This book is excellent. I have yet to read a bad book by Gail Z. Martin but this one out does some of her previous work. Deadly Curiosities focuses on Cassidy Kincaid, a psychometric reader and a member of the Alliance, and her life as the owner of Trifles and Folly, an antique store. As a member of the Alliance she uses her magic to discover items that have power and remove them from public circulation.  You meet Cassidy in the midst of her job, and see how and why she does this.  Aiding her is her assistant manager Teag and Sorren, a 600 year old vampire who has been watching over the Kincaid family for generations.  That’s the background to the book.

The book itself is a somewhere between sword and sorcery and urban fantasy. Sure the environment is Charleston in all its ghostly glory, but the magic is very old school with voodoo and runic magic both being key factors. Basically if the magic makes sense, it is in the book. That sounds more hodge podge then I meant it to.  The author does an excellent job of laying out all the points and getting you to understand then I can.

The main plot of the book has Charleston’s background magic and ghost levels skyrocketing because of interference in the magical community. Between that and the grisly murders that look almost ritualistic and wild, the group from Trifles and Folly have to get involved. This takes them on a dangerous ride eventually leading to massive all out fight in an abandoned navy yard with the allies and enemies they have picked up on the way.

I highly recommend this book, the series, and recommend Gail Z Martin in general.  We have plenty of her in the system and you should look into it if this is at all to your taste.