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From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

Ryan’s newest horror mystery novel begins a month after her debut, Bless Your Heart (2024) left off. The monsters have been dealt with, but nine people died, including two of the Evans women. It should have been over, but the press is having a field day, a suspicious deputy is nosing around, an expert on a hybrid species of wolf has come to investigate the so-called animal incursion, and an armed, grieving father is out to get the creatures that slaughtered his daughter. The two remaining Evanses are each struggling. Teenage Luna, having just learned of her special parentage, blames herself for accidentally setting a monster loose on the town. Her grandmother Lenore is attempting to maintain her funeral parlor while also trying to make sure the dead remain dead. Unfortunately, she has more work than hours and is considering hiring an outsider, someone without Evans blood, to help out. When Lenore learns several pets have been reported missing and a viciously dismembered body is discovered, it becomes clear that something else is now stalking their small southeast Texas town. Newly exposed gaps in the Evans family’s knowledge and history will intrigue fans, leaving them hungry for more.

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

It all starts in 1982, when 93-year-old Pie Evans digs her own grave and invites a dead man to help her rest in it. The Evans women have long operated the only funeral parlor in their small Texas town. Now, there are only two of them left to carry on the tradition of protecting the town from the restless dead—Lenore and her late daughter Grace’s teenage daughter, Luna. Not even including missing pets, many locals have mysteriously died or vanished over the years, including Lenore’s mother, Ducey. Now that the sheriff has also become a victim, Undersheriff Roger Taylor blames everything on attacks by a rabid “ghost wolf,” a coyote–red wolf hybrid seen in the area. Lenore, who knows the deaths have been caused by a strigoi—a troubled spirit—goes along with the tale of ghost wolves, but Luna, who’s the offspring of Grace and a monster, may be the key to finding the killer. Taylor, who loved Grace, does everything he can to protect Luna as she and her boyfriend, Crane, frantically research every possible mention of strigoi. As the reporters covering the story and the townspeople grow skeptical of the ghost wolves theory, Taylor struggles to hide the gory details of the deaths and Lenore hires an outsider to help make the corpses look a bit more normal. When a farmer finds his prize heifer slaughtered and partially devoured, a wolf expert from the local university shows up to examine the carcass, and wonders why the animal’s teeth are missing, since the canines don’t eat teeth. The horrifying deaths continue as the Evans women struggle to find a solution. Vampire fans will enjoy this spine-chilling tale, which is not for the faint of heart. Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.