BOOK REVIEW: The Quarter Storm by Veronica G. Henry

Publication Date: March 1, 2022 Format: Kindle Genre:  AA women fiction

Publisher: 47 North Length: 287 pages Buy: Kindle | Paperback

Synopsis

A practitioner of Vodou must test the boundaries of her powers to solve a ritual murder in New Orleans and protect everything she holds sacred.

Haitian-American Vodou priestess Mambo Reina Dumond runs a healing practice from her New Orleans home. Gifted with water magic since she was a child, Reina is devoted to the benevolent traditions of her ancestors.

After a ritual slaying in the French Quarter, police arrest a fellow vodouisant. Detective Roman Frost, Reina’s ex-boyfriend—a fierce nonbeliever—is eager to tie the crime, and half a dozen others, to the Vodou practitioners of New Orleans. Reina resolves to find the real killer and defend the Vodou practice and customs, but the motives behind the murder are deeper and darker than she imagines.

As Reina delves into the city’s shadows, she untangles more than just the truth behind a devious crime. It’s a conspiracy. As a killer wields dangerous magic to thwart Reina’s investigation, she must tap into the strength of her own power and faith to solve a mystery that threatens to destroy her entire way of life.

Review: 

Free on Kindle Unlimited. 

Set in New Orleans which already gives it a supernatural, mystical vibe to it we meet Mambo Reina, born in Haiti and trained to be a Priestess by her father despite her mother not wanting him to initiate her into the Voudo religion. 

When a fellow Priestess is arrested for the murder of her tenet, right after Mambo Reina helped a young woman with a spell to keep the murdered man in a relationship with her she can't help but be curious about what really happened.  With everyone against her, her friends, her father and her ex boyfriend and detective Roman Frost Reina is determined to find out what really happened. 

With interesting insight into Voudo and the hierarchy of different practitioners within the city this is an interesting read.  I don't know if it was intentional or not but Mambo Reina is trying to help a fellow Priestess with the help of a young girl whose father is an addict and barely provides for them. These two women take on what the many men in their lives fail to do. They also uncover the willingness to sacrifice one of their own for power and influence and to hide secrets that the police don't want brought to light. 

I loved that it is the women who ultimately save the day.  The ending is not so much a cliff hanger but a prelude to the next book in this series coming out soon. 

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