Living With the Dead is the ninth book of the Women of the Otherworld novels. It has rotating narrators of Hope Adams, Robyn Peltier, Detective John "Finn" Findley, Adele Morrissey, and the clairvoyant Colm.
Synopsis[]
Robyn Peltier moved to Los Angeles shortly after her young husband’s sudden and unexpected death. Her hope was that her hectic new life as the PR consultant to a spoiled celebutante would provide a distraction from her grief. But when her client is murdered, Robyn finds herself on the run as the prime suspect. And as more bodies pile up around her, it seems only her friend, tabloid journalist Hope Adams, is on her side.
But Hope and her somewhat spooky boyfriend Karl know it’s just a matter of time before Robyn is caught. For she’s gotten herself in the middle of a turf war between two Otherworld races who’ll spill any amount of blood—human and inhuman—to protect what they consider theirs for eternity. And the only way Hope can save her friend is by letting her enter a world she’s safer knowing nothing about.
Characters[]
- Robyn Peltier - human, PR agent to Portia Kane, friend of Hope. Damon called her "Bobby"
- John "Finn" Findley - necromancer, police detective. 34 years old.
- Karl Marsten - Werewolf
- Hope Adams - Expicio Half-Demon
- Rhys Smith - clairvoyant. Dark red hair, "gym teacher" appearance. Last part of his son's life thirteen years ago
- Portia Kane - celebrity socialite, murdered
- Judd Archer - deep undercover "ex" cop, murdered
- Jasmine Wills - Portia's frenemy celebutante
- Irving Nast - Thomas Nast's nephew. Has a wife and two preteen sons.
- Marla Jansen - Portia's groupie
- Madelyn and Kendra - Portia groupies
- Damon Trent Peltier - deceased, Robyn's husband. Junior high teacher.
- Savannah Levine - witch, works with Lucas and Paige. Nineteen years old.
- Luis Madoz - a police officer colleague of Finn's
- Neil Earley - junkie college kid, contact of Finn's
- Grant Gilchrist - a mutt who encountered Karl in the past
- Brock Masters - Portia's ex
- Lee Kendall - bike officer. Killed by Adele.
- Officer Gord - Kendall's partner
- Margie Damascus - Adele's carnival victim
- Lieutenant Balough - Finn's superior
- Sean Nast - Savannah's half-brother. blond ponytail. Nast COO
- Thomas Nast - Nast Cabal CEO and patriarch
- Eve Levine - angel, romantically involved with Kristof in the afterlife
Clairvoyant Community[]
- Adele Morrissey - clairvoyant. Twenty years old. Mousy, dishwater blond hair, awkwardly fitting clothing
- Rhys Vaughan - another fosterling like Adele. Presumed dead by the kumpania, now a mercenary
- Colm - a clairvoyant working with Adele. Fifteen, redhead
- Lily and Hugh - a married couple, trying desperately to breed within the kumpania's one-year time allotment
- Niko - their bulibasa/leader
- Neala, Colm's mother
- Suzanne - a twelve-year-old sterilized "drone"
- Lizette - a fifty four year old drone who "passed away" in her sleep after outliving her usefulness. Adele's foster mother.
- Thom - Sixteen years old. Rhys's son. A seer, and severely physically disabled and mentally delayed. Colm's brother, though they don't know each other.
- Melvin - Niko's son. A seer, and physically disabled. Bed/chairbound. Given over to the Nasts.
- Martha - A seer, severely physically disabled but fully intact in mind. Given over to the Nasts.
- Bernard - Lily's cousin, participates in communal rape of Lily for reproduction
Mentioned[]
- Lucas Cortez - Karl's "lawyer friend"
- Paige Winterbourne - Lucas's witch wife
- Rick Findley - Finn's little brother
- Josef Nast - Nast CFO
- Carlos Cortez - Lucas's brother, a slacker
- Jeremy Danvers - Karl's Pack Alpha
- Joy - Robyn's sister
- Robyn's parents - father an engineer, mother a nurse, both live in Philadelphia
- Monica Douglas - Jasmine's agent
- Jaime Vegas
- Clayton Danvers - a werewolf who bit his girlfriend to change her
- Elena Michaels - Clay's mate, bitten by him
- Benicio Cortez
- Kristof Nast - misremembered as Chris by the officer who once interviewed him
- Savannah Levine - Sean's half-sister, Eve and Kristoff's daughter
Continuity[]
- Coming up on Hope and Karl's one-year anniversary, setting this just under a year since Personal Demon
- Karl references his dreams of hiding away with Hope in a cabin in the woods
- He left her once, after they first had sex, and it took a while to rebuild their relationship
- Karl acquired a panic button from Benicio
- Mention of the events of Industrial Magic, from a police officer's recollection
- Reference to the twins, Kate Danvers and Logan Danvers, the only known children born to two werewolf parents in Broken
- Reference to the human cult of magic users in No Humans Involved
- Reference to Jasper "Jaz" Haig and Jason "Sonny" Haig's supernatural abilities in Personal Demon
- The murmurs in the supernatural community about these strange occurrences leads to the Supernatural Liberation Movement in Spell Bound and Thirteen.
Trivia[]
- Clairvoyant community terms (Romany origin)
- Kumpania - community
- Tserha - household
- Phuri - elders
- Bulibasa - leader
- Kirvi - foster parent
- Durajado - outsider introduced into the community for breeding purposes
- Jeremy is careful who knows about his relationship with Jaime to reduce the danger to her
- Robyn and Damon were both in other relationships when they met. Damon ended his immediately. Robyn needed more convincing to do so, especially given she wouldn't even go out with Damon while seeing the other guy
- The kumpania killed Adele's mother, a clairvoyant by blood only, told Adele to her face her mom abandoned her, and let her overhear that her mom sold her.
- Rhys and Hope reference the real Waco and Jonestown cult incidents.
- Rhys believes his first child was stillborn with serious genetic affects, but he is alive with the seers: Thom.
Publication[]
Translations[]
- French: Apparition
Cover Gallery[]
- ↑ Savannah is nineteen. She was born in 1987 per http://kelleyarmstrong.com/PDFs/Otherworld-Character-List.pdf