Book Review: Maggie for Hire

Book Review: Maggie for Hire by Kate Danley

From the "Back of the Book":

"When monsters appear in Los Angeles, Maggie MacKay is on the job. No one is better at hauling the creepy crawlies back where they belong. No one, that is, except her dad, who disappeared in the middle of an assignment.

Now an elf named Killian has shown up with a gig. Seems Maggie’s uncle teamed up with the forces of darkness to turn Earth into a vampire convenience store, serving bottomless refills on humans.

The only hope for survival lies in tracking down two magical objects and a secret that vanished with Maggie’s dad.

WARNING: This book contains cussing, brawling, and unladylike behavior. Proceed with caution"

 First off, let's discuss that warning that's part of the "back of the book" copy. There are a lot of f-bombs. Most people and things can't be described without a "colorful metaphor".

The plot is pretty decent, a straightforward mystery with a few unique twists to it. Most of the setting is standard fantasy set in an urban setting. The whole thing with the lions was kinda cool and unique (but I won't say more because spoilers.)

Really, Maggie for Hire reminded me a lot of Magic Lost, Trouble found, by Lisa Shearin. Both have wise-cracking female heroines, both have a fae companion, both are magic trackers, the list goes on. The plot in Magic Lost is slightly better, and there's a lot less f-bombs. (How many f-bombs are in Maggie for Hire? More f-bombs than are in this review (were they spelled out).)

The characters were fun to hang out with, but they had a kinda flat character arc. Maggie swears a teeny bit less at the end of the book. Her elven companion, he doesn't do much character-wise through the story, and at the end he's still the same as he was at the beginning.

Overall, I'd recommend this book if you like the urban fantasy with wise-cracking, butt-kicking heroes with fairy companions who swear a lot genre.

Three stars, I liked it. Iit's not the best I've read in the genre, but it did keep me turning the pages. Also, it's free on Amazon (at the time this review was written), so you can't go wrong there.