Moonset on Desert Sands

Moonset on Desert Sands is the second book in the Murder, Tea & Crystals series.

The story starts with a rather exciting opening, a cultist working as a police officer steals a murder weapon from an evidence locker. However, he has a change of heart and turns his car around to return the weapon to the police station. It is then, he is run off the road and dies in the resulting accident.

The main character is Arista, who is a young woman. The book is in some way of a coming of age story. She is hiding from the aforementioned cult in the desert city of Sedona.  She works in a crystal shop (not like glassware, but crystals with magical properties), and I think the author has a good understanding of tea and crystals. This is a very different change of pace compared to the thriller-like speed of the start of the book. The book alternative perspectives between Sedona town’s folk, Arista’s relatives, and cultists on the hunt for her. At times, all the characters got a little confusing for me, there are quite a few. I think part of this might have been that fact I didn’t read the first book, so all the names and people confused me at times.

The primary villain of the story is a man named Fergus, who seeks revenge on Arista by stabbing her with the “athame”, the murder weapon stolen from the evidence locker. I personally found the characters of Fallon and Fergus to be more compelling than Arista’s character. In fact, I think they were my favorite of the book.  In particular there is a scene where Fallon is doing yoga while talking with Fergus that expertly depicts their interesting relationship. I think it could come straight out of a how-to book on incorporating actions with dialogue, it was very well done. Throughout the book the psyche of Fergus was generally well portrayed and he was a well crafted villain. 

One minor point of complaint, in a rather graphic scene, a cultist is found with a deadly weapon (the athame) and police confront him. They aim their guns at his end, and fire. While the scene is fast paced and enjoyable, I think this isn’t the most likely outcome, as the police likely are trained to fire at the target’s center of mass. That said, I think the scene still works for dramatic effect.

The language used is often quite descriptive. As an example, just this simple line about putting on makeup stood out to me: “she dabbed her cheekbones with the shimmering burgundy powder coating the soft, Sable bristles of her brush.” Overall the prose is quite good.

If you love tea, crystals, and murder, as the series is aptly named, it will be perfect for you.

Perspective: 3rd person

Tense: Simple Past

Length: 360 pages

Kindle Unlimited: Yes

https://www.amazon.com/Moonset-Desert-Sands-Murder-Crystals-ebook/dp/B0DF33L1YW