The Spectral City Novels
A Sanctuary of Spirits is the second in Leanna Renee Hieber’s absorbing Spectral City novels. The premise of this series is marvelously entertaining and thoughtful. Take a young woman, Eve, who can communicate with the dead, a dashing, intelligent Jewish detective, and a series of cold murder cases that will take something entirely out of the ordinary to solve. Tweak them into an alternative history in which Theodore Roosevelt, as Governor of New York, establishes the Ghost Precinct in the New York Police Department with Eve in command, ably assisted by several supernaturally talented women and a number of ghostly “assets.” Mix those elements together and ground them with superb use of historical detail. The results make for engaging fiction that defies a tidy categorization. I’d use a lot of words like historical, mystery, fantasy, Gaslamp, Victorian, paranormal and highly recommended.
Wronged Children
Early in A Sanctuary of Spirits Eve’s staff conduct a séance. “There was a rushing sound through the room, in an ethereal echo, as if a great door had been opened.” One of the consulting ghosts brings them alarming information. A host of children has gathered. They’ve been wronged and need help, but these spirits cannot communicate the necessary details. That is up to the Ghost Precinct to uncover. The only clues the spirits can offer come when the angry children throw open locked file drawers of old, ignored cases. Files and papers fly onto the floor. This mesmerizing scene continues: “’Find us…’ came a murmur that consolidated from the voices, the words racing around the room in a freezing chill, though no spirits could be seen to have made the declaration. It came from the fabric of the air itself, repeating again, in aching earnest. ‘Come find what we’ve lost!’”
Great Danger and Romance
Little do the women of the Ghost Precinct realize that they are being drawn into a twisted plot masterminded by someone who can harm even the dead. Throughout the smart untangling of this macabre scheme, Hieber builds up the sensuous chemistry between Eve and Detective Horowitz—a relationship Eve views as entirely forbidden. She cannot let herself be sidetracked from her passionate belief in this new form of crime solving and the positive view of spirits that it will offer the world.
Hieber explores the realms of death with creativity and sensitivity in a rich mix of Victorian Spiritualism and cross-cultural ideas. She weaves these philosophical strands into a page-turning, dark tale where art, death, and the human yearning for exaltation collide in murderous ways.
Find Leanna Renee Hieber and her books on her website