Okay, let's start with the obvious. If you find a dead body in your garden that's been there for decades, your first instinct shouldn't be "Eh, just put him back."
Psychologically speaking? That is classic avoidance. Textbook. My therapist would have a field day with Bron. But apparently, for a hedge witch in a small Welsh village, digging up a skeleton is just another Tuesday.
I listened to *What The Cat Dragged In* while meal-prepping curry for the week—(yes, I made too much, and yes, I will eat it all myself)—and honestly? It's a weird mix. It's trying to be a murder mystery, but it feels more like a sitcom with ghosts.
When "Calm" Becomes "Sleepy"
So, the narrator. Gemma Dawson.
I checked the reviews before I hit play—(habit, can't help it)—and a lot of people were complaining that she sounded "dull" or "monotonous." I wanted to disagree just to be contrarian. But... they have a point.
Here's the thing. Dawson has a lovely voice. It's clear, the accents are solid, and she doesn't do that annoying thing where narrators over-act every gasp. But for a book that's supposed to be funny? The delivery is flat. There are moments in the text that are clearly written as jokes—the "smouldering blacksmith" who turns out to be gay (sorry, ladies), the chaotic Great Aunt—but Dawson reads them with the same energy as a weather report. It kills the comedic timing. It's not *bad*, it's just... subdued. If you're looking for high-energy drama, you're going to zone out. I found myself rewinding twice because I got distracted by my own spice rack.
When I need paranormal narration with actual cortisol, Lover Avenged: A Novel of the Black Dagger Brotherhood is much more emotionally dysregulated—in the fun way.The Psychology of Ignoring Your Problems
Narrator aside, let's talk about the characters. Bron is a healer, but she's terrible at healing her own life. She's got this ghost haunting her kitchen, knocking over chairs, basically throwing a spectral tantrum because he wasn't buried right. And instead of dealing with it head-on, she's just annoyed.
Then there's Maddie, the American cousin. She shows up looking for "connection," but she's evasive, secretive, and clearly running from something.
(Side note: Why do fictional Americans in British mysteries always have "a dark secret"? Usually, it's just credit card debt or a bad breakup. Let's see if Maddie breaks the pattern.)
The dynamic between them is interesting, though. You have Bron, who is hyper-local and grounded in folklore, and Maddie, who is the outsider trying to fit into a world of Druids and faery folk. The author, Molly Milligan, clearly knows her Celtic mythology. The lore feels lived-in, not just googled. But the pacing? It drags. It's a short book, under 7 hours, but it felt longer because the stakes never felt *that* high.
Gray Plague has the opposite problem for my nervous system: the danger actually spikes, so my threat-response brain had something to chew on.Who's This Actually For?
If you want a thriller that keeps you up at night, skip this. If you want something to listen to while you fold laundry and don't want to think too hard about the existential dread of the human condition... give it a shot. Just maybe speed it up to 1.25x. Trust me.
My Prescription
Is it a landmark of crime fiction? No. Agatha Christie is not shaking in her grave.
But is it a decent background listen if you like witches and low-stakes drama? Sure. It's cozy. It's the audiobook equivalent of a warm, slightly bland cup of tea.
