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The Undetectables #1
The Undetectables
Be gay, solve crime, take naps—A witty and quirky fantasy murder mystery if a folkloric world of witches, faeires, vampires, trolls and ghosts, for fans of Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey and T. J. Klune's Under the Whispering Door.
A magical serial killer is stalking the Occult town of Wrackton. Hypnotic whistling causes victims to chew their own tongues off, leading to the killer being dubbed the Whistler (original, right?). But outside the lack of taste buds and the strange magical carvings on the victims' torsos, the murderer leaves no evidence. No obvious clues. No reason—or so it seems.
Enter the Undetectables, a detective agency run by three witches and a ghost in a cat costume (don't ask). They are hired to investigate the murders, but with their only case so far left unsolved, will they be up to the task? Mallory, the forensic science expert, is struggling with pain and fatigue from her recently diagnosed fibromyalgia. Cornelia, the team member most likely to go rogue and punch a police officer, is suddenly stirring all sorts of feelings in Mallory. Diana, the social butterfly of the group, is hitting up all of her ex-girlfriends for information. And not forgetting ghostly Theodore—deceased, dramatic, and also the agency's first dead body and unsolved murder case.
With bodies stacking up and the case leading them to mysteries at the very heart of magical society, can the Undetectables find the Whistler before they become the killer's next victims?
A magical serial killer is stalking the Occult town of Wrackton. Hypnotic whistling causes victims to chew their own tongues off, leading to the killer being dubbed the Whistler (original, right?). But outside the lack of taste buds and the strange magical carvings on the victims' torsos, the murderer leaves no evidence. No obvious clues. No reason—or so it seems.
Enter the Undetectables, a detective agency run by three witches and a ghost in a cat costume (don't ask). They are hired to investigate the murders, but with their only case so far left unsolved, will they be up to the task? Mallory, the forensic science expert, is struggling with pain and fatigue from her recently diagnosed fibromyalgia. Cornelia, the team member most likely to go rogue and punch a police officer, is suddenly stirring all sorts of feelings in Mallory. Diana, the social butterfly of the group, is hitting up all of her ex-girlfriends for information. And not forgetting ghostly Theodore—deceased, dramatic, and also the agency's first dead body and unsolved murder case.
With bodies stacking up and the case leading them to mysteries at the very heart of magical society, can the Undetectables find the Whistler before they become the killer's next victims?
426 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 26, 2023
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April 5, 2023The cover has the tagline 'Be Gay. Do Crimes. Take Naps' on it and I have never hit the Want to Read button faster in my entire life
September 26, 2023
If this had lived up to its tagline, it would have been a great urban fantasy (seriously, it's such a great tagline!). Sadly, it's just mediocre, hence three stars.
On a positive note, Courtney Smith managed to capture the complicated dynamics of 20-something friends group. Mallory, Cornelia and Diana may be adults and fresh out of college, but peers' validation is still important for them. Especially Mallory, who feels (rightly so!) left out because of her chronic illness. There is this awful feeling of not being invited to social gatherings simply because people are fed up with your constant adult-life-caused refusals (young mothers would relate). It was interesting to read low-key fight scenes between female friends (they stage an intervention for one of them, because her boyfriend is a walking red flag), who grew up in internet discussion culture, where empathy is promoted as key component of an argument. Their fights are still heated, but they actually strive for a reconciliation, not ripping each others' throats. That was nice.
On the other note, despite quite good representation of a chronic illness (I'm not an expert here, so it's hard to determine actually how good it was), I have a feeling that it diminishes Mallory's character only to her condition. Her constant resting reflects badly on the plot dynamics and unnecessarily slows it down. Some scenes, especially never-ending conversations about feelings, also could have been edited for pacing sake.
But what really brought it down to three stars for me was the mystery. I don't have a problem with who the murderer was, but with the fact that I guessed it around 50% and the main characters are deliberately made less intelligent than before in order to be oblivious until very end, as the author apparently wanted to gain more space for other plot lines. Especially Mallory, who's big dream is to run a detective agency, is not as bright and skilled in connecting dots, as a detective should be. And I prefer my sleuths to be sharp.
On a positive note, Courtney Smith managed to capture the complicated dynamics of 20-something friends group. Mallory, Cornelia and Diana may be adults and fresh out of college, but peers' validation is still important for them. Especially Mallory, who feels (rightly so!) left out because of her chronic illness. There is this awful feeling of not being invited to social gatherings simply because people are fed up with your constant adult-life-caused refusals (young mothers would relate). It was interesting to read low-key fight scenes between female friends (they stage an intervention for one of them, because her boyfriend is a walking red flag), who grew up in internet discussion culture, where empathy is promoted as key component of an argument. Their fights are still heated, but they actually strive for a reconciliation, not ripping each others' throats. That was nice.
On the other note, despite quite good representation of a chronic illness (I'm not an expert here, so it's hard to determine actually how good it was), I have a feeling that it diminishes Mallory's character only to her condition. Her constant resting reflects badly on the plot dynamics and unnecessarily slows it down. Some scenes, especially never-ending conversations about feelings, also could have been edited for pacing sake.
But what really brought it down to three stars for me was the mystery. I don't have a problem with who the murderer was, but with the fact that I guessed it around 50% and the main characters are deliberately made less intelligent than before in order to be oblivious until very end, as the author apparently wanted to gain more space for other plot lines. Especially Mallory, who's big dream is to run a detective agency, is not as bright and skilled in connecting dots, as a detective should be. And I prefer my sleuths to be sharp.
September 25, 2023
On my blog.
Rep: mc with fibromyalgia, lesbian mc, gay mc, nonbinary side character
Galley provided by publisher
To say The Undetectables was not a book for me would be, with all due respect, more than somewhat of an understatement. I dragged myself through this book, page by page. And, yes, I could have (and probably should have) given up on it, but I didn’t. More fool me. Maybe one day I’ll learn.
In the interests of making this review as short as I can (haha), I will not attempt to summarise the book, especially given that it’s been a good while since I finished it and I have elected to erase any memory of it for my own sanity. I’m writing this review based on the increasingly frustrated notes I made while reading. But anyway, it’s a mystery novel, with a little bit of magic thrown in, and a ghost in a cat costume.
Chief among this book’s issues for me was that it couldn’t decide on the tone it wanted to take. Most of the issues I’m about to enumerate do actually stem from this, I believe, so let’s start here. Did it want to be a humorous cosy mystery? Did it want to be a darker fantasy tale? Did it want to be a serious tract on the carceral state and the general shittiness of the police? More than anything, it seemed to want to be all three. Now, I’m not saying you can’t have a humorous cosy mystery that does darker things, considers police states, and so forth, but it has to be done better than this. If you’re going to lean into the cosiness, for example, you have to integrate the whole prison system subplot in a way that’s smoother than just chucking it in as one character’s apparent personal crusade (which, by the way, didn’t make it seem all that seriously taken, but does get hammered into your head at every conceivable opportunity). Instead of trying to be everything, this book should have simply picked one thing to be and done that well.
This tonal issue leads me to my next point because apparently the way to be a humorous cosy mystery is to have your characters almost exclusively speak in memes. It might be alright if there was, say, one or two meme references, ones that were actually funny, but instead you just get meme after meme instead of actual human dialogue. Because, as well as these memes, the dialogue itself is painfully stilted. It doesn’t feel as though these are people talking to one another so much as saying what needs to be said in the scene to progress the story. I couldn’t even just skim the dialogue to get through because it simply made me want to die and that’s not an exaggeration.
