Dark Divide & Badlands Witch

A Cormac and Amelia Story

By: Carrie Vaughn

Narrated by: Neil Hellegers

Length: 6 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

In brand-new stories spun off from the New York Times best-selling Kitty Norville series, dark mysteries push the bounds of sanity.

Cormac Bennett, ex-con and former bounty hunter, is a paranormal investigator with an edge: His partner is the disembodied spirit of a Victorian wizard, Amelia Parker. Together, they solve problems no one else can.

They're asked to investigate a mysterious death in the Sierra Nevadas: a man died of hunger -in a cabin that was fully stocked with provisions. The kicker? The cabin is located near Donner Pass, the site of the gruesomely ill-fated Donner Party, where 40 men, women, and children died of exposure and starvation. The event was made famous by reports of cannibalism among the survivors.

Is the Donner site haunted? Is some evil force rising again after 150 years to wreak destruction? Can Cormac and Amelia learn the truth without being caught in the web? Well, they can try....

©2019 Carrie Vaughn, LLC (P)2020 Tantor

Very good Start

It was very interesting and enjoyable to watch both characters and their relationship start to solidify. (Grin)
More!!

Solid urban fantasy noir with a little horror

As with the original Kitty Norville series, the author can’t seem to sell me on any romantic chemistry
(and I wish she’d find some other go-to signal than him leaning in for a kiss). Furthermore, this spinoff is light on humor, lacks the greater cast to provide variety, and thus far gives short shrift to details about the setting or appearances. However, at least the there are two solid mystery procedurals here, with interesting plots and a unique MC in ex-con and ex-supernatural bounty hunter Cormac, a man sharing his body with the soul of Victorian witch Amelia. I’d be willing to move on and hope for improvement as this spinoff progresses.

Dark Divide
“I wanted to see if you really would deck him. What stopped you?”
Cormac: “intervention from the great beyond.”
As they investigate a death seemingly caused by starvation, they also cross paths with a film crew and history writer. Props to the narrator for a great job portraying bad actors speaking their lines.

Badlands Witch
“Had he been born a hundred years too late or just in time?”
An ordinary job looking into a mysterious artifact goes off the rails, causing Cormac and Amelia to assess what they each bring to their partnership.

So much fun!

I love the solo adventures of Cormac and Amelia. Keep them coming! The narrator’s voice on this audio version sounds exactly like the voice in my head when I first read the book. Good job.

Great storyline!

Carrie Vaughn always draws me in and surprises me- I can’t wait for more Cormac and Amelia!!

Definitely not like the Kitty books

These stories were pretty boring. The characters weren’t very interesting and nothing in the stories were suspenseful, though they were meant to be. It’s too bad because I’ve enjoyed all the Kitty books.

Not for me

I was a fan of the Kitty series so I gave this one a chance. I found both stories dry and flat. Unfortunately, Cormac and Amelia can't carry a spinoff series.