Book 86, 2016
Nov. 4th, 2016 06:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chez_jaeLast night, I finished reading Pall in the Family, which is the first book in author Dawn Eastman's "Family Fortune" mystery series. I had some others, but I wanted to read them in order; thus, I had to buy/read this one. Hee!
After a shooting incident, police officer Clytemnestra "Clyde" Fortune has returned home to her kooky family in the psychic hot spot of Crystal Haven. Clyde takes up dog-walking to earn some money and get her out of the house, because both her mother Rose and her Aunt Violet want her to spend her time honing her own psychic abilities. Clyde, however, would rather not have the gift. When she goes to a neighbor's home to walk the woman's dog, Clyde discovers Sara dead from a gunshot. She tries to ignore her own investigative instincts and let the locals, including her ex-flame, Mac, handle the case. But, a young, bumbling officer asks her to help, and Clyde finds herself embroiled in the murder investigation.
After another psychic in town is murdered, Clyde is convinced the crimes are related, and that they both may have something to do with the disappearance of a teenage girl from Crystal Haven several years ago--a case that was never solved.
This story was a lot of fun. Clyde's efforts to hang onto her sanity among her crazy family was laugh-worthy, as were her dry observations of the happenings around her. Characters were well-developed, including the dogs that Clyde seems to have inherited after their owners are killed. She and Mac still seem to be attracted to one another, yet somewhat uncomfortable with each other. It was interesting to see them dance around their attraction. I was pleased to figure out who dunnit early, thanks to an innocent clue the author dropped. Heh. I loved Aunt Vi, the pet psychic, who was always volunteering to get information from her network of neighborhood cats.
Favorite lines:
♦ Some people ran away from home to join the circus; I had left home to escape one.
♦ We'd decided that being locked in a car with a vomit-covered dog was worse than a run-in with a murderer.
♦ She peered around the table to be sure no one was expecting much from the cats.
♦ "Does she know how to text? Or is she still sending messages through the cats in town?"
♦ A hush fell over the table as we considered this possibility. Even though most of it was based on cat reports and hearsay, it was a possibility.
♦ I felt a bit like a SWAT team member, except that what we were doing was against the law, and my backup team consisted of tarot readers, Wiccans, pet psychics, and a dentist.
♦ I choked on my coffee. "Are you going to start interrogating squirrels?" / Vi leveled her gaze at me. "Squirrels are notoriously unreliable. They can never make up their minds."
Ah, gotta love Violet!
Great story, can't wait to read more of them. Five stars!
*****
After a shooting incident, police officer Clytemnestra "Clyde" Fortune has returned home to her kooky family in the psychic hot spot of Crystal Haven. Clyde takes up dog-walking to earn some money and get her out of the house, because both her mother Rose and her Aunt Violet want her to spend her time honing her own psychic abilities. Clyde, however, would rather not have the gift. When she goes to a neighbor's home to walk the woman's dog, Clyde discovers Sara dead from a gunshot. She tries to ignore her own investigative instincts and let the locals, including her ex-flame, Mac, handle the case. But, a young, bumbling officer asks her to help, and Clyde finds herself embroiled in the murder investigation.
After another psychic in town is murdered, Clyde is convinced the crimes are related, and that they both may have something to do with the disappearance of a teenage girl from Crystal Haven several years ago--a case that was never solved.
This story was a lot of fun. Clyde's efforts to hang onto her sanity among her crazy family was laugh-worthy, as were her dry observations of the happenings around her. Characters were well-developed, including the dogs that Clyde seems to have inherited after their owners are killed. She and Mac still seem to be attracted to one another, yet somewhat uncomfortable with each other. It was interesting to see them dance around their attraction. I was pleased to figure out who dunnit early, thanks to an innocent clue the author dropped. Heh. I loved Aunt Vi, the pet psychic, who was always volunteering to get information from her network of neighborhood cats.
Favorite lines:
♦ Some people ran away from home to join the circus; I had left home to escape one.
♦ We'd decided that being locked in a car with a vomit-covered dog was worse than a run-in with a murderer.
♦ She peered around the table to be sure no one was expecting much from the cats.
♦ "Does she know how to text? Or is she still sending messages through the cats in town?"
♦ A hush fell over the table as we considered this possibility. Even though most of it was based on cat reports and hearsay, it was a possibility.
♦ I felt a bit like a SWAT team member, except that what we were doing was against the law, and my backup team consisted of tarot readers, Wiccans, pet psychics, and a dentist.
♦ I choked on my coffee. "Are you going to start interrogating squirrels?" / Vi leveled her gaze at me. "Squirrels are notoriously unreliable. They can never make up their minds."
Ah, gotta love Violet!
Great story, can't wait to read more of them. Five stars!
*****
