Trifles and Folly 1 by Gail Z Martin collects nine stories centred around the antiques shop Trifles & Folly, set in the Deadly Curiosities world. Cassidy runs the shop, assisted by Teag. They are both more than they seem. Cassidy has the gift of psychometry, and Teag is a Weaver. The shop is a front for the more series work they do, aided by their vampire coworker Sorren. They collect and cleanse or dispose of items containing excessive psychic residue.

I fell in love with this world that is very much Supernatural meets Warehouse 13. It's so much fun, and all of the characters are enjoyable. I loved getting to meet the other magic users too. From Voudan, Hoodoo, and witchcraft, to root workers and Christian mystics, there's such variety! All of the main stories are set in Charleston, South Carolina. There are bonus stories at the end that focus on Sorren's earliest years as a vampire and are set in Antwerp. Speaking of Sorren, I'm not often a vampire fan these days, but the vampires of this world don't seem the villains. Sorren and his maker, Alard, work to protect humanity. And they don't sparkle! The only thing that was mildly annoying was the recap each story that introduced Cassidy and what Trifles and Folly does, but I'm guessing these were written over time, then collected in this volume. I'm looking forward to reading the full novels!

***Many thanks to the author for providing an ecopy in exchange for a fair and honest review. Reviewed for Silver Dagger Blog Tours ( )

This was an engaging collection of short stories. Cassidy & Teag make a great investigation team. I love the combination of old collectibles, the supernatural, and mysteries to solve. My favorite tales tho were the final three, which are bonus material. They are told from the viewpoint of Sorren, a helpful and knowledgeable vampire. Through those stories we got to know him better and I would love to see a novel (or 3?) dedicated to this character.

Teag does come off a little too laid back at times and some mistake him for aloof or an idiot, but we all know he has a brain under that surfer boy demeanor. Cassidy is a straight forward young lady who’s trying to run a business as well as get dangerous supernatural objects off the market. I immediately liked her.

My one quibble is that with each new story, we have to have Cassidy’s special ability explained, again. This gets a little tedious when I’m listening to the stories back to back. However, it also allow for each story to stand alone in some other collection or magazine.

Cheating husbands, prematurely dead kids, and dark magic all play a part in these stories. One of my favorites dealt with the difference between Houdon and Voodoo. There’s also a mother-daughter team that sell hand woven baskets at the local market and there’s power in those baskets. Out of the Sorren stories, the first was my favorite because we get to know about Sorren’s origins and how things can still go horribly wrong even if you’re a powerful vampire.

All told, it was an enjoyable collection. 4.5/5 stars.

The Narration: Amanda Ronconi was a perfect match for Cassidy. She also had regional accents for the side characters. While she did keep each character distinct, her male voices could use some masculinity. So for those last 3 stories that are all told from Sorren’s point of view, I would have liked either more masculinity from Ronconi or a male narrator. It was too easy to slip into Cassidy’s character sometimes for those last few stories. The pacing was great and there were no technical issues with the recording. 4.5/5 stars.

I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Gail Z. Martin. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it. ( )