Actual rating: 3.5 stars
My Initial Reaction...
Deadly Curiosities was super spooky and lots of fun! I wish I'd gotten to know the characters better, but I see real potential for the series.
The Characters...
Deadly Curiosities is told from the point of view of Cassidy Kincaide. Cassidy owns an antique store called Trifles & Folly that has been passed down through her family for centuries - passed down to family members with the same gift she has. See, Cassidy has a psychic gift that lets her touch objects and see their history. I have to say, this was a super cool way to tell a story. I loved the flashbacks through all different periods of history and the creepy factor was sometimes through the roof. I loved Cassidy too - she's got a penchant for history (a plus in my book), a streak for a adventure, and a huge heart. She's doing a job that puts her life on the line everyday and the only real reward is protecting her community. And she's a dog lover, so I know she's a good person :)
Teag works for Cassidy and he is just discovering his magical abilities - he's a Weaver. This was a brand new magical concept for me, so that alone made it super cool! This gives him the ability to dig up information on the web really well and as he's learning, gives him some cool knitting abilities too. I really wish we'd gotten to know Teag a bit better. I mean we know that his partner, Anthony, is a lawyer and you get a glimpse of him through that relationship, but since we aren't in his head at all and this book is more story, less character building, I left feeling like I don't really know him much beyond the job. Too bad.
There's a whole bunch of other characters that I loved and their magic was unique and fun. But I'll let you read it to get to know them :)
The Story...
The story for Deadly Curiosities revolved around Cassidy's talent, honestly. Mundane objects that Cassidy and Teag already cleared as being not dangerous are suddenly starting to transform into potentially dangerous objects. And they don't know why. And at the same time, there have been an worrisome streak of gruesome murders. So any good detective knows there's probably a connection there - and they get to work figuring things out.
The main reason I'm giving Deadly Curiosities 3.5 stars instead of 4 is the pace. It would have this incredibly interesting, spooky segment and then we'd fall into a bit of a lull and I got bored. I suspect that this has something to do with the way I tend to get bored in procedurals - I wouldn't straight up call this a procedural, but it definitely revolved around solving a mystery and those moments inbetween the action where it's all detective work were slow for me.
The two things I loved most were 1 - the ghost/spooky elements. They gave me just the right amount of goosebumps every single time. And 2 - the setting/historical elements. Martin made this Charleston, SC setting come to life and she throws you into the history - both mundane and magical in such interesting and culturally diverse ways. It made the book a real treat for me!
Concluding Sentiments...
If you're looking for a nice summer ghost mystery, Deadly Curiosities is a great book for you. And if you like procedural type books, you may even love it more than I did!