Black Magic Woman

Black Magic Woman (2008) Justin Gustainis

This isn’t the first book by Justin Gustainis I’ve read, so I had a general idea of what to expect. This book is a bit different from the other series I’ve read, however. A little less horror, and although there was a bit of police procedural to it, the main character is a private investigator, Quincy Morris, and Libby Chastain, the white witch who occasionally helps him out.

There are many different threads in this plot, and from a scan of the reviews, this bothered a lot of people.

Me? I liked it.

The prologue is set during the Salem witch trials. Then we jump to modern time, and Quincy Morris is helping to take out a nest of vampires. This is essentially a short story to introduce us to Quincy Morris.

I liked it, but I can see why some people might not.

Then we jump to the mystery. Which breaks into two story arcs: the Morris and Chastain story arc, and the Van Dreenan and Agent Fenton arc.

I quite liked Van Dreenan and Fenton. I thought they got the better dialog.

“You did not, surely, use the word ‘hinky’ in your requests,” Van Dreenan said with a tiny smile, his first in days.
“No, I believe I used words like ‘unusual,’‘anomalous,’‘idiosyncratic,’ and ‘fucked-up.’ Well, maybe not that last one.”

Not that I had anything against Morris & Chastain. I just found the two cops a little more interesting. Perhaps because they were non-magical men trying to deal with a magical crime. Though I was a little irritated by the ending. I can’t say magical healing is one of my favorite things–it often feels cheap.

Fun terms:
umthakhati
Walpurgis Night

Lots of really awful things happen. Not in detail, but still disturbing. so this isn’t for everyone. But I liked it well enough.
Rating:7/10

Published by Solaris Books

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