Generations ago, the founders of the idyllic town of Lake Argen made a deal with a dark force. In exchange for their service, the town will stay prosperous and successful, and keep outsiders out. And for generations, it’s worked out great. Until a visitor goes missing, and his wealthy family sends a private investigator to find him, and everything abruptly goes sideways.
Now, Cassidy Prewitt, town baker and part-time servant of the dark force (it’s a family business) has to contend with a rising army of darkness, a very frustrated town, and a very cute PI who she might just be falling for…and who might just be falling for her. And if they can survive their own home-grown apocalypse, they might even just find happiness together.
Queer, cozy, and with a touch of eldritch horror mixed in just for fun, this is a charming love story about a small-town baker, a quick-witted PI, and, yes, an ancient evil.

IN A NUTSHELL
In theory, I shouldn’t have bought this book. Firstly, it’s a cosy Lovecraftian horror romcom novel – that shouldn’t even be possible. Secondly, it’s a romance with an insta-love plot. In practice, it’s a Tanya Huff novel, so I knew that, however improbable it seemed, it was going to be fun.. I love her playful humour, her quirky but likeable characters and her ability to make the supernatural seem real and absurd at the same time. As I expected, this was one big smile and left me hoping it would be the first in a series. 

I don’t normally enjoy romance novels, especially when the plot has a heavy dose of insta-love. BUT, this was a Tanya Huff romance, so exceptions had to be made. 

‘Direct Descendant‘ kept me smiling even though bits of the book would normally qualify it as a Lovecraftian horror novel. I’m not a fan of Eldritch horrors with tentacles, but Tanya Huff managed to make some of them (the ones that weren’t trying to kill everyone) seem cute. 

The small lakeside town of Argen has everything a horror novel needs: a centuries old deal, sealed in blood, with THE DARK (undefined but definitely scary enough to justify being capitalised), a pair of hellhounds, flocks of lethally carnivorous shadows, revenants, a horde of eldritch horrors, and a lake where anyone who swims past the buoys gets eaten by Alice, the resident lake monster. 

It’s not the most obvious setting for a RomCom, especially when you add in an evil plot to release Hell on Earth, Nor is it usual to have one of our may-be-fated-to-be-together-or-may-be-forced-apart-forever lovers at the centre of the romance is THE MOUTH OF THE DARK, a role that doesn’t automatically place her on the side of the angels, requires her to lie to the woman she’s falling for. 

The story is told from two points of view:  Cassidy Prewitt, a direct descendant of one of the town’s founders, part owner of the silver mine, local baker and MOUTH OF THE DARK and Melanie Solvich, an unemployed teacher from Toronto who has taken on a side-gig for which she is spectacularly unqualfied, to spend a week in Argen gathering data on the last days of a young man who disappeared there, apparent.y eaten by a bear. 

I enjoyed the insider/outsider views. In the audiobook, Cassie and Melanie each had their own narrator, which worked well. 

This isn’t a horror story. There isn’t a lot of tension. There are a lot of laughs. The insta-love takes the suspense out of the romance, but there are a few (very atypical for a RomCom) obstacles that put the relationship at risk. There’s also a larger plot. It takes a while to unfold, and it’s not the most memorable thing about the book, but it shapes the romance. 

”Direct Descendant‘ reminded me of Tanya Huff’s ‘Gale Women‘ series. If you liked that, you’ll probably like this. 

I had a lot of fun with this book. It works as a standalone, but I’d be happy to go back to Lake Argen if Tanya Huff wants to take these characters further. 

I recommend the audiobook version. I liked both narrators. My wife pointed out to me that Melanie’s narrator sounds a lot like Sarah Michelle Gellar playing Buffy. Click on the YouTube link below to hear a sample.