I will never say Heather Graham’s Krewe of Hunters books are my guilty pleasure because I don’t feel one bit guilty for reading them. I’ll admit, I do devour them immediately when I get them, just like chocolate. I think I’ve read all thirty-three now that I finished The Unforgiven. And, with all the pleasure I’ve had in reading this series, Graham can be forgiven for one now and then that just doesn’t live up to the others.

For her fifteenth birthday, Katie Delaney and her parents went diving off Key Largo. They all loved diving, and they met up with a couple who were friends of her parents as well as a younger couple they just met. Katie went for one final dive, and returned to the boat to find everyone dead, hacked to death, or missing. For the first time, she saw a ghost, when a pirate saved her from drowning when she fell back in the water in shock.

Twelve years later, Katie lives in New Orleans where she is a tour guide, a job she loves. Dan Oliver is a private detective there, after leaving the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. After the police lost a weak case when they had a suspected killer who left a bloodbath behind, Dan left. When three people are murdered in their home in New Orleans, hacked to death with an axe, Katie shows up at the police department to tell them about her parents’ death and the subsequent accusation against a family friend in Orlando six years ago. She finds Dan Oliver there, the former police officer involved in the case in Orlando. They are both immediately suspicious of each other, and don’t know why they’ve met up now in New Orleans.

But, Katie and Dan each have contributions to make as New Orleans reels from the recent deaths, and the media reports the historic Axeman from New Orleans is killing again. Katie may a the target for the killer, and Dan is roped in to serve as a consultant when the FBI group, the Krewe of Hunters, shows up to investigate. Dan’s role in trying to protect Katie throws them together. And, Katie knows much more about talking with ghosts than Dan does. He’s stunned when he encounters his first ghost in the cemetery, a woman who wants to help because she lost her best friend to the original Axeman.

Graham returns readers to New Orleans in this atmospheric story. But, the premise seems a little weak. Even as they discover why the Axeman may have targeted Katie’s family twelve years earlier, the excuse never feels right. And, Katie and Dan never seem to have the strong relationship for love that Graham develops so quickly and well in other books in the series. The Krewe of Hunters also seems to be add-ons for this story. They’re present, but they’re almost not essential for the book.

Oh, well. I’m not about to give up chocolate just because one piece isn’t as good as the others. I’ll still read the series. In fact, I’m already on the waiting list at the library for #34, the July release of The Forbidden.

Heather Graham’s website is http://theoriginalheathergraham.com

The Unforgiven by Heather Graham. Mira, 2021. ISBN 9780778331896 (hardcover), 302p.

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