I received this book to read and review as part of the 2021 BBNYA competition and the BBNYA tours organised by the TWR Tour team. All opinions are my own, unbiased and honest.

BBNYA is a yearly competition where Book Bloggers from all over the world read and score books written by indie authors. If you are an author and wish to learn more about the BBNYA competition, you can visit the official website http://www.bbnya.com or twitter @bbnya_official.

The sign-ups are now open for BBNYA 2022 for authors and panelists. Click here to enter:

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About the Book

If the murderer you’re tracking is a vampire, then you want a vampire detective. Just maybe not this one.

It’s not that Jack Valentine is bad at her job. The youngest member of Oxford’s Seekers has an impressive track record, but she also has an impressive grudge against the local baron, Killian Drake.

When a human turns up dead on May Morning, she’s determined to pin the murder on Drake. The problem is that none of the evidence points to him. Instead, it leads Jack into a web of conspiracy involving the most powerful people in the country, people to whom Jack has no access. But she knows someone who does.

To get to the truth, Jack will have to partner up with her worst enemy. As long as she can keep her cool, Drake will point her to the ringleaders, she’ll find the murderer and no one else will have to die.

Body bags on standby.

May Day is the first book in Josie Jaffrey’s Seekers series, an urban fantasy series set in Oxford, England.

About the Author

Josie is the author of multiple novels and short stories. Most of those are set in the Silverse, a pre- and post-apocalyptic world filled with vampires and zombies.

She is currently working on a range of fantasy and historical fiction projects (both adult and YA). Ultimately, she hopes to be a hybrid author, both traditionally- and self-published.

After finishing her degree in Literae Humaniores (Classics) at the University of Oxford, Josie wasn’t sure what to do with her life.

She slogged through a brief stint working for an investment bank in London during the 2008 credit crunch, then converted to law and qualified as a solicitor specialising in intellectual property. She worked at a law firm for five years before moving to a UK-based international publisher in 2016. Whilst she loved law, in the end she didn’t love it quite as much as writing, which she now does almost full time.

Josie lives in Oxford with her husband and two cats (Sparky and Gussie), who graciously permit human cohabitation in return for regular feeding and cuddles. The resulting cat fluff makes it difficult for Josie to wear black, which is largely why she gave up being a goth. Although the cats are definitely worth it, she still misses her old wardrobe.

What I Thought

This is the first Josie Jaffrey book I have read, and it won’t be my last. Oddly enough crime is one of the genres I gravitate toward the least which is odd because I do usually enjoy them when I read them, and this was no different.

To be fair add vampires into a book and you’ll probably have me reading a book about football! It’s also refreshing to see a good urban fantasy set in the U.K. – namely in Oxford.

The story starts with a pretty literal bang as a body plummets to the ground, and there is plenty of evidence to suggest he didn’t jump of his own accord and that Silvers ‘Jaffrey’s name for Vampires’ are involved.

The characters that inhabit the world were fully realised and spoke in the type of snarky, witty banter I enjoy. Just look at how Jack’s existing enemy and initial Prime Suspect and is first described to us:

“KILLIAN DRAKE IS an unmitigated bastard. He’s rich and powerful, which is a bad place for any man to start, but he’s also arrogant and elitist, which makes him a particularly wanky breed of wanker.”

This gives you both a sense of Killian’s character but also Jack’s. The writing was pacy and engaging and Jack slots nicely into the ‘detectives with unresolved pain driving them’ category.

The book reminded me of Sarah J Maas Crescent City crossed with the tv shows Moonlight and True Blood. I saw another reviewer mention Veronica Mars and that vibe fits too so if you like any of the above then do pick this series or this author up. Like I said at the beginning I will be looking to read the rest of this series – book 2 Judgement Day is already out too – and will peruse her back catalogue too.

Do check out some of the Goodreads reviews for content warnings – of which there are a few – as is common in both urban fantasy and crime.

I haven’t read the other books in the running for the prize but I can definitely see why this one won.

Check out the reviewers sharing what they thought about Book 2 on the tour too.