Floats the Dark Shadow by Yves Fey - Review and Giveaway

(Mystery)

This review is in conjunction with a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Yves will be awarding a Hardback copy of Floats the Dark Shadow (US ONLY) to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Floats the Dark Shadow is the winner of four Indie awards in both mystery and historical categories.

Young American painter Theodora Faraday struggles to become an artist in Belle Époque Paris. She’s tasted the champagne of success, illustrating poems for the Revenants, a group of poets led by her adored cousin, Averill. When children she knows vanish mysteriously, Theo confronts Inspecteur Michel Devaux who suspects the Revenants are involved. Theo refuses to believe the killer could be a friend—could be the man she loves. Classic detection and occult revelation lead Michel and Theo through the dark underbelly of Paris, from catacombs to asylums, to the obscene ritual of a Black Mass. Following the maze of clues they discover the murderer believes he is the reincarnation of the most evil serial killer in the history of France—Gilles de Rais. Once Joan of Arc’s lieutenant, after her death he plunged into an orgy of evil. The Church burned him at the stake for heresy, sorcery, and the depraved murder of hundreds of peasant children. Whether deranged mind or demonic passion incite him, the killer must be found before he strikes again.

Read my review:

Floats the Dark Shadow is a mystery set in the Belle Epoque era in France. Theodora Faraday is an American artist living in France. Children she knows begins to go missing, and she is very afraid that her cousin, Averill, or one of the other Revenants is involved.

Inspector Michel Devaux is suspicious of the Revenants. Over the course of time, Theo and Michel team together to solve the mystery and uncover a darkness in Paris that stands in stark contrast to the beauty of the era.

This story was one that was hard to put down. The characters are fully drawn and believable, and the mystery kept me guessing up to the last few pages. I loved the descriptions of the city and the period, and while the scenes involving the children were hard to read, they were also well-done (maybe that's why they were so hard to read!) I especially liked the way the relationship was changing between Devaux and Theo. I look forward to reading the next book in this series and seeing where the author takes these two oh-so-different people next.

About the Author:

Yves has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Oregon, and a BA in Pictorial Arts from UCLA. She has read, written, and created art from childhood. A chocolate connoisseur, she's won prizes for her desserts. Her current fascination is creating perfumes inspired by her characters and by Paris. She's traveled to many countries in Europe and lived for two years in Indonesia. She currently lives in the San Francisco area with her husband Richard and three cats, Marlowe the Investigator, and the Flying Bronte Sisters.

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