I wish I could say something remotely positive about this book, really I do, but it was without a doubt one of my worst reading experiences this year. If that sounds mean, well, sure. Maybe it is, but it’s also the honest truth. It was, to me, badly written, full of magical coincidences and an uncompelling mystery on top of that. Not one I would come back to, and not one I could actually recommend.
However, everyone is, as ever, invited to ignore my review entirely, I guess, and pick it up anyway. Absolutely nothing stopping you, after all.
Rep: mc with fibromyalgia, lesbian mc, gay mc, nonbinary side character
Galley provided by publisher
To say The Undetectables was not a book for me would be, with all due respect, more than somewhat of an understatement. I dragged myself through this book, page by page. And, yes, I could have (and probably should have) given up on it, but I didn’t. More fool me. Maybe one day I’ll learn.
In the interests of making this review as short as I can (haha), I will not attempt to summarise the book, especially given that it’s been a good while since I finished it and I have elected to erase any memory of it for my own sanity. I’m writing this review based on the increasingly frustrated notes I made while reading. But anyway, it’s a mystery novel, with a little bit of magic thrown in, and a ghost in a cat costume.
Chief among this book’s issues for me was that it couldn’t decide on the tone it wanted to take. Most of the issues I’m about to enumerate do actually stem from this, I believe, so let’s start here. Did it want to be a humorous cosy mystery? Did it want to be a darker fantasy tale? Did it want to be a serious tract on the carceral state and the general shittiness of the police? More than anything, it seemed to want to be all three. Now, I’m not saying you can’t have a humorous cosy mystery that does darker things, considers police states, and so forth, but it has to be done better than this. If you’re going to lean into the cosiness, for example, you have to integrate the whole prison system subplot in a way that’s smoother than just chucking it in as one character’s apparent personal crusade (which, by the way, didn’t make it seem all that seriously taken, but does get hammered into your head at every conceivable opportunity). Instead of trying to be everything, this book should have simply picked one thing to be and done that well.
This tonal issue leads me to my next point because apparently the way to be a humorous cosy mystery is to have your characters almost exclusively speak in memes. It might be alright if there was, say, one or two meme references, ones that were actually funny, but instead you just get meme after meme instead of actual human dialogue. Because, as well as these memes, the dialogue itself is painfully stilted. It doesn’t feel as though these are people talking to one another so much as saying what needs to be said in the scene to progress the story. I couldn’t even just skim the dialogue to get through because it simply made me want to die and that’s not an exaggeration.
I wish I could say something remotely positive about this book, really I do, but it was without a doubt one of my worst reading experiences this year. If that sounds mean, well, sure. Maybe it is, but it’s also the honest truth. It was, to me, badly written, full of magical coincidences and an uncompelling mystery on top of that. Not one I would come back to, and not one I could actually recommend.
However, everyone is, as ever, invited to ignore my review entirely, I guess, and pick it up anyway. Absolutely nothing stopping you, after all.
Read
August 3, 2023If you're looking for a quippy, unapologetically queer paranormal murder mystery, look no further.
The highlight of the book for me was the fibromyalgia rep, more chronic illness rep like in genre fiction pls.
The highlight of the book for me was the fibromyalgia rep, more chronic illness rep like in genre fiction pls.
September 25, 2023
*4.5 stars*
The Undetectables is a quirky magical mystery with the best chronic illness rep I’ve read in a long time (it resonated SO MUCH), and it also captures with excruciating precision the fraught emotions and agonies of early-20s friends groups. I adored all 3 of the women in the central group and also Theodore, the ghost who attached to them in their very first joint case, back when they were teenagers. I absolutely tore through this book, caring desperately about what would happen to all of them. The only reason this lost half a star from me was that, personally, I thought that the way the central heroine, Mallory, lashed out at a particularly emotional moment went too far for me to keep empathy for her, and the story structure would have worked just as effectively without such an extreme action. However, that’s just a matter of personal opinion, and other readers may completely disagree. Overall, it was genuinely wonderful and I definitely recommend it!
The Undetectables is a quirky magical mystery with the best chronic illness rep I’ve read in a long time (it resonated SO MUCH), and it also captures with excruciating precision the fraught emotions and agonies of early-20s friends groups. I adored all 3 of the women in the central group and also Theodore, the ghost who attached to them in their very first joint case, back when they were teenagers. I absolutely tore through this book, caring desperately about what would happen to all of them. The only reason this lost half a star from me was that, personally, I thought that the way the central heroine, Mallory, lashed out at a particularly emotional moment went too far for me to keep empathy for her, and the story structure would have worked just as effectively without such an extreme action. However, that’s just a matter of personal opinion, and other readers may completely disagree. Overall, it was genuinely wonderful and I definitely recommend it!
August 19, 2023
This book tries to be too many things at once. On the one hand, it is a fairly typical cozy mystery: A (group of) amateur sleuth(s) in a charming small town, where everyone seems to know almost everyone (and which, nevertheless, seems to have an impressive club scene). Sure, it's also a fantasy book; the town is an occult town, full of witches, vampires, fae etc. the sleuths themselves are witches, and the murders are also magical. It's also not aimed at quite the same age-group as the average cozy. The sleuths are in their 20s and there are so many Tumblr and TikTok memes. So many. Too many, I would say, but then perhaps I am no longer in the target age demographic for that kind of book.
Anyway, neither the witches nor the 'un-alived' jokes stop the story from feeling very cozy. And neither does the fact that the mein character has a chronic illness. Cozys have occasionally handled heavier topics. Sometimes well, sometimes not (I let someone who understand the topic better judge on which side this book falls).
So you're reading a cozy, and then you get suddenly hit with a ... side-plot? (or random mention? I'm not sure, actually) about for-profit prisons and how bad they are. And the main characters all have a deep distrust of the police. Police violence and institutionalized -isms don't actually get mentioned, though. They just don't like the police, because. They like neither occult police forces nor the apparent (non-magical) ones. Which are separate things. I think? At least occult towns are separate from apparent ones and have universal basic income, which seems to suggest some sort of separate government, but occult towns and apparent towns also seem to exist side-by-side in one country.
Ah, yes. Before I got distracted by the world-building, I wanted to say: there's a time and place for everything and the time and place for a condemnation of for-profit prisons, is perhaps not in a book that also features a cat-eared ghost who can't stop talking.
ARC received from NetGalley
Anyway, neither the witches nor the 'un-alived' jokes stop the story from feeling very cozy. And neither does the fact that the mein character has a chronic illness. Cozys have occasionally handled heavier topics. Sometimes well, sometimes not (I let someone who understand the topic better judge on which side this book falls).
So you're reading a cozy, and then you get suddenly hit with a ... side-plot? (or random mention? I'm not sure, actually) about for-profit prisons and how bad they are. And the main characters all have a deep distrust of the police. Police violence and institutionalized -isms don't actually get mentioned, though. They just don't like the police, because. They like neither occult police forces nor the apparent (non-magical) ones. Which are separate things. I think? At least occult towns are separate from apparent ones and have universal basic income, which seems to suggest some sort of separate government, but occult towns and apparent towns also seem to exist side-by-side in one country.
