“Some comebacks can be murder . . .

Stella is enjoying life as an almost student, or at least she is until a man falls from the sky right in front of her, leaving a big old hole in the pavement for Manchester Council to fill. The obvious question of how he ended up in the sky in the first place has no obvious answers, which is where The Stranger Times come in.

But this isn’t just the hunt for another story. Dark powers think Stella might have been involved and the only way she and the team can prove her innocence is to find out what the hell is really going on. And what have dodgy gear, disturbed graves and a decommissioned rock star got to do with all this?

Vincent Banecroft has problems of his own in the form of a tall, dark but-definitely-not-handsome man dressed like a funeral who has been sent to make the paper’s editor atone for his sins. Once he finds out exactly what that entails, Banecroft is not keen. Being banished to a Hellscape for all eternity looks like being no fun at all, not least because he has that pale Irish skin that burns really easily . . .

All that plus territorial ghouls, homicidal felines, eternal (and seemingly unstoppable) gnomes and a celebrity Who’s Who that’d put a royal wedding to shame, and you’re looking at a wild few days for The Stranger Times.”

Hello and welcome to damppebbles. Today I am delighted to hand the blog over to my guest reviewer, Ryan (he’s also my husband) who will be sharing his thoughts on Relight My Fire, the fourth book in the Stranger Times series by C.K. McDonnell. Relight My Fire was published by Bantam Press on 25th January 2024 and is available in hardcover, audio and digital formats with the paperback to follow later in the year. Ryan has read and enjoyed the first three books in this series so has been looking forward to getting his mitts on a copy of Relight My Fire.

Here’s what he thought…

If you are a frequent visitor to damppebbles you are probably well aware of my enjoyment of C.K. McDonnell’s The Stranger Times series. So far the first three books have amassed a sparkling 15 out of 15 stars so that means the pressure is on for Relight My Fire. It’s got a hard act to follow!

For those of you who haven’t discovered this series yet, it is urban fantasy set in Manchester and follows the staff of “The Stranger Times” as they cover the big (and small) stories that the mainstream media won’t touch. But so far, they have discovered that reality really can be a lot stranger than even the weirdest things they print in their paper!

Relight My Fire brings us back to “The Stranger Times” editor Vincent Banecroft and his seemingly ill-equipped staff as they battle more forces beyond their imagination. Banecroft and his team have very limited time to find out what is happening and stop it. Failure to do so will see Banecroft banished immediately to a hell chosen by a mocking and sadistic individual who taunts our Editor at every step. As with previous books in the series this story could be consumed as a standalone but I would recommend starting at the beginning to see the glorious narrative arc that we are being taken on. It’s a tough call but I would say this was the book I have enjoyed most out of the series so far. And if you prefer audiobooks the narration of Brendan McDonald on the audio is wonderful too.

The character development in this book is centred on Stella and Banecroft, but Ox, Reggie, Grace and Hannah are still there driving the story on. I loved the storyline of Relight my Fire. Each plot and subplot were brought together beautifully with laugh-out-loud moments from characters we have grown to love. McDonnell’s world building goes from strength to strength and one of the twists towards the end had me very excited for what is to follow! An aspect of this series that I love is the care McDonnell puts into the smaller, bit-part characters, I’m hoping Brian gets to stick around for future books and becomes part of the team. And we get to find out what really happened to those gnomes. Surely they are too wonderful to only appear in one book!

If you want perfectly pitched urban fantasy with new twists on a classic genre this is a book you must read. I would (and frequently do) thoroughly recommend this series. Another five star read, taking The Stranger Times to 20/20 for the series!

Relight My Fire by C.K. McDonnell was published in the UK by Bantam Press on 25th January 2024 and is available in hardcover, audio and digital formats with the paperback to follow (please note, the following links are affiliate links which means I receive a small percentage of the purchase price at no extra cost to you): | amazon.co.uk | Waterstones | Foyles | bookshop.org | Goodreads | damppebbles bookshop.org shop | damppebbles amazon.co.uk shop | damppebbles amazon.com shop |

C.K. McDonnell is the paranormal pen name of the Irish bestselling author Caimh McDonnell. He is a former stand-up comedian and TV writer, who now spends all of his time writing books as his dogs don’t like it when he leaves the house.

When not writing about the adventures of the staff at The Stranger Times, he is the author of the Increasingly Inaccurately titled Dublin Trilogy of books featuring Bunny McGarry and the various spinoffs, all of which have been Amazon bestsellers on both sides of the Atlantic. The Stranger Times won Best Audio at the 2023 British Fantasy Awards, a fact Caimh is constantly finding increasingly tenuous ways to casually mention in conversation.

Check out The Stranger Times podcast, available everywhere, and featuring short stories set in the world of The Stranger Times, written by Caimh. and read by some of the finest stand-up comedian talent that are willing to do it for the money.

Caimh lives in Manchester with his wife and their two dogs.