REVIEW: Witch Dancer

Title: Witch Dancer
Author: Michael Robb
Genre: Mystery
Price: $0.99 (Kindle)
Publisher: Amazon Digital Services
ASIN: B0042G0QDO
Point of Sale: Amazon
Reviewed by: Chris Gerrib

Via that highly-scientific method known as “dinking around on the Internet,” I became aware of Michael Robb. He’s written a couple of books, and on a whim I purchased and downloaded one of them – Witch Dancer. I’m glad I did.

Set in New Orleans in the mid 1990s, this is the story of Detective Billy Ray Timmons of the New Orleans PD. He’s close to drawing a pension, not having much fun in his marriage, and trying not to get wrapped up in either of several Internal Affairs investigations underway at his precinct. Oh, and by the way, there’s a murder who calls himself Simkiel running around, “collecting” and then slicing up local women.

Witch Dancer opens up with Billy Ray arriving at the latest murder, and getting sent out to knock on doors. One of the doors is opened by a woman named Jeri Brooks. Besides being stunningly attractive, it turns out that she may have seen the murderer. From there, were off to the races, as Billy Ray tries to figure out whodunit while Jeri Brooks tries to stay alive.

This proved to be a fun book to read. It’s a fairly straight-forward murder mystery and stays on a quick pace. Robb avoids the usual pitfall of the thriller writer, and keeps his characters realistic. I don’t think Witch Dancer is trying to win any literary awards, but rather to provide the reader an entertaining few hours. At that, Witch Dancer succeeds brilliantly.


Rating: 8/10