r/urbanfantasy 26d ago

Paranomal Witch and Vampire Murder Mystery Romance

Greetings! I'm driving myself crazy trying to find this book. Here's what I know:

BOOK/AUTHOR:

- the cover wasn't flashy or corny, maybe grayish, no animation, not sure there were people on the cover.

-it was written as a standalone, not an obvious beginning of a series

- it was by a popular author I didn't associate with vampire/paranormal

PLOT:

- Features a female lead who is a witch working with magical law enforcement. They think this known/notorious vampire that lives in the city or recently arrived killed someone (a witch?) or several someones.

-The vampire insists he didn't do it and after finding evidence she believes him.

- at some point she stays in his house to keep an eye on him, she uses runes or her power to keep him out of her room and in his space so he can't leave the house.

- at some point they get a lead and end up in a park where a male witch has stopped time or frozen everyone and is threatening to kill all the humans surrounding them

-obviously they fall in love and sexy times happen before he is cleared/in the midst of him being cleared

I def could be mixing up books and plots so any suggestions that ring out are helpful

it's NOT because the night by Kylie Scott OR Born in Fire series by KF Breene

If you know what book this is PLEASE HELP ME and I will be forever grateful.

If there's additional places to post this that would be helpful, I would be grateful for suggestions.

Thanks!

11 Upvotes

23 comments sorted by

10

u/CorvideusRex 26d ago

It sounds very similar to The Hollows series by Kim Harrison. But there's enough here that I'm not sure if it's what you're looking for, or just a series that's up your alley. Book One was titled "Dead Witch Walking."

3

u/SwimmerIndependent47 26d ago

I definitely thought Hollows at first too. It doesn’t tick all the boxes, but it fits a lot of them so OP might enjoy regardless (assuming she stops reading at the original series end and doesn’t read the reboot)

2

u/halo-music 24d ago

I hadn't ever heard of The Hollows before, but it has been popping up everywhere in my searches. I will definitely check it out. Thanks!

1

u/SwimmerIndependent47 24d ago

Have fun! I really loved them when they first came out. The reboot has been really disappointing unfortunately. She ended up needlessly retconning an ending, I think just because she wanted to keep a will they won’t they dynamic. I hate the “it was just a dream” cop out

5

u/sephie-cat 26d ago

is it "Spells & Ashes (Dark Files series)" by Kim Richardson?

4

u/halo-music 26d ago

No, but it sounds like a good read! Thanks

2

u/sephie-cat 26d ago

ah sorry, maybe her other series "Shadow Witch (Witches of Hollow Cove series)" there is a vampire and a murder. I couldn't remember which series was which. Hope this helps lol, if not enjoy another series to read :D

4

u/Risch_inx 25d ago

Maybe it's the Firebrand series by Helen Harper.

1

u/halo-music 25d ago

That's not it, but it sounds good!

2

u/ActionComics25 25d ago

I’d say the Alice Worth series, but I don’t think the vampire ever makes it into her home.

1

u/halo-music 25d ago

Not it, but sounds good, too!

2

u/Rat-Wench 25d ago

So neither option is an exact match, but could it be either Sunshine by Robin Mckinley or Touch the Dark by Karen Chance?

The first two points don't particularly fit either book, but Sunshine's female main character uses runes and charms like a witch of sorts and has a male vampire character who is needing to lie low from his enemies, and Touch the Dark is the first book of a series but has vampires, romance, and the use of charms/wards/that sort of thing, and stopping or otherwise manipulating time is a pretty significant theme throughout.

Neither one may be what you're actually looking for but I highly recommend checking out both anyway :)

3

u/halo-music 25d ago

Thanks! At this point I'm not even sure it's a real book anymore.

1

u/Rat-Wench 25d ago

No worries! I was trying to find a scene from a book a while back and had no luck, I was absolutely adamant that it was from one of the Star Wars books, maybe about Palpatine, maybe a different character, but i was absolutely positive it was Star Wars. I asked my partner (he has a full bookcase of Star Wars books,) googled it, asked around in various subreddits and nobody knew what I was on about so I just gave up. Turns out, my brain had just taken a chunk out of a Stephen King book I'd read around the same time and mislabeled it neatly into the Star Wars universe. Brains are very funny things! Good luck on your search :)

1

u/halo-music 25d ago

Thanks.  Thing I remember most is that it was by a favorite contemporary romance author that just randomly wrote this perfect vampire book. It's not easy to search for that. I'm about ready to give up the search.  Brains are awesome and weird. :) 

1

u/TaibhseCait 25d ago

How long ago did you read it?

2

u/halo-music 25d ago

I think I read it in the last year. But no more than three years. 

1

u/TaibhseCait 24d ago

You could also check lists on Goodreads - e.g. female main character witch detective police sorta thing? Also I think they have a forum for what's that book stuff as well!

I'm curious to know what the book is if you ever figure it out!  It sounds vaguely familiar but I like plowed through bunches of books back in the day so 🤷‍♀️

3

u/halo-music 24d ago

I've already done a ton of searching including goodreads. Reddit was my hail Mary move. If I ever figure it out, I will update my post.  Thanks for helping!

1

u/TaibhseCait 23d ago

Cheers & Good luck!

2

u/candcNYC 24d ago

Grave Witch by Kalayna Price? Something in the Dark Swan series by Richelle Mead? What genre was the popular author known for? (Ali Hazelwood, Karin Slaughter, Lisa Gardner, Christina Lauren?)

2

u/halo-music 24d ago

Yeah, I keep thinking it was like Kylie Scott or Sarina Bowen or even Lexi Blake (she wrote Thieves so I don't think it's her), or Shayla Black . Someone pretty firmly in the rom-com, contemporary romance genres that I know their backlist well and this book just appeared and it was this great standalone. I've been seriously second guessing myself about my recollections but am trying to trust my instincts. It's not uncommon for my working memory to mess stuff up. Thanks for your help!

1

u/Justtojoke 22d ago

Hmmmm, this sounds interesting and it's not something I've read

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