The Haunting of Wolfmordre Hall

 

 

Genre: Fantasy, Murder Mystery

 

Rep: M/M main pairing, Queer side character(s)

 

Vibes: Think Agatha Christie murder mystery with                       gay vampires 

 

 Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

 

 

 Review: 

Wow this was a book with so much hidden depth! I feel like it being described as Knives Out meets Ghostbusters doesn't even scratch the surface of how good this is. I was so impressed with the murder mystery; it had so many twists and turns, interesting characters, and it was detailed enough to give Agatha Christie a run for her money! I also loved that it was set in the UK; Gwyn was such an incredible character and I feel like with books set in the UK, Wales rarely gets any representation. So it was lovely to see.

Speaking of characters, I don't think I ever both loved and been incredibly frustrated by two characters at the same time. I really loved the representation of Oz's abandonment issues, it's only understandable that he feels that way when he lost his best friend, only for her to turn up later on. I also loved the added dynamic of Jack being Oz's sire. I really liked that Jack was worried about consent issues between himself and Oz, as vampires are often drawn to their sire, and it gets very messy in terms of what the vampire who was made is actually feeling, versus what they are being, however unintentionally, compelled to feel. I don't think I've ever seen it tackled before in vampire media, so I really enjoyed how that played into Jack and Oz's relationship.

The murder mystery and the dynamics of the De L’Isle family were enough to make my head spin. It really did feel like an Agatha Christie novel with all the different plot lines and strange family dynamics going on. I especially loved the interviews with each member of the family; it felt like a wholesome homage to Agatha Christie, whilst also being a really clever way for the reader to get to know the different family members, without it being overwhelming or a huge info-dump. I feel like there was so much going on that I'll definitely have to give this book a re-read in the future to fully understand all the different aspects of the murder mystery.

CasID added another interesting layer into the story. I really liked how it was explained; with them having a similar hierarchy to the police, but not being police, whilst also feeling quite X-Files-y in what their job entails. It goes to show just how much thought and detail went into this book that CasiD was a relatively minor part of the story, yet had so much influence on the overarching plot.

The humour in this book was so good. I loved the realistic depiction of a rich, white family with issues upon issues. It was so good. The dialogue was hilarious at times, especially between Gwyn and Oz. I loved their dynamic.

I will definitely be checking out the author's other books because I cannot wait to return to the world they created.