[Book review] Dead on Delivery by Eileen Rendahl

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Anybody who reads urban fantasy can tell you that there are certain cities that are the popular settings.  Chicago, Seattle, Los Angeles, New York—these are the “happening” places to have a story take place.  So it’s such a refreshing change to see a novel set in my home area, the Sacramento valley.  Eileen Rendahl’s Dead on Delivery continues the tale of Melina Markowitz, a Messenger working in a location rich in diversity and danger.

When two people to whom Melina made deliveries turn up dead, apparently by suicide, she doesn’t think that it’s a coincidence.  But what could have been in the packages that would drive someone to end their own life?  Melina probes into the lives of the two dead men, and she finds that they share a past—one that includes a horrible crime.

Now, in a community split by unspoken racial tensions, Melina searches for the person who handed off those fatal packages for delivery.  Her investigation will lead her to experience a kind of magic that she’s never seen before, and it will force her to rely on her friends as never before.

What I find so compelling about Rendahl’s Messenger series is her use of mythology and folklore that isn’t commonly seen.  In her first book, she included the Chinese “hopping vampires”, and in this novel she tackles the mostly-unknown practice of brujeria.  She rightly points out that Northern California is a melting pot of cultures and beliefs, and that there is so much that most of us simply have never experienced.  It’s a wealth of material for an enterprising author willing to do some research.

I admire the author for tackling the kind of prejudice that, I’m sad to say, exists in many Northern California communities.  The prevalence of dislike for the Latino population in this area isn’t something that most people acknowledge, much less talk about.  Rendahl handles this delicate topic with tact and honesty, letting the horror of racially motivated violence speak for itself without getting preachy.

For me, it’s such a thrill to see novels that take place on my home turf.  Sacramento isn’t used very often in fiction, and especially not in fantasy fiction.  Rendahl makes great use of what the area has to offer to accentuate her story.  And she doesn’t overdo that location information.  Street names are used sparingly and to good effect, as are landmark descriptions.  It kept me interested but didn’t overwhelm me with detail.

In addition to the main storyline, there’s a secondary storyline going on that involves two minor characters.  Both storylines are well-rounded and given the right amounts of page time.  I found myself equally invested in both plots, and the neat thing is that they complement each other.  While either could exist independent of the other, taken together they create a much stronger story.

I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for the next novel in this highly entertaining series.  And if you live in the Sacramento area, it’s worth your time to explore our area through this author’s fiction.  Dead on Delivery is an exciting addition to what I hope will be a long-running series.