There's something in the water: SEAWITCH by Kat Richardson

SEAWITCH (Greywalker #7) by Kat Richardson
Urban Fantasy
338 pages, hardcover
Available now (August 2012)
Publisher: Roc
Review copy provided by publisher

Harper Blaine was your average small-time PI until she died—for two minutes. Now Harper is a Greywalker, treading the thin line between the living world and the paranormal realm. And she’s discovering that her new abilities are landing her all sorts of “strange” cases.

A quarter century ago, the Seawitch cruised away from her dock and disappeared with everyone on board. Now, the boat has mysteriously returned to her old berth in Seattle and the insurance company has hired Harper to find out what happened.

But Harper is not the only one investigating. Seattle Police Detective Rey Solis is a good cop, albeit one who isn’t comfortable with the creepy cases that always seem to end up in Harper’s lap.

As they explore the abandoned vessel, Harper and Solis discover a cabin containing symbols drawn in human blood, revealing the ghost ship’s grave history. As Solis focuses on the possible murder of a passenger’s wife, Harper’s investigation leads her to a powerful being who may be responsible for the disappearance of the Seawitch’s passengers and crew.

And while their searches lead Harper and Solis in different directions, they will need to put aside their differences to solve a deadly mystery twenty-five years in the making…

I've read most of the Greywalker series (maybe five out of the seven, I think) and, I have to say, each story is consistently enjoyable and--bonus--can easily be read as a standalone. Kat Richardson writes a such a complete world, populated with fascinating characters and twisty plots, that I generally have to slow down, take in everything when reading this series. And that's definitely a good thing.

As a Greywalker, Harper Blaine sees more than your average Joe, which gives her a distinct advantage when investigating cases that are more than they seem. Like the case of the boat that mysteriously reappears after 27 years. She teams up with Rey Solis (bonus for him becoming more than a peripheral character) to figure out what happened 27 years ago as well as in the interim.

Because of Solis's involvement, we get a peek behind the curtain of his life with this one, learning more about him and his past than perhaps we ever expected, which just made me like Solis even more. He was great when he was the doubting Thomas and thorn in Harper's side and, while he's still those things, he's become a rounder character.

I like how Richardson really wrote what she knew with this one...boats. As a follower of her blog, I get some insight into her daily life (the posts lately revolve around her dog, which makes me like her even more). Did you know the woman lives on a boat? Yep. So, by bringing in her real-life experience around the marina and with shipboard life, it really adds another dimension to the story. While it's a classic saying, to "write what you know", when authors really do that, it brings so much more to the story.

The paranormal element is pretty darned freaky -- a real Dobhar-chu or sea witch makes an appearance and, let me tell you, these witches are not someone you want to piss off. As always, the mystery requires a lot of footwork on Blane's part and plenty of wrong turns before she finally finds her way.

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