The Accidental Medium

A struggling British actress starts seeing ghosts who enlist her crime-solving help in a clever, comic paranormal mystery series.

In The Accidental Medium, British author Tracy Whitwell launches the first in a hilariously clever, paranormal cozy mystery series.

Readers will be rapt by the free-wheeling narrative voice of Tania--aka Tanz--a struggling, 38-year-old, British actress waiting for her next big breakthrough role. Neurotic and self-deprecating, Tanz is going through a rough patch. She’s grieving the loss of an unrequited love--a 32-year-old male friend who died in a freak car accident--whose ghost keeps appearing in her dreams. Tanz has also become a “borderline alcoholic,” indulging in “buckets of Merlot,” and she’s “addicted to old-school horror films and magazines about murders.” Such behaviors were only exacerbated when “the complete bastard” she used to love moved out, leaving her to pay the rent on her own.

 

When Tanz is forced to take an interim job booking tarot card readings at a local, new age shop, the “Mystery Pot,” she fears she’s been plunged into a world of “nutters.” But when more ghosts suddenly start appearing, enlightening Tanz to make predictions about other peoples’ futures, she reluctantly starts utilizing her suddenly acquired medium-clairvoyant skills. Things take a dramatic turn when she’s visited by a murder victim who enlists her help in identifying her killer and bringing the perpetrator to justice.

 

The sharp-tongued, street-smart ingenuity of Whitwell’s (Love Button) lovable heroine--along with tight plotting and a cast of off-beat characters--makes for a wildly fun, bright as lightning start to a crafty new series.

 

The Accidental Medium (The Accidental Medium, Book One) by Tracy Whitwell

MacMillan/Pan Publishing, $18,99 paperback, 9781529087529, 304 pages

Publishing Date: April 9, 2024

To order this book on INDIEBOUND/Bookshop.Org, link HERE

 

NOTE: This review is a reprint and is being posted with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this review as originally published on Shelf Awareness (May 10, 2024), link HERE 

Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice

The continuation of a fun, comic mystery series where a dysfunctional family travels to Atlantic City and faces mayhem, mischief, and murder.

Fast action and clever wit course through Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice, the fourth installment in a wildly fun, comic mystery series by Elle Cosimano.

 

Finlay “Finn” Donovan is a divorced, mother of two; a chronically blocked romantic suspense novelist who, over three books, has been up to her eyeballs in mayhem, mischief, and murder. She’s been mistaken for a contract killer. She’s kept her ex-husband safe, away from someone (other than her) wanting to kill him. And she’s gone up against the Russian mob. Along the way, Finn’s been wooed by a ‘hot’ police officer.

 

The antics continue when Finn and her tribe travel from Virginia to Atlantic City, NJ, on the pretext of a much-needed, get-away weekend. The trip covertly involves Finn tracking down a stolen car, negotiating with a devious loan shark, and rescuing the long-lost beau of Vero—her bilingual, live-in nanny, confidante, and crime-solving cohort. A posse piles into an old Buick and sets off on a zany adventure. The passengers include Finn and her two young children; their father, Finn’s jealous ex, Steven; Finn’s overbearing mother; and Vero. Once in Atlantic City, a murder suddenly upends the secret agenda. Will the clever ingenuity of Finn and Vero bring luck enough for them to hit a jackpot for justice?

 

Cosimano (Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun, Finlay Donovan Knocks ‘Em Dead) ups the stakes, once again keeping readers laughing all the way through a maze of well-plotted danger. 

Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice (The Finlay Donovan Series, Book 4) by Elle Cosimano

Minotaur Books/MacMillan, $28.00 hardcover, 9781250846006, 320 pages

Publishing Date: March 5, 2024

To order this book on INDIEBOUND/Bookshop.Org, link HERE

 

NOTE: This review is a reprint and is being posted with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this review as originally published on Shelf Awareness (March 22, 2024), link HERE 

The Mystery Guest

When a world-famous author dies at a five-star hotel, a neurodivergent maid sets out to find the culprit for his suspicious, sudden death.

The Mystery Guest by Nita Prose is a bright, dynamic continuation of her cozy mystery series that features Molly Gray, a lovable, learning-as-she-goes maid who works at the Regency, an elegantly sophisticated, five-star boutique hotel.

In the first book, The Maid, neurodivergent Molly struggled to navigate life after the death of her touchstone, her grandmother, “Gran,” who spent her life working as a maid. Molly, then a meticulous maid-in-training, became swept up in a murder investigation of a hotel patron that called her and her co-workers into question. In The Mystery Guest, Molly’s story picks up three and a half years later. Molly, now 29-years-old, has since been promoted to Head Maid at the Regency. 

The hotel is eager to redeem its image, hosting “world-famous,” reclusive author, J. D. Grimthorpe. He is intent on making a major public announcement. Standing before a gaggle of press people and adoring fans in the Regency Tea Room, he suddenly drops dead before the big reveal, sending Molly and those in her orbit into mayhem. Could it be that Grimthorpe was murdered? If so, why? 

