Scarecrows and Devils

Tales From The 77th Precinct

by T.A. Chase

Ace Castle, detective in the Detroit Homicide Unit, works in the paranormal division known as the 77th Precinct. He and his partner deal with the weird, odd, and downright strange cases popping up in the city. Ace has been doing the unusual work since he started at the DPD, and since then, he has learned that the monsters children swear are under their beds just might really be there.

Now, when a girl is murdered in the city, it's up to Ace and his partner to find the killer along with his motive for ending her life. Yet Ace soon discovers the victim was no ordinary human, but an Undine, and he's pretty sure her killer is also one of those aforementioned monsters.

Finding a murderer is hard enough without constant interference from demon lords and fallen angels, so when Dulles, a fallen angel Ace has known for years, is determined to make Ace fall in love with him, his job soon becomes twice as difficult...

Genres: Paranormal, M M Romance

129 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 1, 2015

About the author

There is beauty in every kind of love, so why not live a life without boundaries? Experiencing everything the world offers fascinates me and writing about the things that make each of us unique is how I share those insights. I live in the Midwest with a wonderful partner of thirteen years. When not writing, I’m watching movies, reading and living life to the fullest.

Reviews

[Kestrel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ace was a wonderfully flawed character, and I loved his struggle to accept his and Dulles' love for each other. His journal entries at the beginning of each chapter added a lot of depth to his character that helped me understand him. I also enjoyed the plot, and thought it was very well played out. The mystery was intriguing and had a bit of a twist at the end. Overall, this was a very enjoyable read and I'd definitely recommend it.

[Tiferet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid lore. Good murder mystery. Interesting MCs. But dear god, does the protagonist has to be so unironically Mr Brooding Noir Detective complete with the Heart of Gold? His angsty journaling was tedious and about as subtle as a brick to the back of a reader's head. And it made me think for half of the story that "Castle" was a mean nickname, not his actual name...

[Sev · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll leave a proper review later, meanwhile I can safely say this is a nice entry in the 77th Precinct universe and I'd like to see more of these particular characters.

[Kelly (Maybedog) · Rating 3 out of 5]

My review is in spoiler tags because it hasn't been edited yet and I do most of my note taking on my phone which makes for some creative wording due to the spellchecker. This review probable has too much negative stuff as that's what I tend to think to write down. If I'm enjoying myself, I don't want to stop reading!

There could be actual spoilers, though, so you've been warned.



Why do people in books not only memorize quotes but know the quotes others utter? I'm highly educated and I can never remember a damn thing to repeat let alone remember it word for word. And recognize a quote when I hear it from someone like Burns? Forget it.

I love how he protects and respects the homeless and makes sure others do too.

He sure throws around a lot of money for a man on a cop's salary, even a detective, especially since he judges another cop as suspicious because he has a lot of money he shouldn't have on a cop's salary.

I don't like that he says that paranormals care about their kids more often than humans do simply because the guy looks sad. I think most mothers sob and are incapable of functioning when their offspring die suddenly. Having your child die before you is one of the worst things that can ever happen to a person.

My daughter isn't biologically mine, she came to me when she was almost seven. She has done everything in her power to push me away; the first time she told me she loved me was when she was an adult; the first time she called me Mom was even later. She has lived on the streets as a heroine and meth addict and there have been so many times I didn't know where she and if she was even alive was that I stopped counting. I've tried to prepare for that phone call but even thinking about it shakes me to my core. I have always loved her with the fierceness of a mother bear and have acted accordingly. Once I tried to go to a major drug dealers house that I knew had many guns and was basically holding her captive. But I didn't have the right address. It probably saved both our lives. I have seen horrible parents who lose their kids and most still love their children and fight to get them back.

Cool that he realized that a messy space didn't necessarily mean a place was ransacked; the person could just be a slob...like me...;)

The police procedure is good, although solving the case is WAY too easy. It's like an outline rather than full fleshed and with cheesy dialog. Ace has too many highly placed contacts who love him and new highly placed beings respect him and bow to his attitude. They usually adore him, too.

He jumps to conclusions. He trusts people are who they say they are and is just trusting in general. Everyone is nice and helpful. Yet he makes these ridiculous negative generalizations.

They are way too affectionate while working on a murder case with other law enforcement and those highly placed VIPs. It was a ridiculously quick turnaround in Ace's view of their potential relationship -- which was also silly given his desires.

There was deliciously wonderful peril except the savior was the wrong person. The right person didn't react the way he should have, not very concerned at first, letting the wrong person who he was previously jealous of take care of the one who was hurt. It was not enough to save the story. Still I would read another the author wrote in this series if there is one.

[Love Bytes Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Heart Review by Tammy

Ace Castle has been a detective with the paranormal division for what feels like forever and he’s been assigned yet another partner. He and his partner get the call to a new murder, this is not your ordinary murder victim, this happens to be an Undine. Undine’s are few but they’re powerful water paranormals so Ace knows that the person who killed this unfortunate girl has to be either an incredibly strong human or a paranormal.

Ace has known Dulles for about ten years and he’s been falling in love with him for the same amount of time. Dulles is a fallen angel but, what Ace doesn’t know is that Detroit and the surrounding areas are all his to control and take care of. When Dulles hears about the Undines’ death he knows who to call the King of the Undine tells him that his daughter is missing which starts an intense investigation with not only Ace and his partner but with Dulles and Uriah, a demon who happens to be a member of the paranormal council who is known as the devil. Whilst the investigation is ongoing Ace tries very hard to stay away from Dulles because as far as he’s concerned he’s not relationship, partner or anything material! Dulles has decided that the time is right to claim Ace as his mate, he’s known Ace was his mate the moment they met ten years ago and he’s tired of waiting and watching as Ace spends every night at a bar getting drunk and getting off with total strangers.

During the investigation it’s discovered that the Siren, a pearl that is entrusted to the king when he is crowned. The Siren is the largest natural pearl in the world and because it’s always in close proximity to the royal family it has been continually siphoning off and absorbing their power until it’s now like the Holy Grail. It’s obvious someone with a lot of strong magic has stolen the Siren but why? It’ll kill anyone who is not the King of the Undine if they lay a finger on it. And, who is magically strong enough to mask the Siren’s energy?

Scarecrows and Devils is a very well written paranormal mystery/romance short story with some unexpected twists and turns to keep you interested! You have to read it to find out who is behind the death and why they did it! I guarantee you won’t guess who it is. I have no hesitation in recommending this book to all mystery/romance lovers.

This book was provided free in exchange for a fair and honest review for Love Bytes. Go there to check out other reviews, author interviews, and all those awesome giveaways. Click below.

[Meggie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The flow of this story was fast paced and enjoyable, but I'm sure it could have been even better. The romance between Dulles - fallen angel and Ace Castle - senior detective, just wasn't special enough, it felt cold.

[Kristy Maitz · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was interesting reading material that could be even better.

[Shelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars

[Gwendolyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just could not get into this one.