In Royal Oak, a suburb
of Detroit, thirty-something Abby Cooper lives a life that's kind of
like vanilla ice cream - good enough, but a little bland. Her work as a
P.I. - Psychic Intuitive - can be rewarding, but she feels like somehow
she's missing out on the hot-fudge topping...
Now she's getting what she wished for - when a client winds up dead and the clues start pointing in Abby's direction.Turns out she knows too many details about the murder for her own good. To make matters worse, the hot blind date she just met is the lead investigator on the case. And gorgeous Detective Dutch Rivers is convinced she's a fraud. No matter how great her psychic abilities, Abby doesn't know if she can solve this case. Unfortunately for her, though, the killer thinks she can.... |
Whoever has mused that covers attract hasn't lied, for I admit the cover of this book is what first drew me to it. I always am a sucker for cozy mysteries, and this proved to be a fun one.
Abby's personality is a contagious mixture of bubbling awkwardness, firm self-assurance, and strong sense of humanity. Although she's a psychic, she's sure to limit her clients to only two visits per year, in order to prove to them true answers lie within themselves, and not to fall into the trap of being a scam artist causing others to depend on pyschics for all their endless answers. Detective Dutch Rivers was a fun, protective guy...what is it about detectives that usually ends up so hot in most books? His personality was great, from the awkward set-up date to the interrogations and, finally, to the ultimate revelation of his feelings.
The mystery itself was also a pay-off, as it was hard to pinpoint who the culprit was. As Abby tried on a few red herrings for size - and enraged the detective at the same time - it was good times. The slow unraveling of clues produced a decent mystery that wasn't conveniently answered, and the suspense scenes when shown (there weren't many), were well-written. Thankfully Abby did the clever thing when she was threatened at the end, not being overly heroic (read: silly and stupid). This gave her a depth of realism I always like to read about with my characters.
Not to mention, the psychic ability itself was just plain cool! Okay, I know there's misconceptions about psychics, but this is an ability I'd kill to have. She doesn't get strange premonitions out of the blue by touching various objects like overly-dramatic lifetime movie renditions, but instead it's just a natural flow of things for her. She's a strong psychic, as well, and I always like when it seems realistic.
There's humor, too, but not to where it's cloying. Some amusing situations that fit with the ironic side of life, but nothing forced and too comedic to where it takes over the book. Nothing overly violent - there are deaths, of course - but no descriptive phrases that would make the violence-weary shudder in their beds. It's an addictive book that's easy to get through; I read it in one day. The length isn't atrociously short, being 295 pages, but something about the subject and the author's great writing style made it easy to breeze through quickly. I can't wait for more of this series!
Book Quotes:
“I’d even had business cards made up reading, ABIGAIL COOPER, P.I. with teeny-weeny little letters underneath in parentheses spelling out PSYCHIC INTUITIVE. Most people think I’m trying to be clever. The truth is, I’m a chickenshit.”
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