Review--Who Needs Enemies by Keri Arthur

Harriet Phillecky is a rare part elf, part siren and wanted by neither race. Not that she really cares. A successful news photographer turned paranormal investigator, she now has a 'family' of friends that includes ogres who constantly raid her refrigerator and take over her TV, and a dragon who drinks far too much for his own good.

But when the only elvan relative she has any contact with asks her to investigate the disappearance of a siren, she finds herself unable to refuse.

All too quickly the disappearance becomes murder, relatives come out of the woodwork, and a man she'd much rather forget steps back into her life. Harri wants nothing more than to run—especially when the evidence beats a path to the doors of those who'd long ago abandoned her. But when the life she's created for herself comes under threat, Harri has little choice but to hunt down a killer—before everything she holds dear is destroyed.

Keri Arthur's Who Need Enemies is her foray into the self-published industry. And it was pretty awesome! Although, it does ring a little differently from her usual style, but still pretty awesome! As I always enjoy a good mystery and Keri certainly delivers on that account!

Harri is part siren and part elf. She's pretty much an outcast to each species and the only one who really cares about her is her uncle on her father's side. Her father is a real winner as well, as she was an illegitimate child and he doesn't want anything to do with her, yet their paths certainly cross enough.

When her uncle comes to her asking her to look into the disappearance of a siren, Harri agrees, because her uncle seems really worried about the woman. But when the investigation just barely gets started, Harri finds the siren dead. To make matters worse, one of her friends who happens to be a dragon, is caught up in his own murder case as when he was flying (under the influence) he crashed into a helicopter and killed the people inside it. Troubles and problems are just barking at Harri's door. Especially when a troll comes knocking on her door and then knocking on her skull!

Where would the mysteries be without a little more trouble added into the mix? Such as Harri's old flame, Kaji, coming back to town and being one of the head detectives in the paranormal unit that is looking into the siren's murder. It was rather slow going trying to get their history out, but once we do, things make sense about the tension and hostility between them. Sadly, the romance factor in this one wasn't at all like Keri's previous series. In fact, there's really no romance at all. I wouldn't even call the tension between Harri and Kaji the romantic kind, just good old tension. But there is a moment or two between them where you can kind of see a mild spark of some sort. Definitely something to build upon!

This one was quite exciting! It seemed like every lead Harri would get would lead into a new problem or twist to the case. I was wondering how either one would get solved at this point, but solved they get! And I wasn't really expecting our bad guy at all. Granted, we started getting hints towards the end, but like Harri, I so wasn't prepared for what was to come!

I have to admit that I absolutely loved Harri's ogre friends. They are pretty much loud mouth, beer drinking, TV watching lugs, but they're lovable lugs! They hangout at Harri's place a lot since she has a big screen TV and they like drinking her beer too! They prove to be loyal friends more than once though, so it definitely makes them lovable despite their first appearance!

It's unclear as of now if Keri will write more in this world. Goodreads shows this as Harri Phillecki book 1, so maybe there will be more. Or maybe not. It's hard to tell at this point as Keri is still a published author and has her contracted books that must be met first. But yeah, would definitely read more in this series as this first one shaped out to be a very entertaining mystery read!


Overall Rating 4/5 stars

This read was read for the COYER Challenge