Fun fact: Cèsar isn’t even in this book. Instead, we follow Isobel Stonecrow, who is a whole bag of contradictions. Isobel is a necrocognitive witch, meaning she can talk to the dead if in the presence of their corpse. A useful trick to help unsolved murder cases, but she wants none of the bureaucratic life. Instead, she dresses in a loincloth, bones, and feathers, and does private appointments, appropriating Native American culture (which one?) to do some basic woo woo and then talk to the dead for her living. It’s problematic.

But, we’ve now learned that she’s rotting. Because she’s a zombie. Why? Years ago she made a deal with a demon to prevent her own death — and erase her memories — and now her contract is expiring. We know Isobel and Fritz used to be a couple, but as Isobel’s clock keeps ticking, the suppressed memories come back, revealing much more about millionaire Preternatural Affairs Director Fritz Friederling.

I like that Isobel is problematic; she’s the lead character doing the wrong thing in the name of independence. But as her reliance on Fritz grows, we see her take more responsibility for her choices. Deadly Wrong has that Kurt Vonnegut requirement: every story must have a character that wants something, even if it’s a glass of water. With an actual expiration date on her body, Isobel’s story has a clear arc and a firm deadline. If you read the Descent series first, you’ll enjoy the familiar Hell setting, the librarians, the judge, even the human hostess of Hell. So cool that Reine can cross over her many novels in the same universe so easily. Readers are rewarded for their loyalty.

For the next book: The main character of the Descent series was someone I cared so deeply about, but the characters of this Preternatural Affairs series are more shallow. I’m not always getting more information about them that means much to me — except now Fritz. I’d like a book with Fritz as the main character, or get more into his family’s history and connection to Hell’s dirty dealings.