Joyce Lavene (1954–2015)

I was so excited to read this book. I’ve read many books by these authors and have always started each series somewhere besides the beginning. This is the first time I’ve started one at the beginning! Now I don’t have to go backwards to go forward.

I’m beginning to suspect Joyce and Jim Lavene have special powers. How else can they write so many books so fast and make me fall in love with their characters so easily?

I loved Sarah Tucker. She’s a successful lawyer working for a show more senator. Rising up the ladder quickly. When her mother decides it’s time to sell her grandparents abandoned farm, Sarah takes time off to seal the deal.

Off she goes to Misty River, Virginia, and right into her childhood memories. Sarah loved her grandparents and cherished every minute she spent on their farm. From swimming naked in the river, to watching the pumpkins grow huge, she knew every inch of those acres.

Her analytical mind says seal the deal when a buyer offers a huge amount of money for the farm. Her whimsical mind says don’t do it. You love this place. It could be brought back to it’s former glory.

And what about her grandparents. They vanished without a trace many years ago, food still on the table, no signs of violence. If she sells the farm, she might never know what happened to them.

And where will Jack go. Her former childhood playmate, the boy who gave her her first kiss, lives on the farm. He’s been there for years, a squatter you could say, protecting the place and keeping it from falling to ruin.

Digging into the old investigation stirs up a hornets nest. Sarah and Jack arrange a meeting with a man who says he has a lead on her grandparents. Once they reach the farm, bullets fly and they find the man dead.

Sarah, along with Jack and many of the town folk, better dig faster for clues if they don’t want more bodies piling up.

Speaking of digging. There’s also the mystery of the buried Confederate gold somewhere on the farm. The plot thickens.

This is the type of writing that keeps me reading for hours, reading from beginning to end. Pausing to laugh. Diving back in. Wanting to know what happens. Not wanting it to end.

The romance is sweet and funny. Sarah is attracted to Jack in spite of herself. He loves to keep her off balance. These two are made for each and I crossed my fingers for a happy ever after.

The mystery is a good one. I’m sure you’ve heard this before, but it totally caught me by surprise.

The characters were wonderful. So many of them, yet it was easy to remember who was who.

The community is close. Everybody pitches in to help each other. And a bear can’t poop in the woods without someone knowing about it. You know those kind of towns.

The writing. How to describe it. These two authors have a way of keeping me engrossed even when they’re writing about something as mundane as walking from the farmhouse to the barn. No wasted word, just the right ones to show you the scene.

I loved every word. Can’t wait for more. And knowing how fast these two write, it probably won’t be a long wait. show less

A supernatural cozy mystery with zombies! I couldn’t wait to read this book.

A car crash ended Skye’s life. Her husband didn’t survive and she was on the brink of death when she was offered a different ending. One she gladly accepted so she could have more time to raise her daughter.

So she pledged twenty years of service to Abraham Lincoln Jones and became a zombie. Not the rotting flesh and brain sucking kind. She still looks pretty much the same. But she is undead.

No longer a police show more officer, she now drives a taxi for the dead, making pickups for Abe when other zombies times are up, their twenty years of service over.

After two years of driving the taxi it’s become routine, until one pick up changes everything. A zombie, one of Abe’s has been killed before his time was up. A plain gold wedding band left by his heartless corpse.

More zombies are killed and it becomes a race against time to discover the killer before he sets his sights on Skye.

There are so many different plots woven into this one book.

Who is killing the zombies, ripping out there hearts and leaving wedding bands by the bodies? What is the purpose of the rings?

What or who is Lucas, Skye’s strange guest at the inn her husband inherited from his parents? He has some powers but appears to have amnesia. Who called him to Skye? Is he good or evil? Sorcerer or monster?

Perhaps Jacob’s mother can get to the bottom of it. She died but her ghost lingers at the inn. She stayed to help Skye with raising her daughter. Not liking Lucas, she’s still stuck with his presence and he does offer to help her become more solid so she can do more around the inn. Maybe a friendship will blossom and his memories will become clearer.

