Arthur and Sal are just like any other small business owners in the quaint town of Trident Falls. They're looking for a way to set down roots in their community and provide quality service to their customers. There's just one problem: Arthur and Sal are trying to do all of this while also trying to be accepted in vampires in a community led by an anti-paranormal mayor. Arthur and Sal feel some optimism when they meet Nora, the new city manager who is in the paranormal residents' corner. It's just too bad that she also stumbles upon the mayor's body in Arthur and Sal's garden, drained of its blood and with two distinctive puncture wounds in the neck.

This was a delightfully charming and perfectly cozy mystery that completely lived up to my expectations. The setting of Trident Falls provided the perfect backdrop for the story, and was well-established throughout. I could easily picture any number of towns that I've traveled through which are trying to embrace the future without completely forgetting the past that made them. The various characters we meet along the way are equally well-defined, particularly Theo, coffee shop owner and attorney at "claw." I had the biggest laugh of the book when Arthur and Sal make a late-night attempt to investigate Theo's home, and am still chuckling just thinking about the entire sequence of events.

And as for Arthur and Sal, I only wish we learned more about them! I adored their dynamic - almost a grump/sunshine, to borrow from the romance realm. Sal's personality and antics gave me Lazlo from What We Do in the Shadows vibes, which is high praise coming from me. As the more staid and serious partner, Arthur was wonderfully put-together, polite, and dedicated to his partner that you want no bad to come to him. He reminded me of a vampiric Ted Lasso in some ways, which is again, high praise.

If I had one real complaint, I left the story wanting to know more about Sal and Arthur's history together, particularly how they got together. There are mentions of the night they meet, but nothing else to flesh out the start of their relationship. But maybe that's a story for second book?? I would love to spend more time with the citizens of Trident Falls, from Lore to Nora to Rumble!

Thank you to Berkeley Publishing Group and Netgalley for the advanced copy!