In 2017, I purchased a copy of Melissa F. Olson‘s Midnight Curse from Amazon. It is yet one more book I unearthed when I went through all my ebooks recently.

Description from Goodreads:

Scarlett Bernard is used to cleaning up messes. As a human who cancels out any magic around her, Scarlett’s job is to keep the supernatural world hidden—at any cost.

But on the eve of the Vampire Trials, a two-day tribunal that allows the otherworldly community to air their grievances, Scarlett receives a blood-soaked message from Molly, her estranged former roommate. Molly, a vampire, had been living with twelve human college students…and in one terrible night, she slaughtered them all.

Scarlett believes Molly’s been set up, but no one else in the Old World agrees with her. Meanwhile, the true perpetrator is determined to make sure Molly goes on trial for the massacre—and the penalty is death.

With less than two days to prove her friend’s innocence, Scarlett calls on former LAPD detective Jesse Cruz to help her dig into Molly’s past. But no one—Molly included—wants Scarlett and Jesse to bring the terrible truth to light.

Review:

I really quite enjoyed this. I admit that I didn’t know that this is actually the first book in a spin-off of sorts to a previous trilogy. (Well, it’s all the same characters, but apparently three years later). So, it would more honestly be labeled book four, in my opinion. But it’s readable on its own. I could follow the plot no problem, but I did feel I was missing quite a bit of history between the characters.

I liked Scarlette’s character a lot, enjoyed Jesse, and appreciated the side characters. The world is effortlessly diverse and the plot kept me interested until the end. Admittedly, the plot hinges on the abuse of women and I am just soooo tired of this always being the plotline. I have asked repeatedly, is this really the only plot available to authors? But that’s my biggest complaint. I’ll absolutely be looking for more by Olson.