Ah, yes. Before I got distracted by the world-building, I wanted to say: there's a time and place for everything and the time and place for a condemnation of for-profit prisons, is perhaps not in a book that also features a cat-eared ghost who can't stop talking.
ARC received from NetGalley
January 27, 2025
I wanted to love this one. So much. The tag line is “Be Gay. Solve Crime. Take Naps.” I snatched it up when I saw it based on that alone. But it just kind of… was. For all the things happening in here, I had to keep going back to it after setting it down to go do other things. I just wasn’t hooked. I did live the dynamics of the friendships that were growing from high school to their middle 20s. But I swear at points these girls had personality dialysis to become dense to not recognize what was going on. I did enjoy all of the paranormal elements in this.
Mallory and her friends started a detective agency when they were teenagers, but never solved their first case. But years later, they get a message asking for help. Murders start piling up and the police aren’t making any headway. And then the victims start being closer and closer to them. How long until they are hurt?
Mallory and her friends started a detective agency when they were teenagers, but never solved their first case. But years later, they get a message asking for help. Murders start piling up and the police aren’t making any headway. And then the victims start being closer and closer to them. How long until they are hurt?
October 18, 2023
I went into this book based on an author I like posting about it (Lillie Lainoff), the tagline, and the synopsis. And I wasn't disappointed! I was looking for a unique premise and awesome characters, and this book definitely delivered on both!
Let's get the minor notes out of the way first. I think that this definitely had a slower pace than I expected as a fantasy mystery. There are a few spots in the middle that lagged - but the characters do keep you interested! I think this might be more a debut thing since the author has written more short stories previously. And nothing against the book, but I did guess the villain earlier than the characters.
But my list of good far outweighs those notes!!
- I really loved these characters! They are quirky, badass, and relatable! Mallory is taller than average, Cornelia wears glasses and is blunt, and Diana is plus-size and THEY ARE ALL SMART IN THEIR OWN WAYS. They have their strengths and distinct personalities and they all love each other for who they are. It's honestly one of my favourite friendships I've read.
- queernormative characters - like, lots of them. And there are multiple nonbinary characters with they/them pronouns on page.
- chronic illness rep. Mallory has fibromyalgia and it is part of her character and the plot in a realistic way. It was great to see it part of the story and how it affects her, both physically and mentally. While I don't have chronic illness, I have migraine and pain days and Mallory felt really relatable to me in a lot of ways. Which is amazing to see in a fantasy novel!
- while I did see who the villain was going to be, I didn't see the backstory and WHY, how it's revealed coming, these were all a surprise to me and well done!
- Theodore.
While I don't think everyone will LOVE this book, there are definitely people who will appreciate everything I listed above with the mix of magic, witches, and the occult.
TW: murder, death, body horror, chronic illness, injury/injury detail, grief, medical content, kidnapping, abandonment, alcohol, confinement, fire/ fire injury, stalking, blood, toxic relationship, bugs (beetles, fill room of beetles, mention of spiders)
Let's get the minor notes out of the way first. I think that this definitely had a slower pace than I expected as a fantasy mystery. There are a few spots in the middle that lagged - but the characters do keep you interested! I think this might be more a debut thing since the author has written more short stories previously. And nothing against the book, but I did guess the villain earlier than the characters.
But my list of good far outweighs those notes!!
- I really loved these characters! They are quirky, badass, and relatable! Mallory is taller than average, Cornelia wears glasses and is blunt, and Diana is plus-size and THEY ARE ALL SMART IN THEIR OWN WAYS. They have their strengths and distinct personalities and they all love each other for who they are. It's honestly one of my favourite friendships I've read.
- queernormative characters - like, lots of them. And there are multiple nonbinary characters with they/them pronouns on page.
- chronic illness rep. Mallory has fibromyalgia and it is part of her character and the plot in a realistic way. It was great to see it part of the story and how it affects her, both physically and mentally. While I don't have chronic illness, I have migraine and pain days and Mallory felt really relatable to me in a lot of ways. Which is amazing to see in a fantasy novel!
- while I did see who the villain was going to be, I didn't see the backstory and WHY, how it's revealed coming, these were all a surprise to me and well done!
- Theodore.
While I don't think everyone will LOVE this book, there are definitely people who will appreciate everything I listed above with the mix of magic, witches, and the occult.
TW: murder, death, body horror, chronic illness, injury/injury detail, grief, medical content, kidnapping, abandonment, alcohol, confinement, fire/ fire injury, stalking, blood, toxic relationship, bugs (beetles, fill room of beetles, mention of spiders)
July 11, 2024
I was so hyped for The Undetectables for no particular reason. It just seemed like a neat premise, and who doesn’t like the tagline, “Be gay. Solve crimes. Take naps”? Courtney Smyth promises a queernorm paranormal mystery involving witches, werewolves, vampires, ghosts, and fairies. For the most part, she delivers, although the mystery part of the novel is perhaps the least satisfying.
Mallory and her two best friends, Cornelia and Diana, ran the eponymous onetime amateur detective agency in their hometown of Wrackton. After failing to solve their first and only case, the Undetectables started to drift apart as they each pursued their own goals in life. Mallory feels the most stuck: fibromyalgia has inhibited her social life and her career goals. She has spent the last several years halfheartedly staying on that first case while befriending the ghost of its victim, Thomas, condemned to exist forever wearing cat ears foisted upon him as a practical Halloween costume joke. Then someone starts brutally murdering residents of Wrackton, and the Undetectables reunite.
I love the setup and first part of this book. Smyth does a great job establishing the four protagonists and their defining traits. Similarly, she doesn’t waste time getting us into the main mystery and challenges our gumshoes will face. The Undetectables is set in a magicnorm world where magical and mundane beings have a cordial, if occasionally complicated, coexistence. I appreciate how Smyth avoids the temptation to infodump. Yes, I desperately want to know more about the different supernatural species, their histories and forms of government, and how they coexist with mundane humans—no, we don’t get much of that, and it’s for the best.
I wasn’t expecting but really appreciate the focus on disability and chronic illness in Mallory. I myself don’t have a chronic illness and don’t know what it’s like to deal with something like fibromyalgia. I can only imagine how little those who do feel represented in novels like this. From my limited perspective, Smyth seems to do a great job of sharing the complex way Mallory’s disability influences her life. I especially loved the exploration of Mallory’s anxiety about how it affects her friendships (something I can relate to): it’s so understandable, the small conflicts that result among her, Diana, and Cornelia, as a result of Mallory’s worries that her friends are leaving her behind. This is a great example of how no one is really “in the wrong” here, yet inadvertent ableism or poor communication results in friends letting each other down. The way that these three women deal with conflict in general, whether it’s over Mallory’s disability, Thomas, or Cornelia’s boyfriend, is laudable.
Where The Undetectables starts to lose me is in its climax and conclusion, as well as its tone. Tonally, this book is a mess. I can see what Smyth is trying to go for: a mix of quips and high stakes, which is possible and often enjoyable. Unfortunately, this feels more like a mash-up or pastiche than a successful combo of the two tones. The protagonists vacillate wildly between humorous or jovial and sombre.
I just also never really vibed with how the Undetectables go about their sleuthing. I guess they are supposed to be inexperienced, but they just don’t come across as very good detectives. I seldom like to brag that I figured out whodunnit long before the reveal (I don’t really think that’s a good litmus test for the quality of a mystery), but, uh, it was kind of telegraphed?