And just what is Abraham Lincoln Jones? He isn’t human or zombie. Where did he get the power to create zombies? Most of the time Abe is a happy guy, smiling, calm spoken. But it’s not a good idea to makes him angry and questions do that. So who or what he is will remain a mystery for now.

And what’s Skye’s new partners story. Debbie pledged twenty years of service to Abe in exchange for saving her husbands life. This hasn’t been done before. And something is strange about him. Skye senses something different in the man, not zombie. Did Abe make this unusual deal to woo Debbie? He does appear to have taken a shine to her.

See what I mean about many plots. Don’t worry about becoming confused though. The author weaves them together as the book progresses and you can easily follow along. In fact, you’ll be swept into the mystery right to the end.

I loved it. All of it. So much fun. So many mysteries. Lots of supernatural beings. A teeny bit of a possible romance. And many laughs with a good dose of sarcasm here and there. And it’s a series too! So I’ll be visiting with these characters again. show less

I've enjoyed all of Joyce & Jim Lavene's series that I've read, so I was looking forward to this but also a little curious as to how they were going to manage a zombie story that might make me want to read it. No worries.
Skye becomes a zombie so her daughter won't be left an orphan; in exchange for the 20 years she gets to see her daughter grow up, she has to work for Abe, driving a zombie taxi service. When zombies start "dying" before their 20 years, Skye is on a mission to find out show more what's going on, risking her life in the process.
It's a fun book with interesting characters. I can't wait to find out what is the secret of Skye's family lineage? Who is Lucas, and how is he connected to Skye? What new powers or abilities may Addie discover?
Definitely will be reading the next book in the series. show less

Westerns aren’t big on my hit list, but anything by the Lavenes and you can count me in. Those Who Walk in Darkness by Jim and Joyce Lavene is a step back in time, to the Wild West days of the Pinkertons. Beware, you’ll need a quick draw to survive.

Jacks is Julia. After her fiance died at her feet, she went to Allan Pinkerton. He said he would help her find the killer and hired her on the spot. Only two people know she is female, Allan Pinkerton, her boss, and Lil. Lil is a madame who show more recognized her femininity and felt a need to “mother” her. I can only imagine how hard it would be to change ALL your mannerisms. Cutting the hair and binding the breasts would be simple, but learning to walk, talk and act like a man would be much more difficult. She would have to be ever vigilant.

Jacks can take care of herself. She’s a cigar smoking, whiskey drinking, quick draw and is doing just fine, until Hume Boyd and Running Wolf. She preferred to work alone, but that would not be the case this time.

Now…what can I say about Hume. I can picture him, looking so young you wonder if he can even pick up a gun, naive, sweet and innocent and too eager for his own good.

I have a bad feeling about Boyd, but a good one about Running Wolf. With a name like that, I think we have some paranormal and mystical machinations coming up and I am looking forward to them. Jacks keeps denying the appearance of the raven, but we shall see.

The mystery unfolds and I am delighted to be teased…it can’t be him…too obvious, but he’s not a nice guy and that’s putting it mildly. So, what’s his beef? Okay, then how about…it could be him, and I waver back and forth. The big question is “Why?”

The characters are well developed and the mystery prolonged. I know something is coming…very soon. Even though I am expecting it, it’s still a shock when it happens. I jerk and gasp, laughing at myself for being caught off guard.

I have a love/hate feeling for the ending. The Lavene’s wrap this novel up in a neat package, but Jacks story lives on. There is no happy ever after and I will be more than glad to go on the next adventure to find out…who is the real Jacks.

This was a surprising 5 stars for me. When I began reading I was rating it a bit low, but it kept getting better and better. Fantastic writing and I would highly recommend Those Who Walk in Darkness by the Lavene’s for a great combination of multiple genres.

I received a copy of Those Who Walk in Darkness by Joyce and Jim Lavene in return for an honest review.

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