Deadly Deception

Necromancer Tales, Book 2

De: MJ May

Narrado por: Declan Winters, Curtis Michael Holland

Necromancer Erasmus Boone's life is better than he ever imagined.

Bucking the typical necromancer storyline, Erasmus has managed to carve out a life filled with love and purpose. With Halloween fast approaching, Erasmus is ready to enjoy his favorite time of year. Unfortunately, Detective Franklin O'Hare's Midwestern past has other ideas.

Covered in blood and found wandering the streets surrounding Chicago, a necromancer is being accused of murder—the victim and circumstances unknown. Mentally unstable, this unfortunate necromancer is in jeopardy of being railroaded for a crime he may or may not have been involved in. Franklin O'Hare's former captain doesn't want to witness another victimized necromancer. Aware of Franklin's association with Erasmus, he calls on them for help.

Now headed for chillier climes, Erasmus and Franklin need to figure out if a crime has been committed, and if there's one thing Erasmus excels at, it's finding where the bodies are buried. Only Erasmus doesn't just fine one victim; he finds several. When the souls of the departed blame their deaths on a long-dead bogeyman, it becomes clear the local sheriff has a problem, and a necromancer accused of murder is just the tip of the iceberg.

Between bringing back the dead, dealing with local prejudices, and meeting Franklin's family, Erasmus has his plate full. Add on a worried warlock father and more than one attempted assassination, and Erasmus is more than ready to pack it up and head back to the warm Mississippi breeze.

Deadly Deception is the second book in the Necromancer Tales series, which should be listened to in order. This series is a spin-off of the Perfect Pixie series and takes place in the same world, but can be enjoyed as a standalone series.

Deadly Deception is an m/m romantic fantasy mystery with an unusually sane necromancer just trying to make a living, a humble human detective attempting to keep his necromancer boyfriend alive, an arrogant but redeemably overprotective warlock father, a deceptive killer, a questionably moral all-powerful djinn, a kitten who can't figure out how it wound up in a backpack, let alone staring through a plastic bubble, humans—some redeemable and some not, a chilly Chicago fall, and a playfully bloodthirsty vampire. Mentions of violence, murder, souls brought back from the beyond, speciesist bigotry, and a few characters of questionable morals and sanity. Deadly Deception has an HFN ending as it is part of an ongoing series.

©2024 MJ May (P)2025 Podium Audio

Lack of character development

As with book #1 the plot was very good. The "battles" weren't drawn out for drama's sake.

Still I'm disappointed. I was hoping for a deeper dive into the personalities of the MC'S. Now I feel like I don't know them any better than I did after the first book. And even though it was written in 1st person POV it felt told not lived.

Romance wise I didn’t get any spark between MCs. Suddenly they just were boyfriends. Also the intimate moments were oddly censored. First there were hands trailing down hairy chest and next they were waking up in tangled sheets. If you don't want to be "too graphic" there are ways to make things sweet and romantic without too much details.

Intriguing heartfelt story ♥️

I love this book. It's not laugh out loud funny but it's very witty and I found myself chuckling throughout the whole story.
I feel like this book was more of an emotional roller-coaster ride than the first book, but maybe I'm just more invested in the characters now.
Boone is such a badass. He's so clever. His magic would be creepy sure, but it's so cool! I love how devoted Franklin is to Erasmus. It was fun getting to meet his family (mostly).
Navarre is such an interesting character and so is Tabitha. It was so sweet how Aurelia gave Little Fang to him. I hope she doesn't decide to use her powers for bad because I love her even though she's scary powerful. I'm sad that the next book isn't on Audible yet, but I'm so happy there's more to come!
Declan Winters and Curtis Michael Holland are both excellent voice actors. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Deadly Deception.

A nice comfort read

I really like this series and the Perfectly Imperfect Pixie series. I love the characters and I have reread the books several times. I’m not a big fan of these narrators (I like the guys who narrate the Pixie series much better), but I like being able to listen to the book while doing other things, so I just accept it as it is lol. I will listen to this book again because I love the story a lot.