The Undetectables has a lot going for it, from original characters and premises to strong disability and queer representation. It’s just a somewhat messy, uneven novel, making it far less memorable and significant than I had hoped it would feel after reading. A good summer mystery though.
Originally posted on Kara.Reviews.
Mallory and her two best friends, Cornelia and Diana, ran the eponymous onetime amateur detective agency in their hometown of Wrackton. After failing to solve their first and only case, the Undetectables started to drift apart as they each pursued their own goals in life. Mallory feels the most stuck: fibromyalgia has inhibited her social life and her career goals. She has spent the last several years halfheartedly staying on that first case while befriending the ghost of its victim, Thomas, condemned to exist forever wearing cat ears foisted upon him as a practical Halloween costume joke. Then someone starts brutally murdering residents of Wrackton, and the Undetectables reunite.
I love the setup and first part of this book. Smyth does a great job establishing the four protagonists and their defining traits. Similarly, she doesn’t waste time getting us into the main mystery and challenges our gumshoes will face. The Undetectables is set in a magicnorm world where magical and mundane beings have a cordial, if occasionally complicated, coexistence. I appreciate how Smyth avoids the temptation to infodump. Yes, I desperately want to know more about the different supernatural species, their histories and forms of government, and how they coexist with mundane humans—no, we don’t get much of that, and it’s for the best.
I wasn’t expecting but really appreciate the focus on disability and chronic illness in Mallory. I myself don’t have a chronic illness and don’t know what it’s like to deal with something like fibromyalgia. I can only imagine how little those who do feel represented in novels like this. From my limited perspective, Smyth seems to do a great job of sharing the complex way Mallory’s disability influences her life. I especially loved the exploration of Mallory’s anxiety about how it affects her friendships (something I can relate to): it’s so understandable, the small conflicts that result among her, Diana, and Cornelia, as a result of Mallory’s worries that her friends are leaving her behind. This is a great example of how no one is really “in the wrong” here, yet inadvertent ableism or poor communication results in friends letting each other down. The way that these three women deal with conflict in general, whether it’s over Mallory’s disability, Thomas, or Cornelia’s boyfriend, is laudable.
Where The Undetectables starts to lose me is in its climax and conclusion, as well as its tone. Tonally, this book is a mess. I can see what Smyth is trying to go for: a mix of quips and high stakes, which is possible and often enjoyable. Unfortunately, this feels more like a mash-up or pastiche than a successful combo of the two tones. The protagonists vacillate wildly between humorous or jovial and sombre.
I just also never really vibed with how the Undetectables go about their sleuthing. I guess they are supposed to be inexperienced, but they just don’t come across as very good detectives. I seldom like to brag that I figured out whodunnit long before the reveal (I don’t really think that’s a good litmus test for the quality of a mystery), but, uh, it was kind of telegraphed?
The Undetectables has a lot going for it, from original characters and premises to strong disability and queer representation. It’s just a somewhat messy, uneven novel, making it far less memorable and significant than I had hoped it would feel after reading. A good summer mystery though.
Originally posted on Kara.Reviews.
October 15, 2024
Having a keen eye for the delicate ebbs and flows of early adult friendships, author Courtney Smyth follows a small friend group who made the decision as teens to be investigators when they encountered recently dead Theodore, confused and upset to find he was now a ghost. Mallory, the nominal leader of the group, calls their detective agency the Undetectables, and decides to find Theodore's killer.
They live in the Occult town of Wrackton, where there are witches (which the friends are), ghosts, demons, vampires, fae, and others.
Fast forward to their early twenties, and they're now living separate lives:
-Cornelia at university studying entomology
-Diana has been working as a makeup artist
-Mallory is still living in Wrackton, and suffers from fibromyalgia and is wracked by pain and exhaustion daily. She's sad, lonely, convinced everyone has moved on with their lives, but also doesn't want to rely on others, resents asking for help to compensate for her condition, or to speak with her friends about her hurt feelings. She's still tryin, unsuccessfully, g to figure out who killed Theodore, while studying forensic science. She's also toying with a way to identify the traces of magic left behind after it is uses
-Theodore has attached himself to Mallory, spreading sunshiny feelings around him, while also breaking electronic devices if his ghostly, sparking energy gets too close.
When an Apparent (human with no supernatural origins or powers) is found dead in Wrackton, the Undetectables are hired by the Night Mayor to find the killer. Cornelia and Diana have also recently returned and Mallory is both happy and feeling slightly upset, even while immediately eager to get started with the investigation.
Using their respective smarts, experience and skills, they begin detecting, but more die, including people they know well, before Mallory decides on the identity of the culprit. Along the way, the three women must own up to their feelings and their actions.
I totally enjoyed this book. I loved the characters, and how they had to re-figure out how to deal with each other once back in their hometown and working together. And I liked how Mallory had to learn to let go of some of her fears, which had been holding her back.
I was also impressed by the portrayal of chronic pain, and how heavily it influenced and hampered Mallory's thoughts, emotions and actions.
I am definitely reading the next entry in this funny, emotional, and quirky mystery series.
They live in the Occult town of Wrackton, where there are witches (which the friends are), ghosts, demons, vampires, fae, and others.
Fast forward to their early twenties, and they're now living separate lives:
-Cornelia at university studying entomology
-Diana has been working as a makeup artist
-Mallory is still living in Wrackton, and suffers from fibromyalgia and is wracked by pain and exhaustion daily. She's sad, lonely, convinced everyone has moved on with their lives, but also doesn't want to rely on others, resents asking for help to compensate for her condition, or to speak with her friends about her hurt feelings. She's still tryin, unsuccessfully, g to figure out who killed Theodore, while studying forensic science. She's also toying with a way to identify the traces of magic left behind after it is uses
-Theodore has attached himself to Mallory, spreading sunshiny feelings around him, while also breaking electronic devices if his ghostly, sparking energy gets too close.
When an Apparent (human with no supernatural origins or powers) is found dead in Wrackton, the Undetectables are hired by the Night Mayor to find the killer. Cornelia and Diana have also recently returned and Mallory is both happy and feeling slightly upset, even while immediately eager to get started with the investigation.
Using their respective smarts, experience and skills, they begin detecting, but more die, including people they know well, before Mallory decides on the identity of the culprit. Along the way, the three women must own up to their feelings and their actions.
I totally enjoyed this book. I loved the characters, and how they had to re-figure out how to deal with each other once back in their hometown and working together. And I liked how Mallory had to learn to let go of some of her fears, which had been holding her back.
I was also impressed by the portrayal of chronic pain, and how heavily it influenced and hampered Mallory's thoughts, emotions and actions.
I am definitely reading the next entry in this funny, emotional, and quirky mystery series.
September 30, 2023
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.
This was a fun and interesting detective story with magic and supernatural creatures a plenty. There was a cool mix between magic and science/technology that I really liked.
Only thing that threw me off a little bit was that the trio of main characters felt like teenagers and not women in their early 20s. Kinda Nancy Drew-esc, which isn't really a bad thing, but a bit confusing at times.
But there were a lot of good characters and representation in the book, the mystery was a bit predictable, but it was an enjoyable and light story all together.
This was a fun and interesting detective story with magic and supernatural creatures a plenty. There was a cool mix between magic and science/technology that I really liked.
Only thing that threw me off a little bit was that the trio of main characters felt like teenagers and not women in their early 20s. Kinda Nancy Drew-esc, which isn't really a bad thing, but a bit confusing at times.
