Book Review: Johnny Lycan & the Last Witchfinder Book 3
Johnny Lycan & the Last Witchfinder, book 3 of the Werewolf PI series. Wayne Turmel. Black Rose Writing, May 2, 2024, ebook, paperback, 228 pp/253pp print.
Reviewed by Lisa Lickel.
Opening with our hero Johhny Lupul dealing with a nasty Wendigo on the Oneida Reservation in Wisconsin – the third, and I’m told, sadly, final Werewolf PI book – shows us just what a Lycan, aka werewolf, can do. Tasked with taking care of this nasty cannibal zombie-like creature by his boss-client in exchange for a powerful spiritual relic, Johnny takes care of business and delivers another item to the mysterious Mr. Cromwell’s vast collection of unusual artifacts.
Mr. Cromwell’s got some trouble back home with hand-written threats to his collection, while a hotshot paranormal podcaster and monster magazine reporter gets up in Johnny’s fangs after putting vintage video werewolf-in-action footage together and questioning reality.
It’s enough to make a werewolf go full-moon-maniac all the time. Johnny’s new assignment is to figure out who made sand out of Cromwell’s newest antique purchase. The clue is the author of the threatening note, which Johnny learns belongs to 500-year-old legendary witch hunter, Matthew Hopkins, who, back in his day, went on idol-smashing rampages. Besides a great name for a rock band, it’s way too much of a coincidence, right? But not since the Sons of Hopkins have become a modern-day movement to welcome their true leader and his minions back to cleanse the planet of “evil” with such helpful declarations as “Witches and idolaters be on notice. Good people won’t be silent anymore. We don’t need them in this city, and we’re leading the purge.”
With the support of his housemates Meaghan, a rescued girl who picks up tarot card reading, along with Bill and Gramma, who took him in as a troubled teen, Johnny is learning to control his alter-ego inner werewolf he’s named Shaggy. Shaggy tends to get riled pretty easily, and it’s Johnny’s business to use him judiciously when things come down to a dogfight, though a lot depends on the phases of the moon, “This low in the lunar cycle I wouldn’t have Shaggy’s help, but I didn’t need it.” For those unaware, Johnny explains, “Not all Lycans go full werewolf. Some just have violent reactions to the top of the lunar cycle. That’s what she meant when she said some men couldn’t handle the full moon. … Even when they don’t completely turn, they’re unpredictable and dangerous. The average human’s bite can be toxic if it gets deep enough and these guys bite plenty hard.”
In this third adventure, Johnny researches the Sons of Hopkins. Cromwell, after admitting he owns a particularly nasty antique book on demonology of consummate interest to the creepy master of the Sons of Hopkins, goes missing. The bad guys are after the book in particular, and Johnny and anyone else with unnatural tendencies in general. Johnny must decide to stay a “lone wolf” or learn to depend on his friends, new and old, to reclaim his boss and save his world.
Even if this is the first book by Wayne Turmel you pick up, you’ll be able to settle in quickly. It’s an interesting not-so-clear good vs. evil story set in Chicago with the obligatory Cubs mention, where you meet all kinds of creatures, some of whom bite. One little bothersome point in the plot about Johnny’s ability to keep information from Hopkins had me scratching my head, but all in all, the story unfolded para-naturally with a lot of high-action energy. Told in Johnny’s first-person voice, with chapters noting the moon cycles, readers of urban fantasy will enjoy Turmel’s sense of humor in an issue-charged environment.
