Book Review – Snake-Eater by T Kingfisher

30-year-old Selena has just turned up in Quartz Creek, with her black lab Copper and $27 to her name, ready to escape her life as a deli manager and her ex-partner, Walter, after the death of her mother. She’s decided that this tiny remote desert town, the home to her Aunt Amelia, is exactly what she needs while she figures out what to do. Except when she arrives, she finds out her Aunt is dead, and Selena is stuck in Quartz Creek until she can scrape together the cash for a train ticket somewhere else. As it turns out, the people who live in Quartz Creek are happy to let Selena live in her aunt’s house, which is still sitting vacant just outside of town, and as ‘just one night’ turns into a few weeks, Selena begins to see a new future for herself. Everything seems to be turning around except for that creepy doll in the living room that doesn’t seem to stay still, also the weird dreams she keeps having about someone climbing into bed with her, and the roadrunner that keeps bringing her dead rattlesnakes. If Selena wants to survive this ancient creature, she’s going to need a little help from her new friends.

I LOVE a T Kingfisher novel, and this one is spoiler alert, not going to be any different. She writes the best cozy, spooky, quirky, funny tales with the most loveable characters out there, and it was the best way to start off my 2026 reading year, exactly what I needed to ease me into a new year of reading. I don’t think I’ve read a Kingfisher novel where my favourite part of the book isn’t the characters, and this one is no different. I loved each and every one of them, all of them brimming with individuality and sweetness wrapped up in a core of steel, even if they might have to dig through a few layers to find it. Selena, trying to start over, scared but doing it anyway, no matter how scared she is, Grandma Billy with her overabundance of eggs (and her shotgun) and loving fussing over Selena, Father Aguirre the local priest, who’s more than meets the eye a quiet presence just holding up the community, and even smaller characters like DJ Raven, who pops up every now and then but adds so much to the story. The folklore aspect of the story was wonderful. I don’t want to say too much and give it away; I really enjoyed the small Gods and how they entered the story and played their part. It was both sweet at times and nice and spooky when it needed to be. As always, a Kingfisher novel is beautifully written and gorgeously atmospheric; you can almost feel the heat of the desert rising off the pages as you’re reading the story. I loved this one, perfect for anyone who wants a cozy feel-good horror fantasy to start the year off right.