Demonic Indemnity by Craig McLay

​  Every so often in a sea of random kindle freebies one finds a genuine treasure. This was it for me.  A charming, light, humorous supernatural adventure…in insurance.
   To paraphrase a showtune, there’s no business like insurance business. Certainly not when it involves demons, possessions, etc. But this is a new world or more like a wildly imagined version of the existing one, where all manners of demons, ghouls, vampires, etc. coexists more or less in peace with regular people.
    Tim Lovecraft is one of the regular ones and he’s about to become a first of his kind to be employed as a claims investigator in the Special Investigations Unit of Crimson Seal Insurance. Sure, his coworkers are all of the supernatural variety and his boss is, quite literally, a demon. But it’s Tim’s dream job and he is going up in the world.
    The thing is…his very first case, a seemingly straight forward possession claim, turn out to be quite a doozy. And Tim, the natural born investigator that he might be, is unwilling to let it go, so he begins investigating and uncovers and a huge demonic conspiracy of the first order.
    Throw in a fun cast of players, from Tim’s ridiculous parents to his munch of a munching vampire brother to his once and maybe again love interest, and this story is sure to charm your fuzzy socks off.
    But it doesn’t squeeze by on charm alone. Oh no. This is actually a legitimately good story.  It’s well written, intriguing, funny, exciting, engaging and wildly entertaining.  And, most importantly, the worldbuilding in here is awesome. Seriously awesome. It’s meticulously crafted and tightly woven to follow its own inner logic and, no matter how crazy things get, the plot stays cohesive and realistic…within its terrifically unreal confines, that is.
    I don’t normally read this sort of supernatural fantasy, because so much of it tends to go silly to stupid, but this was lovely and tons of fun. You don’t need to be a specific genre fan to appreciate  good storytelling. Reminiscent of Christopher Moore, which is a high praise indeed, this was exactly the right kind of light reading one can enjoy without their intelligence being insulted. Excellent introduction to a new to me author. Recommended.