Courtney Smyth

Wrackton is a special town; in it mostly magical people live, some can live in the mundane world but some are sufficiently different that hiding can be difficult. Mallory hasn't really left the town after fibromyalgia left her struggling with pain and fatigue. When they were younger she and two friends Diana - a social butterfly - and Cornelia who has to deal with anger issues. Theodore is a bonus member of the team, a ghost stuck is a very poor Cat costume. They're trying to solve a series of murders where people are choking on their own tongues.
While it was somewhat obvious who the murderer was, particularly for me, it's the first book in a series and as a start I could see where some of what was going on was to establish the characters and the place and I'm hopeful about the sequels.
I liked it. More for the world than the mystery.… (más)

Originally posted on Just Geeking by.

Content warnings:
This book contains scenes of death, blood, blood rituals, body horror, violence, kidnapping and captivity. The details of each murder include graphic details of tongue removal, asphyxiation, and ritual carvings in the stomach. There are multiple scenes with insects, mainly beetles, including a room filled with them. There are scenes of ableism, a manipulative relationship (between a woman and male partner), and scenes set in a hospital.

The Undetectables by Courtney Smyth caught my attention straight away with the tag line “Be Gay. Solve Crimes. Take Naps”. The first part of that phrase, (be gay, solve crimes) would have caught my attention but the addition of “take naps” had me hooked even before I read the synopsis. Written by a disabled author, The Undetectables mixes two of my favourite genres, urban fantasy and murder mysteries, with a huge dollop of representation.

At the annual Broadwick ball, Mallory, Diana and Cornelia attempt to promote their newly opened detective agency, The Undetectables. At fourteen, they’re not taken particularly seriously by the party goers they approach, many of their business cards being tossed aside and forgotten. Whatever the three friends were expecting to happen on their launch night, they certainly didn’t expect to find a dead body. Pulled into their first murder case with the ghost of the victim present, something that is highly unusual, The Undetectables are sure they can solve the case and establish themselves as detectives.

Fast-forward six years and life has not gone to plan, especially for Mallory. Recently diagnosed with the chronic illness fibromyalgia she is struggling with, well, everything. Being stuck at home, at a point in her life when she wants to be studying forensic science like she dreamed and alone with only ghost Theodore to keep her company. Not that she’s upset with her friends for following their own dreams; she told them to. She just wishes she could do the same, and that she could spend time with them rather than struggling every day with chronic pain and fatigue.

When a letter address to The Undetectables arrives, the three witches are drawn back together for a new mystery. Hired by someone high up in Wrackton society to find the murderer, things begin to get even more serious when one dead body becomes multiple. They have a magical serial killer on their hands, and they never managed to solve their first case, are they up for the task?

Smyth has created a fascinating urban fantasy world. They have added their own unique twist to familiar supernatural species such as witches, faeries, ghosts and vampires while mixing in crime solving and forensic science. The world-building in The Undetectables is rivalled only by its characters and plot, all of which are equally fabulous. The characters are adorable, fully dimensional and realistic. I particularly loved that their friendships are full of ups and downs, including disagreements and arguments. There’s a particular scene where things get so heated that they have a hex battle! Too many books have friendships where friends never argue and everything is perfect. Sod that! Give me hex battles any day.

Smyth is writing from their own experience with chronically illness and as a result the character of Mallory is spot on. Her thoughts, feelings and her experiences of fibromyalgia are described with careful detail, and scream with authenticity that will make many readers feel seen. They definitely made me feel seen. I don’t have fibromyalgia, however, I do have chronic pain, fatigue and other symptoms that cross over with fibromyalgia.

There were a lot of little things here and there in The Undetectables that caught my eye as things that only someone with a chronic illness would know or feel. It always makes me smile when I notice these in books written by authors with lived experience as it reminds me that I’m not so alone, that other people know what it’s like to live with a chronic illness. I also liked the way that Smyth wove chronic illness into the urban fantasy universe they have created.

Along with a main character with disability and chronic illness representation, there is a lot of other representation as previously mentioned. Many of the characters are LGBTQIA+, with pansexual, bisexual, gay, queer, and non-binary identities specifically mentioned/identified in the book. In short; this book is wonderfully and unashamedly queer, and I was here for all of it. The cast of characters is racially diverse, which includes one of the main characters Diana.

The main characters are also physically diverse, with Diana representing plus-sized women, Mallory tall women and Cornelia short-haired women. While plus-sized women are the less represented of these three, I mention the other two because so often do groups of female friends in books end up with the same physical size and description. All long haired, thin and willowy, whereas if you look at a group of female friends you’ll find diversity. I appreciated that Smyth made this distinction.

Another part of their friendship I appreciated was the way they cared for Mallory while giving her space. Smyth covers ableism with another character, but for her friends they have chosen to show what it’s like for disabled people to have a support network. This is especially important as many people who have disabled friends have no idea what to do with a newly diagnosed friend, and many choose to treat disabled people differently. I hope that people reading The Undetectables will learn a lot from Mallory, Cornelia and Diana and how their dynamic works.

Finally, the plot. I loved how Smyth played with many crime and murder mystery tropes, playing with the reader while also playing with their own characters. I did not see the real culprit coming and that was completely by design. Each new murder is introduced with a ‘Perimortem’ interlude chapter that is written from the perspective of the murder victim moments before their death and during their death. It is a little morbid, but Smyth’s narration lends an air of light humour to the victim’s final moments.

If you’re looking for a mystery that makes you think, mixed with a healthy dose of supernatural, diverse representation and some of the best dialogue I’ve seen in a long time then this is The Undetectables is the book for you.

If you’re not curious about Theodore the ‘cat’ ghost, then this book is not for you.

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… (más)