two!
Purchase links:
Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/31NB4mL
Josie Jaffrey’s shop: https://www.josiejaffrey.com/shop
Thank you so much to Josie for sending me an ARC of this fantastic book. It was a delight to read.
If you get a chance to read May Day, it really is worth reading.
Happy reading,
Books and Bookends 