[Book Review] For The Murder by Gabrielle Ash & Flying Crow Coffee Dark Times Blend

Title: For The Murder
Series: The Murder, Book 1
Author: Gabrielle Ash
Publication date: February 22nd 2022
Page Count: 353 pages
Age Rating: YA & Up (blood, gore, violence, death)
How I got my hot little hands on it: Received a review copy
Publisher’s page: For The Murder

A lone crow is a dead crow.

That’s what Diana Van Doren, exiled crow shifter, has always believed. The last murder of crow shifters known to exist wouldn’t accept her into the flock, leaving her vulnerable. Worse, her kleptomaniacal father’s schemes put them in a demon’s crosshairs. Without the support of the murder, Diana fears death will come all too quickly. So when an opportunity to steal a rare blade that can kill anything—even demons—crosses their path, she decides to play her father’s games one last time.

However, she isn’t the only one hoping to take the blade. Sasha Sokolov, a clairvoyant, has been forced from childhood to serve the very demon hunting Diana and her family. After two decades of service, his boss finally offers him what he can’t refuse: freedom. All he has to do is bring in the knife and the Van Dorens, and his bloodline will be free from serving the demon forever.

When Diana and Sasha meet at the auction, they strike an uneasy alliance. Diana sees a way to finally be welcomed into the murder. Sasha sees an opportunity to get his freedom. To get what they want, only one of them can walk away with the blade. But when their magic inexplicably links as they reluctantly work together to steal the knife, betraying each other for their own ends may no longer be an option.

FOR THE MURDER is the first book in The Murder series, a dark urban fantasy featuring a fierce crow shifter, supernatural demons, and a magical battle for the ages.

My Review

A shifter thief, a demon’s angelic henchman, and a cat demon (and its host) find common ground in the search to acquire a demon-killing knife in this found family heist urban fantasy.

Diana is a careless man’s careful daughter, a crow shifter exiled with her parents when her conman father conned the wrong demon and brought danger to the Murder (their crow shifter clan). Diana is now 28 and a professional thief, stealing items for her father and pining for the day Lead Crow allows her to rejoin the flock.

Sasha is a demon general’s right-hand man, born from an angelic bloodline and forced into servitude, using his talents to acquire whatever his employer desires. Taken from his mother as a child and raised by demons, he’s now 31 with a ledger stained red.

When a demon-killing knife goes up for auction, both are desperate to get their hands on it – Diana as an offering to her old Murder for a chance to be reunited and Sasha for a promise of freedom in exchange for the blade. The two join forces, along with Nobu, a young man possessed by a cat demon. Although working together, they all have their own agendas, and Sasha keeps his true motives under wraps as part of his own plan to use the other two to get his hands on the weapon.

While I was intrigued by the book’s description, I was not expecting to like it as much as I did. It’s kind of impossible not to become attached to this little motley crew, they are all so damaged and alone in their own ways and in need of a hug. It’s impossible to stay detached – something even the emotionally-distanced Sasha learns the hard way.

The author does a fantastic job of keeping the action and stakes high the whole way through. The bond that forms between the three conspirators is established naturally and organically as they plan, fight, and face vampires, werewolves, demons, and more side by side in their quest for the knife.

The romance between Diana and Sasha is a very slow burn, so slow that I started to think there wasn’t going to be one. Their connection is more of an emotional (and magical) bond than a physical one, but rest assured the two are very attracted to each other and do share a few kisses and embraces eventually.

Oh – also it’s Christmas. The book is set during Christmas, but the holiday happens in the background, it actually doesn’t play a part in the book and none of the characters celebrate it. I found that kind of quirky.

I really enjoyed For The Murder and was left wanting more. Fantastic plotting, incredibly likable complex characters (who doesn’t love damaged-but-redeemable characters with hearts of gold?), and the perfect blend of action & emotion made this an absolute page-turner for me. I can’t wait to see what these three are up to in book two (coming out this fall) and will absolutely read more books by this author.

Flying Crow Coffee Dark Times Blend is as complex as it is dark (as dark times tend to be), with notes of deep rich chocolate and also a bit of a lemony, citrus bite. This blend definitely reminds me of Diana and how she manages to be both sweet and tart while going through her own dark times.