Mythical Investigations

by Eliza Stopps

Leslie Kim escaped Earth in the height of it's takeover from Vampires. He's left his career as a Bounty Hunter in the past, along with his old flings and bad memories. Now, he's living on Kapaton, a planet that was discovered after they opened up a black hole to Earth and invaded. The Vampires discovered that they could go outside during the day in the new world, and Leslie found himself a new gig as a Private Investigator. He's living out of a rusted old camping ship that he modified for intergalactic travel and trying to break out of old routines by dating a Vampire. Until a once-believed mythical creature is unleashed on the Kapatonian population and his first customer wants him to find her missing husband, Leslie was living a relaxed lifestyle. Now, he's tangled up in both problems and he's starting to worry that he won't solve either.

This Science Fiction/Mystery cross-over is action packed, fast paced, and full of Grootslang sized problems. Join the adventure as Leslie Kim juggles cases, Alien governments, and relationships, with only the aid of his unsympathetic AI, Frank.

101 pages, ebook

Published June 8, 2017

Reviews

[S.K. Way · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to author Eliza Stopps for a copy of this book for review

Review can be found here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

*Coming soon on B.R.A.I. Blog as well*

[Julie Dismukes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imagine a detective book series done in space. Our poor investigator is called Leslie Kim, and he's desperate to get out of the monster bounty hunting business. His ex-girlfriend had issues, and one of them is going to get him his first private investigator case.

There is a man missing. His wife is worried sick, as she has not seen him in three days. She is sure her life will end without his help. She very well may be correct.

Will Leslie Kim save the day--or at least solve the case? Will he survive his other ex-girlfriend, who happens to be a vampire? And if he is no longer in the monster hunting business, who will kill the Grootslang that could make the whole planet unable to support human life?

A fun story with fun characters. It reminds me a lot of the old seventies detective TV shows. Worth a try.

Note: I did receive this book as an ARC. However, my reviews are based upon my actual opinion.

[Natasha Lane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Author Eliza Stopps blends fantasy, scifi, and mystery into her Mythical Investigations serials. The story centers around our main character Lesile Kim who's working as a private investigator after escaping the Vampire takeover on Earth. Lesile is everything you can imagine when you think of a single, attractive detective who lives alone, enjoys the female companion and really doesn't like playing by others' rules. He's not arrogant, exactly. He's just very sure of himself and is a big believer in "live and let live" for the most part. Needless to say, I was already getting a reader crush on him by the tenth page but he's not the only thing that brings this story to life.

The author has built a world with an interesting history where aliens, vampires and humans are now living together on the planet Kapotian. Throughout the novel she gives some insight into what happened on Earth and the strife that broke out causing me to question (more like hope) she'll do some sort of prologue to her serials. What's also interesting is how she describes the main characters struggles to assimilate into the new culture, often using these moments to provide some comic relief from the puzzle of a mystery she places in front of the reader.

For me, the story fell short near the end. I'm a sucker for scifi/fantasy combinations. Add in a little mystery and I'm pretty much taken. However, near the end of the story, I felt like the characterizations fell off. Characters were doing and saying things that (based on the rest of the story) I couldn't really picture them doing as a reader. It threw me off and made me question the character development.

Lastly,the ending didn't wrap up well for me. When I read a mystery I want there to be that "Oh!" or "Aha!" moment near the end of the story. I didn't get either of those after reading and am still a little unsure of how everything fell together. Of course, this portion could just be me. Perhaps, I missed something along the way.

Still, overall, I recommend reading this serial.You'll fall in love with the main character Lesile who reminds me a bit of Star Lord from "Guardians of the Galaxy." Then, of course, there's the wonderful world the author has built where she's taken real world issues and added an alien twist, so, the reader will cant to read more of her work.

Personal Rating: 3.5

[M. Sheehan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent world-building, humans fled a Vampire takeover on earth and now have to coexist on the planet Kapaton with its own native species. The story revolves around a quick-witted private investigator who is on the hunt for a missing person. The serial is well-written and fast-paced, the characters are funny believable and entertaining. The author has done a wonderful job blending sci-fi, fantasy, and mystery. An adventure sure to impress any reader!

[Heather Barksdale · Rating 5 out of 5]

Leslie Kim is working as a private investigator on the planet Kapaton when a woman approaches him about her missing husband. Leslie takes the case while also working with his girlfriend (who happens to be a vampire) to find and capture a creature until recently thought to be a myth. Leslie’s personal and professional lives collide as one of the cases intertwines with Leslie’s past. He must work hard to solve them if he is to help his girlfriend and find out the truth.

The introduction to the planet and to the fantastical beings living on it are interesting and seamlessly integrated into a futuristic world. I liked that it included some that I was very familiar with (vampires) and others that I had never heard of before (grootslang). The truth revealed at the end of this story is also a great teaser into what is to come with the next book in the series.

I received this book in exchange of a fair and honest review.

[Morgan Blomstedt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clever and entertaining. I enjoyed this book.