Rumor of a Werewolf by Eddie Jones
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Since it’s “spooky season” I’ve been enjoying reading through Eddie Jones’ Monster Mysteries series. However, while book four, Rumor of a Werewolf has some fun moments, it also seemed to falter a bit. One of the biggest strengths of the previous three books was the setting. Jones excels at creating spooky scenes that really get your imagination cranking. But with this latest entry, I found myself a little underwhelmed by the setting. This book takes place in Sleepy Hollow, NY, which has plenty of atmosphere from its famous associations with Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, but none of that chilly pumpkin charm shows up here.
Nick Caden is on another case, this time in Sleepy Hollow, where a woman has been found murdered, and all the clues point to a werewolf as the culprit. As Nick closes in on the killer, he discovers that the werewolf has caught his scent, and it’s only a matter of time before the full moon rises and Nick ends up the next victim.
Storylines from the previous three books are loosely continued here, and there definitely is a bit of suspended belief required to follow the sometimes loose logic leaps Nick takes in order to solve the case. Once again, there are some subtle clues that point to the killer along the way, but only by guessing a little blindly can you solve the crime before Nick does.
Throughout the story, there is a traveling group of sleuths dressed as famous TV detectives from the 1970’s and 1980’s who show up for a recurring gag, and while I understand Nick knowing who all of these characters are because he watches mystery shows in order to solve crimes, I also felt as though readers today would most likely be completely unaware of many of the names mentioned. I feel as though I only knew some because my parents loved those shows and we watched some of them as kids. However, kids today would likely have no idea who Jessica Fletcher, Kojak, or Columbo even is.
As far as other content in the story, the gore in this one is ratcheted up a notch, especially since a werewolf is in play. There are a few scenes that pushed this firmly into the Young Adult category, and parents with younger readers may want to check this one out first before letting their kids dive in. The other potential caution here is this book is particularly heavy on comments about women and how they look. Nothing is graphic, or overt, but at a couple of moments I was a little taken back by the commentary on the women in the story. Again, nothing here is inappropriate per say, but parents of younger readers may want to check it out for themselves first.
No spoilers, but I will say there are a few lingering story threads from previous books in the series that show up here as teasers for what might happen in book five.
All said, Rumor of a Werewolf was a little disappointing in comparison to the previous books in Monster Mysteries, but here’s hoping that book five, Phantom Gunslinger picks things back up.