Shadow Hunter (Rosie O'Grady's Paranormal Bar and Grill, Book 1) by B.R. Kingsolver

Release date: April 7, 2019

Subgenre: Urban fantasy

About Shadow Hunter: 

 

When my magic manifested at puberty, my parents sold me to the Illuminati. They trained me as an assassin, spy, and thief. But when they sent me to steal a magical artifact that reveals Truth in all things, I discovered that I was working for the Dark and not the Light. The Illuminati trained me well, and paid the ultimate price for their deception.

Thousands of miles away, I landed a job in a quirky little bar. But the scattered remnants of the Order still strive for world domination, and no one leaves the Illuminati alive.

 

Excerpt:

 

Around midnight, I felt a strange wash of magic from the front door. A man in a long raincoat came in, shook himself, and hung the coat on a peg where it dripped onto the floor. He walked over to the bar, his shoes squishing. He wore a dark business suit, a white shirt, and a tie. His skin was a Mediterranean olive shade, and his dark hair was very short on the sides, with sort of a flat-top. If Sam was the innkeeper from Central Casting, I decided this guy must be the cop that Sam had mentioned.

“Good evening,” he said.

“Good evening. What can I do for you?”

“Hot coffee.”

I went and poured a cup. The pot was about five hours old, as I was the only one drinking it, but I didn’t see any need to make a cop feel any more welcome than I had to.

“You’re new,” he said when I pushed the cup across the bar. I took the two dollars and rang it up, then gave him fifty cents in change.

“I get that a lot,” I said. “There are some very observant people who come in here.” I had heard that about fifty times that night, and it was starting to get on my nerves.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that Jenny was leaning against the far end of the bar watching us.

“I was wondering, you didn’t happen to come into town last night, did you?”

I was trained too well to react, but inside, I readied myself for action. Someone would have found the vampire and probably reported him to the police.

“I don’t remember,” I said. “It’s such a welcoming place that I feel like I’ve been here all my life.”

His face tightened.

“It was just a question,” he said.

“And I don’t answer personal questions from people I don’t know, especially from policemen who don’t identify themselves.”

He straightened, reaching inside his jacket and pulling out his ID. “Detective Lieutenant Jordan Blair. And you are?”

“Erin.”

He waited, but when I didn’t volunteer my last name, he finally gave up. “Did you come into town last night, Erin?”

“Yes, I did.” I almost chuckled, realizing that Liam had the perfect tactic for dealing with cops and lawyers.

“The reason I’m asking is a man’s body was found a few blocks from here this morning. Between here and the bus station. You didn’t happen to see anything unusual last night, did you?”

I shook my head. I wasn’t sure what was usual. I had been in cities where vampires munching on the locals was quite common. “Is it unsafe to walk around here at night? I have to take the bus home after my shift.”

“It might be best to have an escort wait with you at the bus stop,” he said.

I caught myself biting my lower lip and stopped it. “Thank you. I’ll try and take that advice. No one told me this is a dangerous neighborhood.”

“Well, I wouldn’t go that far. It’s normally pretty safe.” He looked around the room. “There are some interesting characters who hang out around here, though.”

“Really? Such as?” I leaned forward over the bar and craned my neck, looking back and forth over the crowd of wildly eccentric people I had been serving all evening. One guy near the dart boards was juggling three glasses full of beer. The remarkable thing was that he wasn’t using his hands, just his magic.

He turned slowly and kind of blinked at me. I tried to give him the most wide-eyed and innocent expression I could manage.

 

Amazon

 

About B.R. Kingsolver:

BR Kingsolver, author of the Telepathic Clans and Chameleon Assassin series, grew up surrounded by writers, artists, myths, and folklore in Santa Fe, The City Different, in the Land of Enchantment.

After living all over the US and exploring the world--from Amsterdam to the Romanian Alps, and Russia to the Rocky Mountains--Kingsolver trades time between Baltimore and Albuquerque. With an education in nursing and biology and a Master's degree in business, Kingsolver has done everything from construction to newspaper editor and jewelry to computers.

Kingsolver, a passionate lifetime skier, currently spends time writing and working with computers while living nine blocks from the harbor in Baltimore as servant in residence to a very demanding cat.

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