Meet Alice. Private Investigator of the Supernatural.The first time Moses Murphy’s granddaughter killed on his orders, she was six years old.For twenty years, she was a prisoner of an organized crime syndicate, forced to use her magic to make Moses the most powerful and feared man on the East Coast. To escape his cruelty, she faked her own death and started a new life as Alice Worth. As a private … and started a new life as Alice Worth. As a private investigator specializing in cases involving the supernatural, Alice walks a precarious line between atoning for the sins of her grandfather’s cabal and keeping her true identity hidden.
Hired to investigate the disappearance of a mysterious object of power, Alice enlists the help of Malcolm, a ghost running from a past as nightmarish as her own. It soon becomes clear the missing object was taken by someone with a dangerous secret and an unknown agenda. When her client is kidnapped, Alice must find her and the object of power before a vengeful killer destroys the city and slaughters thousands—starting with Alice.
“Edmonds’s prose is energetic…Alice is both spunky and self-deprecating, with incredibly advanced magical powers…There is promise in Edmonds’s melding of the supernatural and the everyday.” – PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY ★★★★★
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Alice Worth spent most of her life under the control of a psychopathic grandfather. Years after she escaped from her life of torture and pain, she’s doing what she can to atone for the sins she committed under his orders. As a Magical Private Investigator, Alice solves crimes of both a magical and mundane nature. Although she prefers the magical cases, she’s not quite prepared for what she’s signed on for this time. The monsters that go bump in the night are real. Demons, vampires, shifters, and mages are out in the open. While the majority of the world is accepting of them grudgingly or not, others outright despise those that they don’t trust or understand.
Armed with her new ghost side-kick Malcolm, an Alpha werewolf, an interfering vampire, and a recently unbound mage; Alice is drawn into a world of blood magic and crazy, dangerous mages. She’ll have to draw on her knowledge of magic good and bad to survive the case. Trying to keep away from Special Agent Trent Lake from SPEMA (Supernatural and Paranormal Entity Management Agency) and keep her identity hidden from those that would try to use her is becoming a second job.
Other than the interesting world that Alice lives in, I think the characters are the biggest draw. The side characters are intriguing enough to be memorable. The main characters are enigmatic in a way that you want to know more about them and how they’ll fit together in the long run. Alice was a fun character to follow. For someone so damaged by her upbringing, she really does want to do good. I’m going to enjoy seeing more of Sean and his interactions with Alice. (view spoiler) I have a feeling I’m going to have a love-hate relationship with Charles. While he does some things that I applaud he also does some reprehensible things that I’m having a hard time forgiving. I adore Malcolm and hope to see a lot more of him in upcoming books in the series.
Although the book isn’t action packed the mystery of the case and the ensuing danger was more than enough to keep me engaged from start to finish. I truly enjoyed Heart of Malice and I’m going to get started on Heart of Fire immediately.
I love this series! Great heroine, evil bad guys, and action packed. The books get better and better. I highly recommend this series.
I really enjoyed this read. Nothing’s better than a spunky main character who fights for a better future while hiding their past. Along with the added thrill of magic.
I have such a high opinion of this series that it’s hard to find other books that can compete. Although it was totally worth it.
I loved the characters and the writing style. I love interwoven complexities going on simultaneously. Booh-yah!
Alice Worth is a kick-butt witch who underwent surgery and changed her identity to hide from her mob boss grandfather. Living in a world where the supernatural are very much out, she makes her living investigating for people with magical related problems. It is what I wanted both the Harry Dresden and Anita Blake novels to be, and so much more. She made me fall in love with urban fantasy again.
In a genre overflowing with strong, kick arse heroines who deal with vampires, werewolves and ghosts (oh my) I think this is a fabulous beginning to a series that I intend to follow with great interest. It’s hard to find a unique way of dealing with these paranormal parameters, but I believe this is what you’ll find in Alice and her story.