Hobs review of Brightblade The Morgan Detective Agency, Book 1

I have been wanting to make a comeback for a while now. And it is fitting that my first review back is about a book from one of the first authors to ever support the blog and do a giveaway and the author that has probably done the most to get my ass back at the keyboard and writing shit down.

C.T. Phipps is one of my favorite authors, and incidentally also one of my eldest son’s favorites. It was so fracking hilarious when my son told me about “This awesome author” he had been binging on that I had to stop him and then tell me again while I recorded it. I then made it in to a talking goblin heads animation that you can watch here. And while I usually do love his books I swear to you all, that I will always rate my reviews honestly no matter how many books he sends me.

The book that I am actually reviewing here is Brightblade: The Morgan Detective Agency, Book 1 By: C.T. Phipps and co-written by Michael Suttkus The audio was narrated by: Heather Costa

My official rating is 4.5 stars definitely check this one out. My only complaint is that It could have been longer but it didn’t feel rushed.

I just want to say how great it feels to once again type “and here is the mighty BLURB.”

Psychic. Superhero. Spy. Detective. Bounty hunter. Ashley Morgan has been many things and failed at all of them….

When I first saw the title I read it as “The Morrígan” detective agency, and while a book about the Irish goddess also known as “The Chooser of the Slain” running a detective agency would no doubt be awesome this is not that book. No this one is about Ashley Morgan a not so normal girl that co owns a detective / bail bonds agency. The Jones, Peters, and Morgan bail bonds agency is the only such company that will go after any of the supernatural bonds in New Detroit. But I am getting ahead of myself.

OK this story takes place in the same world that the Red Room series, The Bright Falls Mysteries, and Straight Outta Fangton take place in. In this world just about every kind of supernatural thing exists and in the year 2008 they came out of the closet. That story is told in Esoterrorism on sale for the next month for only $0.99. After the reveal most of the werewolves, Vampires, and the like moved to Michigan. Since they now payed taxes all government support for The Red Room, a secret organization that worked to keep the world safe from the supernatural for centuries ended.

Also in 2008 the then 18 year old Ashley Morgan had just graduated after being trained from birth to work for the Red Room. So she did what any one would do when the job you trained your whole life falls through, She became a superhero. That didn’t last that long and I would love to read that book but again that is not this one.

Brightblade starts with a now 28 year old Ashley going to pick up a normal guy that had skipped out on his bail. During the drive the author manages to give you all the information I just did plus a lot more way better than I ever could. With things like this “Bryce looked at me like I was kicking his puppy while simultaneously telling his daughter Santa Claus wasn’t real. Not to imply that he had a daughter or a puppy or both since werewolves were real too.” it is actually one of the best info dump dialogue scenes I have read in a while.

As soon as they arrive the action starts when the “normal” guy they are grabbing turns into a bear. After a good fight (Shown below) they have the guy down but that’s when a vampire swoops down out of the sky. It appears this teddy has been a very bad bear and the vampire council wants to have a word with him. Since the vampires pretty much rule the whole state they don’t have much choice not that they could have stopped him anyway. But he does give Ashley something in return. He tells her that her brother who has been missing for a few years is alive and in town.

From that point on the action never really slows down. It is a fast paced thrill ride filled with comedy, violence, mystery, a magic sword, werebears and lots of very hot vampires. I enjoyed it so much I read it in 1 sitting but for the rest of you its just over 200 pages or just under 6 1/2 hours long for the audio. Here is an animated sample of the audio