Book Review: Blood & Moonlight by Erin Beaty

Enthralling, adventurous, and full of beauty.

Blood and Moonlight had me hooked from the first page. Instantly, I stepped into a world full of crime, high stakes murder, and a main character, with mystical powers that makes her a witness to said murders. This book has similarities to Sherlock Holmes and the Netflix show, Mind Hunter. You dive into a murder mystery that picks apart a budding serial killer. A serial killer that is just beginning and puts the entire town on edge (as any serial killer would).

Our main character, Catrin/Cat, is an orphan that had run away to the local city's Sanctum to later be employed to the Master Architect; in charge of climbing the building's scaffolds to ensure their structure and safety. On the night she unbelievably falls and finds herself witness to a murder investigation, she also unlocks gifts she never knew she had or quite frankly, understands. This murder investigation pulls in a young man named Simon, an investigator of madness from a far-off city. Seeming to always know when a murder is taking place, she pairs up with him in hopes of solving the case, protecting her guardian -Magister Thomas, and saving another woman from the killer's ever increasing appetite for blood.

I found myself unable to put this book down, fully engrossed in the murder mystery aspect. Quite literally, as I stayed up into the late hours of the night to finish it. Most mystery thrillers leave a crumb trail for the reader to make their assumptions and solve the case before our main characters. And though authors most often try to de-rail us, we as readers are able to pin point it no matter the amount of random characters they start throwing into suspicion. While I was able to pick out the right suspect in the end, Beaty did her very best to throw me off my game. She had me second, triple, and quadruple questioning myself within the last 25% of the book which was incredibly fun, adding to my suspense and disbelief. I had so much fun with the psychological thriller our characters had to work out. They got deep and dirty into the mind of a serial killer.

On top of the murderous thriller plot, Beaty also creates a beautiful culture that has historically used the moon and its light as a source of power - a culture that has had to hide as their views are considered sacrilege by the majority culture that reverences the sun. I am a lover of the moon and all it's divinity so this touched my heart. It was beautiful and represented issues we have all known to exist throughout the history of man and its many religions. It was gorgeously written. Beaty also does a phenomenal job in touching on mental illnesses (her acknowledgments in the end strictly call this out) within a fantasy book.

Our characters in Blood and Moonlight are now some of my favorite characters of all time. May I just say, Simon and Cat are the most precious sides to one crazy, blood caked coin. They made me swoon and smile. They are quite a match; perfect for their imperfections. Because this was a murder mystery, every side character was suspect and hated by me at some point in time - which truly is a credit to how well Beaty can write a murder mystery. To the characters that did not end up being the killer: I am sorry and I loved you in the end. To the character that was the murderer: you are one sick son of a gun. You deserved it.

I had not read Erin Beaty's previous series, The Traitor's Circle, so I can not attest to her as a writer in terms of growth or in comparison. I can however say that she is one of my favorite authors who have a release this year. I can't stress to you enough how beautiful, thrilling, and captivating this book was. It left me with a book hangover that has me hesitant to read any other murder mystery thrillers in fear that whatever follows would only disappoint. As of right now, it tops the list of 2022 releases I have read so far! While it currently stands as a standalone book, with an ending that I could be completely content with, I would also not mind a continuance.

Let's just say you wouldn't be doing your shelves a disservice by adding this book's gorgeous cover to the collection. This however is not just about cover beauty as its contents are even better than the cover could hint at. I would highly recommend adding this book to your shelves when it is released. A wondrous 4.5 star read!

*a copy was provided by Netgalley for review purposes. Thank you!*