Book Review: In the Hour of Crows by Dana Elmendorf
In a small town in Appalachia, people paint their doorways blue to keep spirits away. Black ferns grow where death will follow. And Weatherly Opal Wilder is a Death Talker.
When called upon, she can talk the death out of the dying and save their lives; only once, never twice. But this truly unique gift comes at a price, rooting Weatherly to people who only want her around when they need her and resent her backwater ways when they don’t.
Weatherly’s cousin, Adaire, also has a gift: she’s a Scryer and can see the future reflected back in dark surfaces. Right before she’s killed in an accident, Adaire saw something unnerving, and that’s why Weatherly believes she was murdered — never thinking for a moment that it was an accident. But when Weatherly, for the first time, is unable to talk the death out of the mayor’s son, the whole town suspects she was out for revenge, that she wouldn’t save him.
With the help of clues Adaire left behind and her family’s Granny Witch recipe box, Weatherly sets out to find the truth behind her cousin’s death, whatever it takes.
Imbued with magic, witchery, and suspense Dana Elmendorf’s In the Hour of Crows is a thrilling tale of friendship, identity, and love.
Released 1 January 2025
My Thoughts:In The Hour of Crows will be out in just a few days, but thanks to HQ Australia, I got to read an early copy.
This was a bit different to my usual reads, a paranormal crime/family mystery. Once I got my head around the hocus pocus aspect, I was away and slipping through the pages with ease.
Set in the Appalachia, it’s essentially a story about family secrets and greed. The paranormal aspects seemed to draw on the practice of traditional remedies but with dark magic that blurred the lines of doing good.
It probably could have done with a bit more fleshing out of the main characters as it was light on details for some and moved at a very rapid pace, dumping a lot of backstory in clumps and expecting the reader to remember it all at pivotal moments.
Overall, though, it fit the bill for reading in a day, and while it was a decent read, you wouldn’t want to linger over it too long.
Thanks to the publisher for the review copy.
