Book Review: The Talking Cure

Reviewed by Victoria Lilly

A chilling blend of murder, magic, and Midwestern gothic

For the past three months, former witch Violet Humphrey has been recovering from a mental breakdown in a remote asylum in central Illinois. Following the death of her child and the murderous machinations of her sister and late husband, Violet’s nerves and psychic abilities have both been frayed, and the attempts to cure her with talk therapy yielded mixed results. Disoriented by grief, guilt, and the unnerving voice on the wind, Violet is teetering on the edge of another breakdown.

Miles away in St. Louis, private investigator Sean Joye has an itch. It is both a physical one and a virtually supernatural urge to drive out in the middle of a terrible December snowstorm to Dr. Henry Elsass’s mental asylum. Having previously been entangled with Violet and her family, Sean is irked by the lingering connection between him and the high-society witch turned lunatic, but he cannot resist the call. Braving ice and darkness, he arrives at the institute just in time to learn that Dr. Elsass is dead, and Violet Humphrey is the prime suspect. The two friends must set aside their troubled history and combine their intellectual and psychic abilities if they are to solve the murder and save themselves from the haunting voice on the wind.

Subdued yet electrically suspenseful, The Talking Cure blends the body of a murder mystery with notes of historical drama and hints of Lovecraftian horror for a truly delightful morsel. The reader is filled in on just enough background information related to the novel’s prequel, and this is delivered seamlessly through internal monologue and dialogue between the two point-of-view characters, Violet and Sean. The cloud of past trauma and loss hangs heavily enough to paint Violet’s overall mental state, especially in the opening act of the story, without sapping the life out of the plot or Violet’s driving role within it. Likewise, prior experiences with Violet and her family inform Sean’s initial wariness and suspicion toward his friend’s magical workings, but as a springboard for further development.

Violet’s character growth and complexity are comparatively less developed, relying in part on the reader’s familiarity with the previous installment in the series. The novel’s mystery-heavy plot and suspenseful structure mean that there is less room for interiority and character development, which are primarily given to Sean and the members of the supporting cast. However, that is not to say that Violet is static in the story. She begins in a borderline comatose state, with a tenuous grasp of reality and frequent fugue episodes. After the initial shock of the murder, her budding friendship with Sean and her attachments to fellow asylum patients and maintenance staff alike propel her into action, even if her detective sense are sometimes off the mark.

In addition to a well-crafted murder mystery and Sean’s charming personality, one of the novel’s strongest points is its atmosphere, a vital element of both the mystery and horror genres. From the sweeping dark prairie enveloped in a blizzard to crowded parlors where secretiveness and paranoid accusations fill the air like wax, The Talking Cure transports the reader in the midst of its storm. Contrasts between cold and fire, quiet and shouting, dreadful suspense and bursts of action, come together in a dynamic and coherent whole. The creeping supernatural presence in the background of the murder mystery—which is eventually propelled into the foreground—brings an additional layer to both the puzzle and the overall reading experience.

In sum, Kathy L. Brown’s latest installment is a neatly crafted hybrid of a conventional detective novel and a supernatural thriller, combining fantastical with the criminal to striking ends. Its snowbound setting, ghostly voices, and steadily escalating sense of dread make for an immersive reading experience that persistently conflates the rational and the supernatural. With its deft balance of horror elements, interpersonal drama, and sleuthing, the novel will appeal to readers of the historical supernatural puzzles of Laura Purcell as well as fans of fantastical detective serials in the vein of The Dresden Files.

Equal parts cozy, grisly, and thrilling, The Talking Cure promises a great series ahead.

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