In the Hour of Crows
A GMA Buzz Pick!
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- £11.99
Publisher Description
“This murder mystery steeped in magic is the perfect summer read.”
—GMA Buzz Pick
"In the Hour of Crows enthralls like a delicious dark spell.”
—Glendy Vanderah, bestselling author of Where the Forest Meets the Stars
In a small town in Appalachia, people paint their doorways blue to keep spirits away. Black ferns grow where death will follow. And Weatherly Opal Wilder is a Death Talker.
When called upon, she can talk the death out of the dying and save their lives—only once, never twice. But this truly unique gift comes at a price, rooting Weatherly to people who only want her around when they need her and resent her unfamiliar ways when they don’t.
Weatherly’s cousin Adaire also has a gift: she’s a Scryer and can see the future reflected back in dark surfaces. Right before she is killed in an accident, Adaire saw something unnerving, and that’s why Weatherly believes she was murdered—never thinking for a moment that it was an accident. But when Weatherly, for the first time, is unable to talk the death out of the mayor’s son, the whole town suspects she is out for revenge, that she wouldn’t save him.
With the help of clues Adaire left behind and her family’s Granny Witch recipe box, Weatherly sets out to find the truth behind her cousin’s death, whatever it takes.
Imbued with magic, witchery, and suspense, Dana Elmendorf’s In the Hour of Crows is a thrilling tale of friendship, identity, and love.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Elmendorf's haunting Southern gothic debut weaves a spellbinding tale of family secrets, dark magic, and murder in a small Appalachian town. Weatherly, gifted since childhood with the supernatural ability to absorb death from the dying, investigates her cousin Adaire's suspicious death, unearthing a web of corruption and hidden agendas that threaten to tear her world apart. Elmendorf's richly atmospheric prose immerses readers in the eerie, claustrophobic setting of Black Fern, Ga., where folk magic and religious fervor intertwine. The complex heroine, who is both stubborn and deeply vulnerable, drives the narrative forward as she wrestles with grief, family obligations, and her own burgeoning powers. While some secondary storylines and characters feel a bit thin by comparison, Elmendorf's dexterous handling of heavy themes like child abuse and societal inequity adds depth to this moody, suspenseful novel. With its blend of supernatural elements and gritty realism, this will appeal to fans of Wiley Cash's When Ghosts Come Home and Lauren Blackwood's Within These Wicked Walls.
