Strange Practice by Vivian Shaw
(TP, $19.49, order here)
I rated 12 books with 5 Stars last year and 6 of those are books we sell at Whodunit. Mum already picked Party Girls Die in Pearls, one was published in 2016, two were the second in a series, and one isn’t technically available in Canada yet. So I was feeling a little unsure about what to pick as my book of the year. But when I was in the store in November, a book kept catching my eye. I looked at it a few times. I started to read the first chapter, but with Bookstore Baby on the loose it was hard to get very far. Then, one day, Penelope was napping in the store and I remembered the book and…I couldn’t put it down. I even reported to Mum after the first chapter that I was pretty sure it was going to be my book of the year. And here we are.
Strange Practice by Vivian Shaw is everything I want in a book. A strong female protagonist. A fantastical spin. A little bit of smouldering romance in the background. The first in a series. And, most importantly, spectacularly well-written. Dr. Greta Helsing is a London doctor who’s Harley Street practice specializes in the monstrous undead. Vampires, demons, mummies, and ghouls to name a few. But a serial killing sect of murderous monks has trained their mania on the monsters and Dr. Helsing and her friends (living and undead), must get to the bottom of it and keep London’s monstrous population safe (and healthy).
This is truly a special book that is not only unputdownable, but also makes you insanely jealous that you didn’t come up with the idea first. I cannot wait to see where she takes the story in the follow-up due in July of 2018 called Dreadful Company.