Another TBR.co recommendation and one that honestly had me rolling my eyes when I read the back of the book. My recommender's letter didn't really help either.
The basic premise is that the Harkers from Dracula had a kid as did Prof. Moriarty from Sherlock Holmes. Both young women are working for the "Royal Society for the Study of Abnormal Phenomena." Samantha Harker is a researcher with a dark secret and Dr. Helena Moriarty is a field agent who has a hard time keeping her partners alive.
Samantha finds herself assigned along with Helena to a new case out of Paris tracking down what appears to be attacks from some kind of beast. It's not that straight forward though and the two must navigate the Parisian underworld and near constant attacks. It becomes clear from the outset that there is more to the attacks than a simple beast. All the victims are men who are each conducting an affair with a young woman. Different young women for each man. Either Paris has suddenly sprouted an entire pack of werewolves (which are extinct - obviously) or something else is going on.
So, the setup is ridiculous on the face of it. However, beyond that, this is actually a very well plotted mystery. The supernatural elements actually add to the mystery logically. To my mind, a good mystery should present all the clues in a way that the reader can figure out the solution before the reveal. However, if it's well written, a reader won't always arrive at the right conclusion. Strange Beasts managed to tick all the boxes. While the culprit wasn't a complete surprise, there were enough interesting red herrings written in that I admit to having been distracted.
All in all, a highly enjoyable read
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