Deadly Deception by MJ May

Necromancer Erasmus Boone’s life is better than he ever imagined. Bucking the typical necromancer storyline, Erasmus has managed to carve out a life filled with love and purpose. With Halloween fast approaching, Erasmus is ready to enjoy his favorite time of year. Unfortunately, Detective Franklin O’Hare’s Midwestern past has other ideas.

Covered in blood and found wandering the streets surrounding Chicago, a necromancer is being accused of murder—the victim and circumstances unknown. Mentally unstable, this unfortunate necromancer is in jeopardy of being railroaded for a crime he may or may not have been involved in. Franklin O’Hare’s former captain doesn’t want to witness another victimized necromancer. Aware of Franklin’s association with Erasmus, he calls on them for help.

Now headed for chillier climes, Erasmus and Franklin need to figure out if a crime has been committed, and if there’s one thing Erasmus excels at, it’s finding where the bodies are buried. Only Erasmus doesn’t just fine one victim; he finds several. When the souls of the departed blame their deaths on a long dead bogeyman, it becomes clear the local sheriff has a problem and a necromancer accused of murder is just the tip of the iceberg.
Between bringing back the dead, dealing with local prejudices, and meeting Franklin’s family, Erasmus has his plate full. Add on a worried warlock father and more than one attempted assassination, and Erasmus is more than ready to pack it up and head back to the warm Mississippi breeze.

Deadly Deception is the second book in the Necromancer Tales series and should be read in order. This series is a spin-off of the Perfect Pixie series and takes place in the same world but can be read as a stand-alone series. Deadly Deception is a m/m romantic fantasy mystery with an unusually sane necromancer just trying to make a living, a humble human detective attempting to keep his necromancer boyfriend alive, an arrogant but redeemably overprotective warlock father, a deceptive killer, a questionably moral all-powerful djinn, a kitten who can’t figure out how it wound up in a backpack, let alone staring through a plastic bubble, humans—some redeemable and some not, a chilly Chicago fall, and a playfully bloodthirsty vampire. Deadly Deception has a HFN ending as it is part of an ongoing series.

Mentions of violence, murder, souls brought back from the beyond, spaciest bigotry, and a few characters of questionable morals and sanity.