C.E. Murphy: Heart of Stone

Review by Vicky London

I’m not really sure how I first stumbled upon a C.E. Murphy book. I have a feeling it was the cover art of her book Urban Shaman that drew me in. Her Walker Papers trilogy that begins with Urban Shaman is really fabulous. I’m very sad it was only a trilogy so I was excited to see that she has a new series. The book Heart of Stone begins the Negotiator series. The cover says “Vampires aren’t the only creatures of the night…”. So I thought woo hoo, a great writer plus vampires? I’m in.

Margrit Knight is fearless, she defends the underdog in her public service job as a lawyer and she jogs after midnight in Central Park. Not such a great idea but she’s always had a feeling that she would be safe and attempts to keep her wits about her while running. One night she meets a man in the park and her entire life changes. Alban is a gargoyle, he has been accused of murdering a woman in the park and Margrit may be the only one who can help him.

Alban is one of the fabled Old Races; gargoyles, vampires, selkies, dragons, and djinn. Their existence has been hidden from humans, until Margrit become tangled up in their dangerous world. Not only does Alban need her to find out who the true murderer is, a young selkie mother and child have come to her for help. The building they are living in is set for demolition by the powerful vampire landlord who has also stolen their seal skins. Throw a gangster dragon and his djinn enforcer into the mix and you have an exciting story of intrigue, revenge and passion.

Heart of Stone was a great book, if you enjoy fantasy I would highly recommend it. Alban is a character who has a lot of depth and interest and I’m curious to see how his relationship with Margrit will develop. This book has a lot of things going for it, great characters, exciting plot and just a hint of romance. One tiny little thing that did bug me a bit is because I have a pet peeve with weird nicknames in books. Margrit is called “Grit” by her friends which doesn’t seem that logical to me and makes me think of dirt. Oh well, I guess it can’t all be fabulous.

You can click on the cover art above to buy Heart of Stone.

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