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Rain Oxford is a teacher who has been writing for more than half of her life. The Asian-influenced cultures she creates were inspired by Japan, where she attended Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto. She does most of her writing in a secluded cabin in the woods with a four-pound Maltese as a companion. When she’s not teaching or creating worlds, she usually enjoys cooking, playing the piano, or photographing exotic wildlife.
Reviewed by Michelle Randall for Readers' Favorite
As a private investigator, Devon Sanders is good, not just good but extremely good; he seems to have a real touch for the job. Never mention it might be magic in his presence, though, because he has stayed as far away from magic as possible for as long as he can remember. Problem is, the best paying job ever means he has to go undercover at the magic school. Devon must find the killer of five students, but then more murders start happening at the school, and there is even more of a rush to figure who is behind it. Dark Waters is part magic, part vampire, part shifter, part fae story mixed with a huge murder mystery, topped with some repressed memories that start coming out now at the school. Author Rain Oxford takes so many different parts and seamlessly puts them together into a story that works. The reader feels part of the world of the book.
The magic school in Dark Waters immediately makes me think of Hogwarts from Harry Potter, and although there are some similarities, there are differences too. This school includes not just magic, but shifters and fae, including Devon's two roommates. Mixing all these groups, magic, vampires, shifters, and fae together is usually hard, but this book is written well and it feels right. Author Rain Oxford does well to take a major murder mystery and add in the whole paranormal, supernatural element. Although Devon is in his thirties, his roommates are in their twenties, and with the school aspect, this could really even be considered as a young adult novel. This is definitely a good read.