But there were a lot of good characters and representation in the book, the mystery was a bit predictable, but it was an enjoyable and light story all together.
did-not-finish
January 16, 2025DNF at 3%. Too much time spent in the past. Just get on with it!
November 14, 2024
This book was okay. I was a bit disappointed with it, however. I was intrigued by it and had hoped for a bit more.
The tone of the book varied wildly and i felt like the author couldn't quite decide what they wanted their book to be. Was it cute and cosy? Or was it dark and gritty? Was it a funky little urban fantasy or was it a grim commentary on society?
There was a lot of good representation. Some of it felt like representation for the sake of representation, but I'll never say it shouldn't be there. However there's no talent in adding this kind of representation. Many of the characters felt like cardboard cut outs, and you could have done a find/ replace on the character name and their chosen minority and altered it without it impacting the story in any real way.
The author was also a little too 'tell' rather than show. There was an occasion where the main character felt betrayed by her friends. How did i know this? Because for 3 or so chapters, they used the word betrayed repeatedly. I found this the case with the main character's illness. Mallory has fibromyalgia. This means she struggles a lot with pain and fatigue. There are many ways to show this, but instead we are just told that Mallory is exhausted.
The mystery component was also underwhelming. I worked out who it was very early on. The foreshadowing and hints were a little hamfisted. This meant that by comparison, the characters all seem incredibly dim. Which is frustrating when we are constantly told how smart they are, especially Mallory.
Cornelia's seemingly bottomless pit of a bank account also seemed like the easy way out. The Undetectables were pegged as 'amateurs', but it was like the author needed a get out of jail free card and couldn't figure out a way for them to get access to mass spec so sure, just make one character super rich and they can buy one. It feels a little bit like removing an obstacle that might have been interesting to watch them navigate as budding investigators.
I also struggled a lot with the ending, the last 30 or 40 pages. The typical villain monologue where he had to explain away himself went way to long and, frankly was rather superfluous. Most of it seemed to be so the author could show off their witty clues because the main characters weren't smart enough to figure it out themselves. It was pages and pages of exposition. And then, for some reason, even though we were just there with the character when everything went down, we have to go through it all again when they have to explain what happened to the others. A simple 'and they shared the story' would have sufficed.
All in all, this book was okay. I wouldn't tell anyone NOT to read it. If you read a lot of crime, you might be a little disappointed or frustrated. But if you like urban fantasy and queer/disability rep, then this book gets by just fine.
The tone of the book varied wildly and i felt like the author couldn't quite decide what they wanted their book to be. Was it cute and cosy? Or was it dark and gritty? Was it a funky little urban fantasy or was it a grim commentary on society?
There was a lot of good representation. Some of it felt like representation for the sake of representation, but I'll never say it shouldn't be there. However there's no talent in adding this kind of representation. Many of the characters felt like cardboard cut outs, and you could have done a find/ replace on the character name and their chosen minority and altered it without it impacting the story in any real way.
The author was also a little too 'tell' rather than show. There was an occasion where the main character felt betrayed by her friends. How did i know this? Because for 3 or so chapters, they used the word betrayed repeatedly. I found this the case with the main character's illness. Mallory has fibromyalgia. This means she struggles a lot with pain and fatigue. There are many ways to show this, but instead we are just told that Mallory is exhausted.
The mystery component was also underwhelming. I worked out who it was very early on. The foreshadowing and hints were a little hamfisted. This meant that by comparison, the characters all seem incredibly dim. Which is frustrating when we are constantly told how smart they are, especially Mallory.
Cornelia's seemingly bottomless pit of a bank account also seemed like the easy way out. The Undetectables were pegged as 'amateurs', but it was like the author needed a get out of jail free card and couldn't figure out a way for them to get access to mass spec so sure, just make one character super rich and they can buy one. It feels a little bit like removing an obstacle that might have been interesting to watch them navigate as budding investigators.
I also struggled a lot with the ending, the last 30 or 40 pages. The typical villain monologue where he had to explain away himself went way to long and, frankly was rather superfluous. Most of it seemed to be so the author could show off their witty clues because the main characters weren't smart enough to figure it out themselves. It was pages and pages of exposition. And then, for some reason, even though we were just there with the character when everything went down, we have to go through it all again when they have to explain what happened to the others. A simple 'and they shared the story' would have sufficed.
All in all, this book was okay. I wouldn't tell anyone NOT to read it. If you read a lot of crime, you might be a little disappointed or frustrated. But if you like urban fantasy and queer/disability rep, then this book gets by just fine.
December 9, 2023
I hate to say it but... This was not good. It's a murder mystery sure, but the killer was so predictable that by page 50 I'd guessed where it was going. There was four main characters, only one of them remotely likable, and said character got such a back seat role that they were literally written out of the last third of the book. Overall I'm just really disappointed with this, it seemed like it had the potential to be really fun at first.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 13, 2023
Originally posted on Just Geeking by.
Content warnings:
If you read The Disability Blog Tag I posted during GeekDis 2023, you’ll recognise the name of this book. The Undetectables by Courtney Smyth is my most anticipated disability read of the year, written by a disabled author and featuring disabled, LGBTQIA+ and plus-sized representation!
The Undetectables caught my attention straight away with the tag line “Be Gay. Solve Crimes. Take Naps”. The first part of that phrase, (be gay, solve crimes) would have caught my attention but the addition of “take naps” had me hooked even before I read the synopsis. Written by a disabled author, The Undetectables mixes two of my favourite genres, urban fantasy and murder mysteries, with a huge dollop of representation.
At the annual Broadwick ball, Mallory, Diana and Cornelia attempt to promote their newly opened detective agency, The Undetectables. At fourteen, they’re not taken particularly seriously by the party goers they approach, many of their business cards being tossed aside and forgotten. Whatever the three friends were expecting to happen on their launch night, they certainly didn’t expect to find a dead body. Pulled into their first murder case with the ghost of the victim present, something that is highly unusual, The Undetectables are sure they can solve the case and establish themselves as detectives.
Fast-forward six years and life has not gone to plan, especially for Mallory. Recently diagnosed with the chronic illness fibromyalgia she is struggling with, well, everything. Being stuck at home, at a point in her life when she wants to be studying forensic science like she dreamed and alone with only ghost Theodore to keep her company. Not that she’s upset with her friends for following their own dreams; she told them to. She just wishes she could do the same, and that she could spend time with them rather than struggling every day with chronic pain and fatigue.
When a letter address to The Undetectables arrives, the three witches are drawn back together for a new mystery. Hired by someone high up in Wrackton society to find the murderer, things begin to get even more serious when one dead body becomes multiple. They have a magical serial killer on their hands, and they never managed to solve their first case, are they up for the task?
Smyth has created a fascinating urban fantasy world. They have added their own unique twist to familiar supernatural species such as witches, faeries, ghosts and vampires while mixing in crime solving and forensic science. The world-building in The Undetectables is rivalled only by its characters and plot, all of which are equally fabulous. The characters are adorable, fully dimensional and realistic. I particularly loved that their friendships are full of ups and downs, including disagreements and arguments. There’s a particular scene where things get so heated that they have a hex battle! Too many books have friendships where friends never argue and everything is perfect. Sod that! Give me hex battles any day.
