Lipstick Voodoo
Lipstick Voodoo A Kincaid Strange Novel by Kristi Charish Penguin Random House Canada Vintage Canada General Fiction (Adult) , Sci Fi & Fantasy Pub Date 08 Jan 2019
Review
Lipstick Voodoo is a pleasant departure from the average paranormal/ urban fantasy. While it isn’t perfect, (Nate can be extremely annoying) it has a lot in its favor - an intriguing magical premise (spiritual energy comes from the otherside and can be used to contact/raise the dead), a capable heroine, and interesting supporting characters (a sorcerer’s Ghost, a zombie attorney/bar owner, a dead grunge rocker stuck in a decaying body, etc..).
Kincaid Strange is a Voodoo practitioner, bringing the dead back in order to resolve issues and answer questions. She was looking for murderers with the local police, but the new chief has canceled all contracts and is painting all practitioners as charlatans. Now, she is left dealing with lawyers looking to resolve disputed wills. Kincaid’s biggest problem is her friend Nate. His ghost has somehow gotten caught in a decaying body - the body that a powerful sorcerer had planned to inhabit. She is drawn into helping with a cold case, the accidental overdose of a rocker that simply doesn’t add up. Nate is connected, but he refuses to share how. Soon the body of a former roadie shows up, frozen solid and surrounded by ice - in the middle of a former dive bar.
I didn’t care too much for Nate. He was remarkably stubborn and creepy when it came to stalking his former girlfriend, and his propensity for keeping secrets endangers them both. Of course the book would be a LOT shorter if he hadn’t been. It’s a small weakness in the plot. On the whole Lipstick Voodoo is an entertaining book and shows a lot of promise. I have high hopes for the future of this series.
4 / 5
I received a copy of Lipstick Voodoo from the publisher and Netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.
— Crittermom
Description
Kincaid Strange, not your average voodoo practitioner, is back in the freshly imagined and hugely entertaining second installment of Kristi Charish's urban fantasy series. Kincaid Strange cannot catch a break. After dealing with a spate of paranormal murders, there's barely time to recuperate--let alone sleep in--before there's a new problem in Kincaid's world of paranormal activity. When her roommate, Nathan Cade--the ghost of a grunge-rocker with a pathological lack of self-control--comes home bound to a dead body, it's up to Kincaid to figure out how to free him. Ideally before her new mentor, Gideon, a powerful sorcerer's ghost, discovers that Nate is trapped in the body he'd coveted for himself. When Aaron, a Seattle cop on the afterlife beat--and Kincaid's ex--calls her in to help out with a cold case, she takes the chance to mend fences with the police department. The problem: they want to interview Nate's ghost, which she can't produce. Then people from Nate's past start showing up dead, and what's killing them doesn't seem to be human. And the way it's killing them is especially brutal. Nate's hiding something, but he's Kincaid's friend and she wants to help him. But she also wants to stay alive....
