There’s something wicked in Burning Lake.
Trace of Evil Review. The Wicked Hour Review. The Witching Tree Review.
The Shadow Girls follows Detective Natalie Lockhart, still in the midst of her previous case when town witch Veronica Manes was found dead after being tied down to the local train tracks. Her fellow detective and childhood friend Luke Pittman also remains in a coma after being attacked, plunging Natalie into a world of worry and unknown. It isn’t long before another case is opened however when costume store employee Randolph Holmes is found dead is his place of work, soon opening up an entirely new line of enquiry when Randy’s own home is discovered to be a bunker for several infamous missing girls. Now Natalie must juggle several cases at once as well as her own precarious love life, still holding a candle for Luke and struggling with new partner Hunter. With so many secrets hiding in Burning Lake can Natalie get to the bottom of things this time or will the somebody get away with murder once more and contribute even more to the town’s darker nature?
I know I say this every time I read this series but I continue to love the vibe here and how Blanchard mixes your classic police procedural with some seriously witchy business. Burning Lake is such a fantastic location and even here in the March/April setting it feels like it’s Halloween every day, the year long costume store especially was a nice added touch. I think regardless of your feelings towards the fantasy/magic genre everybody has had a witchy phase at some point in their lives and these books encapsulate that feeling and turn it to 100, I just love it.
Both mysteries here were really well done and I loved the continued arc from book 3 as well the new murder case with Randy and his later connection to the titular shadow girls. The Witching Tree definitely ended on a major cliffhanger with several loose ends and so I’m happy we got to address everything here and finally solve Veronica’s murder. Randy’s case also added an extra layer of intrigue and it went so much deeper than your typical murder mystery, Blanchard really knows how to play the long game.
The Shadow Girls really felt like a completion of so many arcs for this series and for Natalie herself and I loved the way everything came together, connecting all four books across the series, I have no idea if Blanchard intends to write more Natalie Lockhart mysteries (I really hope so!) but if not this does feel like a nice ending point. The way all four books were connected through this one coven, going all the way back to Natalie’s childhood was brilliantly done and the whole thing felt like it was years in the making. I’ll admit some of the stuff towards the end happened very quickly and I would have liked a bit more build up but overall we got some great reveals here and I loved how every single mystery in this town seems to be linked together.
Overall I really enjoyed reading The Shadow Girls and it really felt like a nice completion to a lot of the series’ initial arcs, again I have no idea if this is the last Natalie Lockhart book but it definitely feels like the end of an era. The mystery of Randy’s death coupled with the ongoing investigation into Veronica’s murder was nicely done and I just loved how everything ended up being connected, it felt very rewarding to long time fans. I continue to love this series and definitely hope we get to see Natalie again, her and Burning Lake make for a great duo read.
Ramblings of a Supposed Writer 