Quick Take
- Narration: Paul Morey brings a grounded, wry energy to Chris White that suits the character’s sardonic detective voice; his range across supernatural creatures is solid if occasionally uneven with secondary female roles.
- Themes: Paranormal noir, queer found family, supernatural social hierarchy
- Mood: Atmospheric and propulsive, with warmth underneath the grit
- Verdict: A clever MM paranormal detective debut that earns its non-linear structure through genuine character investment and a richly layered supernatural world.
I picked this one up on a Thursday night when I was in the mood for something that blurred genre lines, something that wasn’t quite urban fantasy, wasn’t quite romance, and wasn’t quite noir but had traces of all three. Dance with the Devil by Megan Derr delivered exactly that, though not in the way I expected. The first thing that threw me was the structure. The story is assembled as numbered case files, and they don’t run chronologically. The higher the case number, the closer you are to the present. Once I understood the system, I found it genuinely inventive rather than frustrating, and it gave the romance between Chris and Sable a particular texture because you encounter them already together before you learn how they got there.
Paul Morey narrates, and his performance is the right fit for Chris White, a half-ghost, half-witch detective running a paranormal private investigation firm in a city stratified by supernatural power. Chris serves the poor districts, the ones lorded over by the Demon Lord of Storms, and Morey gives him a self-deprecating bite that keeps the character from sliding into typical hardboiled cliche. The world has werewolves, vampires, sirens, goblins, sorcerers, and a bureaucratic underworld politics that Derr clearly spent serious time building.
Our Take on Dance with the Devil
What I found most interesting here is the tonal balance. Derr is writing MM paranormal fiction, which often tips toward either pure romance with fantasy window dressing or grimdark queer fiction with romance as a subplot. This sits uncomfortably between those poles in a way that actually works. Chris and Sable’s dynamic, a naively driven detective and a powerful, patient demon lord, has genuine chemistry that Morey conveys well, particularly during the scenes where the power differential is most stark. The romance earns its moments because the characters feel like they have full lives outside of each other.
Why Listen to Dance with the Devil
The strongest argument for the audio format is the case-file structure. In print you can flip back and recheck numbers, but in audio the structure becomes a kind of listening game, piecing together the timeline as you go. Morey handles the transitions well, and the overall effect is something like listening to a detective recounting his own career in deliberately shuffled order. Reviewers consistently praised the non-chronological arrangement once they understood it, with one noting that knowing the numbering system let them jump into the story with much more confidence. The supernatural world itself is the other major draw. Derr builds an ecosystem where social class, species, and magic are all intertwined, and she does not explain everything at once. The city’s lower districts, the demon lord’s domain, feel lived-in rather than constructed for plot purposes.
What to Watch For in Dance with the Devil
This is a first book in a series, and it functions as a series-opener in ways that are occasionally obvious. Some of the early cases feel more like world-building exercises than stories with independent weight, and the payoff for certain character threads is clearly being deferred to later volumes. One reviewer mentioned feeling that the relationship between Chris and Sable was already established before we saw it develop, which is the intended effect of the non-linear structure but may feel slightly unsatisfying for listeners who want to experience the romance from scratch. If you are new to Megan Derr’s work, the prose is direct and economical, which suits the noir register but gives secondary characters less space than they probably deserve. Morey’s narration of some female characters is less convincing than his work on the male leads, which is worth knowing going in.
Who Should Listen to Dance with the Devil
This is a strong pick if you have been looking for MM fiction that sits inside a genuinely constructed fantasy world rather than using the paranormal as backdrop for contemporary romance dynamics. Fans of urban fantasy who want queer representation baked into the premise rather than added onto it will find a lot to like here. At six and a half hours it is a compact listen, and the non-linear structure rewards attention rather than punishing distraction. Skip it if you need chronological storytelling, or if you want a standalone with full closure rather than a series opener that clearly has more to say.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to understand the case file numbering system before I start listening?
It helps to know upfront that higher numbers are closer to the present day. Once you have that key, the non-chronological structure becomes easy to follow and adds genuine texture to how the romance unfolds.
Is this primarily a romance or a detective/mystery story?
It is genuinely both, weighted roughly equally. The detective cases are not just excuses to get the characters together, and the romance is not a thin overlay on a procedural plot. Think of it as a paranormal noir with a central love story running through it.
Does Paul Morey’s narration handle the extensive supernatural cast convincingly?
His performance is strongest with Chris and Sable. He brings real wit to Chris’s voice and appropriate gravity to Sable. The broader supporting cast is handled competently, though some of the female characters are less distinctively voiced.
Can this be listened to as a standalone, or does it require reading the rest of the series to feel complete?
The main story has a satisfying arc, and the central relationship reaches a meaningful point by the end. However, the world and several secondary threads are clearly set up for continuation, so treat it as the beginning of something larger rather than a closed narrative.
