Green-Eyed Envy - Kasey Mackenzie

Green-Eyed Envy

A Shades Of Fury Novel
Kasey Mackenzie
Ace
 
Urban Fantasy

Marissa (Riss) Holloway is a Fury of the mythological variety.  Usually, she looks human, but she can shift into Fury mode when bringing a law-breaker to justice.  As such, she’s the perfect person to serve as Chief Magical Investigator in Boston.  You might think that she’d be used to just about anything, but events of the recent past (detailed in the first book in the series, RED HOT FURY) have rocked her understanding of her family heritage.  In addition to this, she’s on the trail of what looks like the first-ever arcane serial killer.

So far, three Bastai, or were-Cats, have been found dead; their tongues ripped out and their mouths stuffed with catnip.  Cats are shape-shifters, and for all intents and purposes are immortal.  The mode of death itself is the first mystery.  For those in the know, the catnip is a pretty heavy insult, and could be the result of some rogue Warhound counting coup on an ancient enemy.  It doesn’t take long for Riss to discover that each of the dead Cats was once involved with FBI agent Harper Cruz.  Harper is a Cat, and the first arcane to work for the FBI. 
 
Riss and Harper have worked cases together.  The fact that a very powerful someone is systematically working through Harper’s ex-boyfriends is problem enough.  It’s possible that the ultimate target is Harper.  But first, Riss has to get past her very protective current boyfriend and fiancé.  Who just happens to be a Hound.  And not any Hound, but a member of one of the most powerful families in the city.  A family none too pleased with one of their own marrying a Cat.
 
This novel works very well both as a murder mystery and as urban fantasy.  The realistic foundations of the world-building that were laid in the first novel are expanded here.  This is a world that knows about arcane creatures and had a human/arcane war that nearly decimated both sides.  Both sides have good reason to keep the peace, and this case is potentially explosive.  Riss makes use of her own shape-shifting ability to go undercover with the bridal party.  While that results in a few amusing scenes, the author wisely keeps the sitcom situations to a minimum.  Readers who enjoy a good dose of gritty action (and some gore) should check out this series.  The serial killer story wraps up here, but there are some pretty serious subplots left with loose ends for the next installments.
 
Rating: 7 ½
July 2011
ISBN# 978-0-441-02049-2 (paperback)