Missing Blood

by R.L. Wilson

Blurb Coming Soon!!

102 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 28, 2023

Reviews

[Rhina M. Finley · Rating 5 out of 5]

When people are coming up deceased with puncture wounds 🩸🧛🏿👩🏽‍💼! A quick paranormal short with a vampire 🧛🏿 as the culprit and a detective 🕵🏾‍♀️ attempting to solve the case! Definitely little spooky read!

[Blake · Rating 1 out of 5]

(FYI I tend to only review one book per series, unless I want to change my scoring by 0.50 or more of a star. -- I tend not to read reviews until after I read a book, so I go in with an open mind.)

DNF dumped at end of chapter one.

Just started and already pausing to take review notes, this is not usually a good sign.

The novella starts with a prologue with I'm guessing 12 year old MC, since she's in the 6th grade, its supposed to show why she became a police detective, but honestly makes no sense. Police officer to protect people, makes sense, specifically a detective, whose role is to solve crime no not from the plot shown, especially as the person saving her doesn't say she's a detective.
The words detective and officer are not interchangeable for all those both refer to police. It's not like the MC is a little kid who might not realise that, she's 12 she should know the difference.

Back to the novella....

How old is MC? She's old enough to have made it to detective rank, yet she's calling herself young as in young to be courageous and brave (these actually do mean the same thing!) but also a bit stupid.
Also I'm not liking that she's got a 100% cleared case rate. To me that's more fantasy than vampires etc.
Why doesn't she have a partner, police even detectives work in teams of at least two.
Why does she wear a uniform as a detective, they're usually in 'plain clothes'
So you now have a 'bad past' okay what is is... nope no answers just throw that in, sorry it's not a hook to read more or care about 'miss perfect detective'.

So many questions, but none relate to the 'case' that she's not able to solve and the mysterious letter that's turned up with an address to go to for help with it....

So she tells someone, but goes without back up to the location in the letter, this is not good police practice.
Sure it was a ruse because a body turns up across the city, but still she's TSTL so I'm done.

There are myriad ways the author could have had the MC end up following the tip alone, like her partner (which she should have) suddenly being sick outside the place and her being an idiot and going in alone with back up just outside.... That'd also work with the magic element, a spell to make anyone but her violently vomit, even though the letter seems to be a ruse, but no she's just TSTL.

MC is TSTL as well as she's 'so great' that she's never met a case she can't solve (in how long as a police officer?), yet the author can't even have her follow the basics of police procedure etc. It doesn't even take much research just watch one US police show episode to see the basics!

I like my urban fantasy to keep the 'real world' aspects realistic, the fantasy part is supposed to be the magic, werewolves etc.








First time read the author's work?: Yes

Will you be reading more?: No

Would you recommend?: No


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How I rate Stars: 5* = I loved (must read all I can find by the author)
4* = I really enjoyed (got to read all the series and try other books by the author).
3* = I enjoyed (I will continue to read the series)
or
3* = Good book just not my thing (I realised I don't like the genre or picked up a kids book to review in error.)

All of the above scores means I would recommend them!
-
2* = it was okay (I might give the next book in the series a try, to see if that was better IMHO.)
1* = Disliked

Note: adding these basic 'reviews' after finding out that some people see the stars differently than I do - hoping this clarifies how I feel about the book. :-)

[SteFaNe · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my first time reading a book by this author and I was surprised that no one has reviewed this book since it's been out for nearly a year. It's an excellent, quick read. From the first few pages the book captured my attention. Tara was smart, focused and could handle her own. I loved her strength and her ability to hold her head up high even when having to stand alone. She had a good inner-circle too that supported her. The book left me with a few questions are two, but I"m sure they may be answered in the next book installation in the series. I hope there will be a next book in this series.

There were a few typos but not enough to destract from the story. I would recommend this book to paranormal fans that enjoy a crime-solving book to read on ones lunchbeak.