Smyth is writing from their own experience with chronically illness and as a result the character of Mallory is spot on. Her thoughts, feelings and her experiences of fibromyalgia are described with careful detail, and scream with authenticity that will make many readers feel seen. They definitely made me feel seen. I don’t have fibromyalgia, however, I do have chronic pain, fatigue and other symptoms that cross over with fibromyalgia.
There were a lot of little things here and there in The Undetectables that caught my eye as things that only someone with a chronic illness would know or feel. It always makes me smile when I notice these in books written by authors with lived experience as it reminds me that I’m not so alone, that other people know what it’s like to live with a chronic illness. I also liked the way that Smyth wove chronic illness into the urban fantasy universe they have created.
Along with a main character with disability and chronic illness representation, there is a lot of other representation as previously mentioned. Many of the characters are LGBTQIA+, with pansexual, bisexual, gay, queer, and non-binary identities specifically mentioned/identified in the book. In short; this book is wonderfully and unashamedly queer, and I was here for all of it. The cast of characters is racially diverse, which includes one of the main characters Diana.
The main characters are also physically diverse, with Diana representing plus-sized women, Mallory tall women and Cornelia short-haired women. While plus-sized women are the less represented of these three, I mention the other two because so often do groups of female friends in books end up with the same physical size and description. All long haired, thin and willowy, whereas if you look at a group of female friends you’ll find diversity. I appreciated that Smyth made this distinction.
Another part of their friendship I appreciated was the way they cared for Mallory while giving her space. Smyth covers ableism with another character, but for her friends they have chosen to show what it’s like for disabled people to have a support network. This is especially important as many people who have disabled friends have no idea what to do with a newly diagnosed friend, and many choose to treat disabled people differently. I hope that people reading The Undetectables will learn a lot from Mallory, Cornelia and Diana and how their dynamic works.
Finally, the plot. I loved how Smyth played with many crime and murder mystery tropes, playing with the reader while also playing with their own characters. I did not see the real culprit coming and that was completely by design. Each new murder is introduced with a ‘Perimortem’ interlude chapter that is written from the perspective of the murder victim moments before their death and during their death. It is a little morbid, but Smyth’s narration lends an air of light humour to the victim’s final moments.
If you’re looking for a mystery that makes you think, mixed with a healthy dose of supernatural, diverse representation and some of the best dialogue I’ve seen in a long time then this is The Undetectables is the book for you.
If you’re not curious about Theodore the ‘cat’ ghost, then this book is not for you.
Also one final note:
If you're reviewing this book, and you do not identify as disabled/chronically ill etc. please do not ignore Mallory's chronic illness in your reviews. The author has made a point to write a book about a chronically ill character, and even if all you say is "this book is written by an author with chronic illnesses and has chronic illness representation" that's enough. But by choosing to completely disregard disabled representation you are erasing that identity and being extremely disrespectful to the author. Just because it is not your identity does not mean you can't comment on its presence in a book. Fibromyalgia is even specifically mentioned and discussed openly throughout The Undetectables, so you have no excuses for your ignorance.
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Content warnings:
If you read The Disability Blog Tag I posted during GeekDis 2023, you’ll recognise the name of this book. The Undetectables by Courtney Smyth is my most anticipated disability read of the year, written by a disabled author and featuring disabled, LGBTQIA+ and plus-sized representation!
The Undetectables caught my attention straight away with the tag line “Be Gay. Solve Crimes. Take Naps”. The first part of that phrase, (be gay, solve crimes) would have caught my attention but the addition of “take naps” had me hooked even before I read the synopsis. Written by a disabled author, The Undetectables mixes two of my favourite genres, urban fantasy and murder mysteries, with a huge dollop of representation.
At the annual Broadwick ball, Mallory, Diana and Cornelia attempt to promote their newly opened detective agency, The Undetectables. At fourteen, they’re not taken particularly seriously by the party goers they approach, many of their business cards being tossed aside and forgotten. Whatever the three friends were expecting to happen on their launch night, they certainly didn’t expect to find a dead body. Pulled into their first murder case with the ghost of the victim present, something that is highly unusual, The Undetectables are sure they can solve the case and establish themselves as detectives.
Fast-forward six years and life has not gone to plan, especially for Mallory. Recently diagnosed with the chronic illness fibromyalgia she is struggling with, well, everything. Being stuck at home, at a point in her life when she wants to be studying forensic science like she dreamed and alone with only ghost Theodore to keep her company. Not that she’s upset with her friends for following their own dreams; she told them to. She just wishes she could do the same, and that she could spend time with them rather than struggling every day with chronic pain and fatigue.
When a letter address to The Undetectables arrives, the three witches are drawn back together for a new mystery. Hired by someone high up in Wrackton society to find the murderer, things begin to get even more serious when one dead body becomes multiple. They have a magical serial killer on their hands, and they never managed to solve their first case, are they up for the task?
Smyth has created a fascinating urban fantasy world. They have added their own unique twist to familiar supernatural species such as witches, faeries, ghosts and vampires while mixing in crime solving and forensic science. The world-building in The Undetectables is rivalled only by its characters and plot, all of which are equally fabulous. The characters are adorable, fully dimensional and realistic. I particularly loved that their friendships are full of ups and downs, including disagreements and arguments. There’s a particular scene where things get so heated that they have a hex battle! Too many books have friendships where friends never argue and everything is perfect. Sod that! Give me hex battles any day.
Smyth is writing from their own experience with chronically illness and as a result the character of Mallory is spot on. Her thoughts, feelings and her experiences of fibromyalgia are described with careful detail, and scream with authenticity that will make many readers feel seen. They definitely made me feel seen. I don’t have fibromyalgia, however, I do have chronic pain, fatigue and other symptoms that cross over with fibromyalgia.
There were a lot of little things here and there in The Undetectables that caught my eye as things that only someone with a chronic illness would know or feel. It always makes me smile when I notice these in books written by authors with lived experience as it reminds me that I’m not so alone, that other people know what it’s like to live with a chronic illness. I also liked the way that Smyth wove chronic illness into the urban fantasy universe they have created.
Along with a main character with disability and chronic illness representation, there is a lot of other representation as previously mentioned. Many of the characters are LGBTQIA+, with pansexual, bisexual, gay, queer, and non-binary identities specifically mentioned/identified in the book. In short; this book is wonderfully and unashamedly queer, and I was here for all of it. The cast of characters is racially diverse, which includes one of the main characters Diana.
The main characters are also physically diverse, with Diana representing plus-sized women, Mallory tall women and Cornelia short-haired women. While plus-sized women are the less represented of these three, I mention the other two because so often do groups of female friends in books end up with the same physical size and description. All long haired, thin and willowy, whereas if you look at a group of female friends you’ll find diversity. I appreciated that Smyth made this distinction.
Another part of their friendship I appreciated was the way they cared for Mallory while giving her space. Smyth covers ableism with another character, but for her friends they have chosen to show what it’s like for disabled people to have a support network. This is especially important as many people who have disabled friends have no idea what to do with a newly diagnosed friend, and many choose to treat disabled people differently. I hope that people reading The Undetectables will learn a lot from Mallory, Cornelia and Diana and how their dynamic works.
Finally, the plot. I loved how Smyth played with many crime and murder mystery tropes, playing with the reader while also playing with their own characters. I did not see the real culprit coming and that was completely by design. Each new murder is introduced with a ‘Perimortem’ interlude chapter that is written from the perspective of the murder victim moments before their death and during their death. It is a little morbid, but Smyth’s narration lends an air of light humour to the victim’s final moments.
