"'No,' said Callum patiently. 'My answer is to pin his murder on his actual murderer, so we can both go home, book therapy appointments, and carry on with our lives.'"

These Deadly Prophecies has only solidified my belief that one of the best genres is fantasy-mysteries. I don't typically enjoy contemporary fantasy settings, but I really enjoyed this book and the world it took place in.
Yes, it's a good old-fashioned murder mystery with a rich, magical family, but it's filled with so many twists and turns. While I didn't manage to figure out the murderer, I didn't really have any theories to begin with (I made one guess at the beginning as a joke, and for a moment I thought I'd somehow guessed right, but nope) and I was satisfied with how the mystery played out. Overall, it's super fast-paced and there's rarely a dull moment. My only complaint was that I could've asked for a little more action and danger. The handful of action scenes were written very well and I would've loved to see more.
I really liked the cast of characters as well. Each member of the family had good reasons to be suspects, and I will say the only one I had an opinion about was Felix...I didn't like him (probably because I thought there was gonna be a love triangle). The story really focuses on Tabatha, who reminded me a lot of Pip from A Good Girl's Guide to Murder but with magic, and Callum, who reminded me a lot of Ravi from the same book. Unlike everyone else apparently, I thought their relationship was well done considering the story takes place over a week or so, and also, YA isn't meant to be spicy... Besides, the training scene? I liked it more than I should've.
These Deadly Prophecies is an exciting, fast-paced magical murder mystery with lovable characters and a great story.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the free e-ARC!
4.25/5