Something of a Calling

Something of a Calling is a horror novella by best-selling author Zoje Stage. This fairly quick mystery follows Detective Andy Cooper, who picks up one last case right before her planned retirement. As the plot progresses, the body count rises, and the murders grow more grisly and strange. As Andy sorts through the clues, she becomes increasingly convinced that the murderer she’s looking for isn’t a person at all and maybe the victims got what they deserved.

Something of a Calling is a mix of eco-horror and psychological horror-lite. Stage’s novella is neither a cozy mystery nor a spine-chilling horror story. This novella lands somewhere in the middle. At just over 150 pages, Stage doesn’t waste time before dropping dead bodies in front of the reader, and she keeps things engaging by piling on more bodies alongside increasingly disturbing clues. Stage’s novella never gets too heavy, but the murders do get a bit on the absurd side. For an extremely fast, easy-to-read mystery with an ecological twist, look no further than Something of a Calling.