If you’re looking for a mystery that makes you think, mixed with a healthy dose of supernatural, diverse representation and some of the best dialogue I’ve seen in a long time then this is The Undetectables is the book for you.
If you’re not curious about Theodore the ‘cat’ ghost, then this book is not for you.
Also one final note:
If you're reviewing this book, and you do not identify as disabled/chronically ill etc. please do not ignore Mallory's chronic illness in your reviews. The author has made a point to write a book about a chronically ill character, and even if all you say is "this book is written by an author with chronic illnesses and has chronic illness representation" that's enough. But by choosing to completely disregard disabled representation you are erasing that identity and being extremely disrespectful to the author. Just because it is not your identity does not mean you can't comment on its presence in a book. Fibromyalgia is even specifically mentioned and discussed openly throughout The Undetectables, so you have no excuses for your ignorance.
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April 7, 2024
I finished this ages ago- so confused as to why it was still in ‘currently reading’. I swear I did a review too?!
Anyway, I remember really enjoying this one- good fun and easy. I think I guessed the ending a little before it happened, but overall a good book.
Anyway, I remember really enjoying this one- good fun and easy. I think I guessed the ending a little before it happened, but overall a good book.
October 14, 2024
3.5 rounded up!
It’s giving supernatural x heartstopper. Had to quietly cringe through some of the dialogue but it was very cute and had a really entertaining murder plot!
It’s giving supernatural x heartstopper. Had to quietly cringe through some of the dialogue but it was very cute and had a really entertaining murder plot!
March 1, 2024
I’m so happy I found this book
Want to read
July 19, 2023You had me at "Be Gay. Solve Crimes. Take Naps."
January 27, 2024
The concept of this book sounded amazing but unfortunately it was really not for me. I found myself dragging myself through it in hope it would improve but sadly it did not.
I was looking forward to the urban fantasy mix of magic and science and how these had been combined together. Unfortunately I felt they kind of diluted one another rather than creating something interesting. Also the occult town and the different magical species sounded great but I felt it lacked world building and we never really get a sense of place or atmosphere. There was details thrown in here and there but it could have been executed so much better.
The fibromyalgia representation was really nice to see as I've never seen this represented anywhere before. I'm pleased that, based on other reviews I've read, it has made people feel seen and able to relate to Mallory. Unfortunately I felt as though Mallory's character was often reduced to simply her condition. Which was a shame as it would have been nicer to have seen it represented but not the main thing about her as a person. I understand that it's important to show how this condition impacts day to day life. But in doing so it also significantly impacted the plot's pacing. The constant resting made the pace very stilted and slow. Which yes, may be realistic to representing life with this condition, but I don't think it should have significantly impacted the story's pacing this much. It could have worked better for other genres that are more character driven and slower paced. However I feel that a fun whodunnit fantasy mystery needs to be fast paced and this was not.
It's also really difficult for me to narrow down what the tone of this book was. Sometimes it felt it was trying to be a warm and cosy, other times it felt it was trying to be light hearted and fun, other times it was trying to be dark and serious. I would have preferred if it had picked just one if these and rolled with this. I understand something can be all these things at once and perhaps this was the intention. But in this book it just came across as messy and undecided.
I really struggled to click with the writing in this book. I just felt bored from the start and it was a challenge to keep going. I couldn't get excited about any of the characters and therefore wasn't particularly invested in their stories. The dialogue was very stilted and almost overdone so I didn't enjoy the interactions between the characters. The whodunnit was very predictable and yet the way it was uncovered and explained was very long. The reasoning behind the murders was not particularly satisfying and again felt overdone. The characters are, in fairness, amateur detectives. But I would have liked them to have been a bit more skilled to at least make the story more enjoyable.
As always, this is just my opinion and if you enjoyed it then that's great! But sadly it's not one I can say I enjoyed in any aspect really, hence my rating.
I was looking forward to the urban fantasy mix of magic and science and how these had been combined together. Unfortunately I felt they kind of diluted one another rather than creating something interesting. Also the occult town and the different magical species sounded great but I felt it lacked world building and we never really get a sense of place or atmosphere. There was details thrown in here and there but it could have been executed so much better.
The fibromyalgia representation was really nice to see as I've never seen this represented anywhere before. I'm pleased that, based on other reviews I've read, it has made people feel seen and able to relate to Mallory. Unfortunately I felt as though Mallory's character was often reduced to simply her condition. Which was a shame as it would have been nicer to have seen it represented but not the main thing about her as a person. I understand that it's important to show how this condition impacts day to day life. But in doing so it also significantly impacted the plot's pacing. The constant resting made the pace very stilted and slow. Which yes, may be realistic to representing life with this condition, but I don't think it should have significantly impacted the story's pacing this much. It could have worked better for other genres that are more character driven and slower paced. However I feel that a fun whodunnit fantasy mystery needs to be fast paced and this was not.
It's also really difficult for me to narrow down what the tone of this book was. Sometimes it felt it was trying to be a warm and cosy, other times it felt it was trying to be light hearted and fun, other times it was trying to be dark and serious. I would have preferred if it had picked just one if these and rolled with this. I understand something can be all these things at once and perhaps this was the intention. But in this book it just came across as messy and undecided.
I really struggled to click with the writing in this book. I just felt bored from the start and it was a challenge to keep going. I couldn't get excited about any of the characters and therefore wasn't particularly invested in their stories. The dialogue was very stilted and almost overdone so I didn't enjoy the interactions between the characters. The whodunnit was very predictable and yet the way it was uncovered and explained was very long. The reasoning behind the murders was not particularly satisfying and again felt overdone. The characters are, in fairness, amateur detectives. But I would have liked them to have been a bit more skilled to at least make the story more enjoyable.
As always, this is just my opinion and if you enjoyed it then that's great! But sadly it's not one I can say I enjoyed in any aspect really, hence my rating.
September 6, 2025
Rep: Numerous queer identities, chronic illness rep (fibromyalgia)
This has all the ingredients I usually love: queer, murder mystery, quirky humor, and a cast full of messy, lovable weirdos. On paper, it should’ve been an instant win. But in practice, this one just didn’t quite click for me the way I wanted it to.
Part of the problem may have been the audiobook. The narrator absolutely did a solid job, but his voice didn’t match the story for me: I tend to prefer women narrators when the perspective belongs to a younger woman. His tone reminded me a bit of the Unsolved Mysteries guy, which made the whole thing feel more detached and might have triggered my childhood fear. That might have amplified pacing issues, because wow… this DRAGGED in places. I couldn’t help wishing it had been trimmed down and streamlined.
That said, there are some great elements here. I loved the friendships at the core of the Undetectables, and I really appreciated the fibromyalgia rep woven into Mallory’s character, though I can't speak to its authenticity. The queer representation across the cast was fantastic too, and the concept of a paranormal detective agency led by three witches and a ghost in a cat costume is just plain fun.
The humor leaned too much into wink-nudge territory, and the pop culture/meme references felt cringey instead of clever. Some character traits made them feel like caricatures rather than fully developed personalities.
In the end, I liked the idea of this book far more than the actual experience of reading it. I wanted to love it, and I can see it really hitting the sweet spot for others; but for me, it was too slow, too long, and too gimmicky to keep my attention.
