Guest Review: Don’t Kill The Messenger by Eileen Rendahl

Melina Markowitz is a Messenger, a go-between for paranormal forces and supernatural creatures. Problem is, when a girl’s a go-between, it’s hard not to get caught in the middle…

When ninjas steal an envelope from Melina, her search leads her to a Taoist temple in Old Sacramento, where the priests seem to practice Zen and the art of mayhem. Melina learns from the handsome ER doctor (and vampire) who gave her the envelope that it contained talismans created by the priests to control Chinese vampires, who are attacking gang members to spark a street war.

Although he may look more like a surfer than a cop, Ted Goodnight is dead serious about investigating the surge in gang violence. At every turn he runs into Melina, a very attractive-and very mysterious-young woman. Can Melina enlist his help to battle something he doesn’t even believe in without blowing her cover?

Melina is asked by ER doc and vampire Alex Bledsoe to take an envelope to the area’s “head” vamp. When in the process of taking the envelope Melina is attacked by Tai Chi wielding ninja’s she’s a little confused and really pissed off. She’s determined to find out who attacked her and why. What Melina finds is a huge conspiracy to take over the drug trade in Sacramento, California. Melina tries to get to the bottom of the problem but the bad guys attack her friends to try to keep her away from her discoveries. But no one is stopping Melina.

Through all of this Melina meets Ted Goodnight. He’s a cop – and completely human. Melina knows that she’s not a normal girl. She delivers messages and packages to supernatural beings during the day and works as a file clerk at a hospital by night. She knows she shouldn’t get mixed up with Ted but he’s so nice and heroic and he smells like cookies – how can she resist? When Ted discovers that Melina is way more woman than he thought he’s a little confused, to say the least but Ted’s determined to get to the bottom of everything.

This was a very good beginning to what I think will be a wonderful series. Melina is intelligent, thoughtful, caring and she can kick some ass too. She doesn’t think she has all that many friends but when push comes to shove more people than she would think come out of the woodwork. She’s a character that I’m looking forward to reading more about.

Ted Goodnight, Alex Bledsoe and the other secondary characters in the book, Paul the werewolf, Norah – Melina’s human roomie, Sophie – a newly formed messenger, Ben – Melina’s 15 year old neighbor boy and Meredith the witch are all well written and multi-faceted. I believe Rendahl has written an new world that I found interesting in it’s normality – even if it does have paranormal characters.

If you like a good Urban Fantasy read I think you’ll very much enjoy this book.

Rating: 4 out of 5

You can read more from Tracy at Tracy’s Place