Mina and the Undead: love and vampires in New Orleans
I was born in 1992 so I was a 90s kid. My childhood existed in that famed cultural decade, but I wasn’t a teenager during this time. A 90s summer to me is full of big questions, big answers, and big fun, because I’m an American teen movie aficionado, of course, and I was too young to experience it myself.
In Amy McCaw’s debut novel, ‘Mina and the Undead’, Mina was 17 in 1995 and in great movie tradition, her summer trip to New Orleans changed everything.
New Orleans Fang Fest, 1995. Mina's having a summer to die for.
17-year-old Mina, from England, arrives in New Orleans to visit her estranged sister, Libby. After growing up in the town that inspired Dracula, Mina loves nothing more than a creepy horror movie. She can't wait to explore the city's darkest secrets - vampire tours, seedy bars, spooky cemeteries, disturbing local myths...
And it gets even better when Mina lands a part-time job at a horror movie mansion and meets Jared, Libby's gorgeous housemate, co-worker and fellow horror enthusiast.
But the perfect summer bliss is broken when, while exploring the mansion, Mina stumbles upon the body of a girl with puncture marks on her neck, clutching a lock of hair that suspiciously resembles Libby's...
Someone is replicating New Orleans' most brutal supernatural killings. Mina must discover the truth and prove her sister's innocence before she becomes the victim of another myth.
As soon as I read the synopsis of this book, I knew I had to read it: 90s New Orleans, vampires, summer and a murder mystery. Who wouldn’t be sucked in by that?! Fortunately, it totally lived up to my expectations.
Vampires and murder mysteries are dark and chilling subjects, but I was not prepared for how genuinely unsettling this book was, especially when I was reading it at night. It cut through the steaming heat of a Louisiana summer and I felt Mina’s fear, her growing attraction to Jared, her frustration with her sister and her voracious curiosity about the myths of the Big Easy.
Seeing how the famous myths and legends of murder, mysteries and vampires that have plagued New Orleans for decades began to weave into the plot, and the murders themselves, was fascinating. Worryingly, it made me even more eager to visit… The seedy bars, the famous graveyards, the vibrant street parties; it built the most incredible atmosphere and really heightened the effect of the brutal murders on the characters. I kept trying to guess what would happen and who would be revealed as the murderer, but I kept being wrong. McCaw kept me on my toes the whole time.
I do have to admit that the horror movie references went a bit over my head because I’m a scaredy cat, but lots of the other pop culture ones which I recognised made me very excitable: ‘The Lost Boys’! ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’! ‘Interview with a Vampire’! ‘Charmed’! So now I have a whole list of films and TV shows to rewatch…
One of the biggest elements of the novel was the relationship between Mina and her older sister, Libby. I have a difficult relationship with my younger sister so I really related to the estrangement, distance and frustration between the sisters following their mum leaving and Libby fleeing to New Orleans for university. ‘Mina and the Undead’ tackled the shared history and sky high levels of emotions in a sisterly relationship really well and I was really invested. The tension between them was palpable and I was really rooting for them to work it out, find some common ground and actually talk about their feelings!
I thoroughly enjoyed Mina’s New Orleans adventure and I think ‘Mina and the Undead’ is a brilliant YA murder mystery, horror novel with some real depth to it. I can’t wait to see what Amy McCaw writes next.
This is a perfect read for fans of horror movies, pop culture and a damn good murder mystery.
You can purchase ‘Mina and the Undead’ by Amy McCaw via our Bookshop.org affiliate link here.
Written by Sophie