This has all the ingredients I usually love: queer, murder mystery, quirky humor, and a cast full of messy, lovable weirdos. On paper, it should’ve been an instant win. But in practice, this one just didn’t quite click for me the way I wanted it to.
Part of the problem may have been the audiobook. The narrator absolutely did a solid job, but his voice didn’t match the story for me: I tend to prefer women narrators when the perspective belongs to a younger woman. His tone reminded me a bit of the Unsolved Mysteries guy, which made the whole thing feel more detached and might have triggered my childhood fear. That might have amplified pacing issues, because wow… this DRAGGED in places. I couldn’t help wishing it had been trimmed down and streamlined.
That said, there are some great elements here. I loved the friendships at the core of the Undetectables, and I really appreciated the fibromyalgia rep woven into Mallory’s character, though I can't speak to its authenticity. The queer representation across the cast was fantastic too, and the concept of a paranormal detective agency led by three witches and a ghost in a cat costume is just plain fun.
The humor leaned too much into wink-nudge territory, and the pop culture/meme references felt cringey instead of clever. Some character traits made them feel like caricatures rather than fully developed personalities.
In the end, I liked the idea of this book far more than the actual experience of reading it. I wanted to love it, and I can see it really hitting the sweet spot for others; but for me, it was too slow, too long, and too gimmicky to keep my attention.
November 27, 2023
a mediocre read.
too much internet speak for me, some weird tonal issues and good chronic illness representation.
i wrote an extensive review to this but my goodreads glitched and deleted it. it basically boiled down to the fact that this book was fun and readable but it will not last as a particularly important read, and i don't think it made much of an impact. i will read more in this series if my library gets the next one and if the author writes more. but i'm pretty glad i didn't buy this.
too much internet speak for me, some weird tonal issues and good chronic illness representation.
i wrote an extensive review to this but my goodreads glitched and deleted it. it basically boiled down to the fact that this book was fun and readable but it will not last as a particularly important read, and i don't think it made much of an impact. i will read more in this series if my library gets the next one and if the author writes more. but i'm pretty glad i didn't buy this.
November 22, 2023
The standout element of this book was the fibromyalgia rep, which was so refreshing and brilliant to read. Other than that, this was a fun read but ultimately felt a little long winded and sadly didn’t grip me as much as I’d hoped it would.
July 5, 2024
This was buffy meets veronica mars from a gen z pov and took me 4EVER to read bc it was eyeballs only
3.5
3.5
December 30, 2024
Good disability representation, but poor mystery. The detective elements are poorly backed up suppositions, suspiciouns because someone seems suspicious.
Read
May 30, 2025This is the one where, at roughly 50%, And that's where I gave up, but if it had been a different, better book before that, I could have powered through.
This book could not decide what tone it wanted to take, so it just sort of took all of them. It's so cute and cosy! (The ghost has CAT EARS, my guys!) It's so gruesome! (The detailed description of happens more than once and in the victim's head, and that's far from the only gore.) It's so sensitive! It's so clumsy! It's so serious and important! It's so political! It's so fun! You can't be all these things and have any kind of coherence. Choose. Like, you don't have to pick just one, but you have to eliminate a few of those.
This book also fell down pretty hard in the plot department. It's obvious who the killer is well before the point where I stopped reading (and turned to the final chapters to be sure I was right), and it gets remarkably frustrating watching the supposedly brilliant MC and her brilliant friends just fully fail to solve things while people continue to die. And the author wanted to do too many things -- see above about the tone problems -- which meant making space for all of them, which meant the actual A plot was buried in the B, C, D, and pontificating plots. What I'm saying here is that this dragged because the pacing was violently, hideously off.
(The worldbuilding also, shall we say, left a lot to be desired. I'm hoping maybe all the holes in it were explained in the half I didn't read, though, so I'll just leave this as a side note.)
Man. I feel mean. But this book should have been perfect for me -- a paranormal mystery with disability rep and tons of queer characters! It was not at all even good for me, and I'm sad.
This book could not decide what tone it wanted to take, so it just sort of took all of them. It's so cute and cosy! (The ghost has CAT EARS, my guys!) It's so gruesome! (The detailed description of happens more than once and in the victim's head, and that's far from the only gore.) It's so sensitive! It's so clumsy! It's so serious and important! It's so political! It's so fun! You can't be all these things and have any kind of coherence. Choose. Like, you don't have to pick just one, but you have to eliminate a few of those.
This book also fell down pretty hard in the plot department. It's obvious who the killer is well before the point where I stopped reading (and turned to the final chapters to be sure I was right), and it gets remarkably frustrating watching the supposedly brilliant MC and her brilliant friends just fully fail to solve things while people continue to die. And the author wanted to do too many things -- see above about the tone problems -- which meant making space for all of them, which meant the actual A plot was buried in the B, C, D, and pontificating plots. What I'm saying here is that this dragged because the pacing was violently, hideously off.
(The worldbuilding also, shall we say, left a lot to be desired. I'm hoping maybe all the holes in it were explained in the half I didn't read, though, so I'll just leave this as a side note.)
Man. I feel mean. But this book should have been perfect for me -- a paranormal mystery with disability rep and tons of queer characters! It was not at all even good for me, and I'm sad.
March 19, 2025
Actual rating 2.5 ⭐
I wanted to love this book; "Be Gay. Solve Crimes. Take Naps." being the tagline had me excited that this would be precisely up my alley but unfortunately, it fell pretty flat for me. It wasn't a bad book by any means, it just did not hook me. I found myself pausing to read other things and then coming back to it more out of obligation to finish it than out of excitement.
It was extremely campy and more of a "cozy" mystery, which I do tend to enjoy in general but here the tone felt a bit off. I think because there were characters close to the main group that were being killed and they were still cracking jokes, it didn't feel like appropriate campiness if that makes sense. And to be completely honest, some of the humor I found to be a bit cringe. There were some fun parts for sure, but overall I wasn't blown away by this one.
I wanted to love this book; "Be Gay. Solve Crimes. Take Naps." being the tagline had me excited that this would be precisely up my alley but unfortunately, it fell pretty flat for me. It wasn't a bad book by any means, it just did not hook me. I found myself pausing to read other things and then coming back to it more out of obligation to finish it than out of excitement.
It was extremely campy and more of a "cozy" mystery, which I do tend to enjoy in general but here the tone felt a bit off. I think because there were characters close to the main group that were being killed and they were still cracking jokes, it didn't feel like appropriate campiness if that makes sense. And to be completely honest, some of the humor I found to be a bit cringe. There were some fun parts for sure, but overall I wasn't blown away by this one.
January 1, 2025
I've had this paranormal murder mystery on my to-read list for ages. I'm so happy it's finally come out on audio because it did not disappoint! The main character has fibromyalgia and her best friend is a ghost who died dressed as a cat. Together with a couple of other queer witch friends, they work to solve his murder and the new murder they've been hired for. A perfect read for spooky season or Disability December, this was fun, twisty and had a memorable cast of queer characters (plus top notch disability rep)! Highly recommended and I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the series when it becomes available on audio.
August 26, 2023
a total banger! such a good mystery, well-drawn characters with fab queer and chronically ill rep, also the best banter.
October 4, 2023
I enjoyed this book! I think it is going to be first in a series! My favorite character was Theodore! A ghost in a cat costume! Three witches and Theodore solve mysteries! This first mystery was a good one! I enjoyed the book thoroughly!
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