Prose deftly employs a familiar cast of quirky characters plus adds a few new ones, each with dubious motives. As in the first book, “Gran” and her wisdom continue to influence Molly’s smart perceptions. Molly’s strong narrative voice mines experiences from the past that just might hold clues to her solving this suspensefully well-drawn, second-in-the-series mystery.

The Mystery Guest: A Maid Novel (Molly the Maid Book Two) by Nita Prose

Ballantine Books, $29.00 hardcover, 9780593356180, 304 pages

Publishing Date: November 28, 2023

To order this book on INDIEBOUND/Bookshop.Org, link HERE

 

NOTE: This review is a reprint and is being posted with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this review as originally published on Shelf Awareness (December 29, 2023), link HERE 

A Grave Issue

A fired TV reporter turned mortician investigates the death of a small-town banker who made enemies and harbored secrets.

Author Lillian Bell* launches a lively new mystery series starring Desiree Turner, a TV reporter axed from her job after a hot microphone incident went viral. Returning to Verbena, Calif., a small town near Sacramento, Desiree rejoins her sister Donna, brother-in-law Greg and their Uncle Joey. They all live and work together at the family-owned funeral home. The Turners deal in grief, including their own, since the widowed father of Desiree and Donna died in a surfing accident. A year later, the sisters still struggle with his disappearance.

 
When Rosemarie and Alan Brewer's beloved pet emu dies, the couple blames the unruly shepherd dogs belonging to neighbors Lola and Kyle Hansen. Their conflict escalates into a fistfight between the wives; soon after, Alan is found murdered. While the Turners tend to Alan's funeral, Kyle Hansen, who was like a second father to Desiree and Donna, becomes the prime suspect in Alan's homicide. Inquisitive Desiree starts a quest to exonerate Kyle and learn more about the murder victim, who was the manager of the Verbena Union Bank. Desiree discovers that Alan harbored many secrets and had a long list of enemies.

Suspenseful subplots and red herrings unravel this smartly crafted comic mystery that assembles a well-conceived cast of suspects embroiled in the stifling absurdities of small-town life. Bell cleverly ties up loose ends, while leaving some stragglers that are sure to rouse reader enthusiasm for the next installment.

* Lillian Bell also writes under the pseudonyms Kristi Abbott, Eileen Rendahl and Eileen Carr

A Grave Issue: A Funeral Parlor Mystery by Lillian Bell

Crooked Lane Books, $26.99 Hardcover,  9781683314905, 304  pages

Publication Date: March 9, 2018

To order this book on INDIEBOUND, link HERE

NOTE: This review is a reprint and is being posted with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this review on Shelf Awareness: Reader's Edition (March 9, 2017), link HERE

Murder at the Moonshine Inn

When Murder at the Moonshine Inn opens, readers learn that it's been eight years since Hazel Rose--a computer programmer turned romance novelist and super-sleuth--solved the murder of a disgruntled Richmond, Va. book club member who died after sipping cyanide-laced tea at a book club discussion.

In this second installment, Hazel goes undercover to find out who killed Roxanne Howard, a willful and high-powered executive, in the parking lot of a local redneck watering hole. Roxanne's grief-stricken sister enlists Hazel's help to find the killer as Roxanne's husband, Brad, is actually Hazel's distant cousin—and he also becomes the prime suspect in his wife's murder.

As Hazel gets drawn deeper into the mystery--and enlists the help of her shrewd, clever, mystery-loving book club cohorts--more complications ensue that involve Hazel's distant relatives and a long list of possible suspects ranging from Roxanne's rivals to former employees.

Hazel's fifth husband, a retired Richmond homicide detective who is a writer of true crime books, offers Hazel pertinent information into the investigation that aids her quest to flush out the murderer. What was the motive—love or money...or maybe revenge? When a second murder occurs, red herrings thwart Hazel's investigation until her own safety comes at risk. 

King (Murder at the Book Group) delivers another well-written, suspenseful cozy filled with a charming, quirky cast of book-loving characters and a plot that tightens before it ultimately unspools into a surprising conclusion.

Murder at the Moonshine Inn: A Hazel Rose Book Club Mystery by Maggie King

KoehlerBooks, $16.95 Paperback, 9781633932814, 260 pages

Publication Date: November 15, 2016

To order this book on INDIEBOUND, click HERE

Jill Paton Walsh: The Legacy of Dorothy L. Sayers

The Writer's Life

Dorothy L. Sayers was one of the greatest mystery writers of the 20th century. Her most notable creation was the aristocratic, eccentric sleuth Lord Peter--and later, Harriet Vane, the hyper-intelligent writer of detective novels who would become Lord Peter's wife. In 1936, Sayers abandoned the series. After her death in 1957, a partial manuscript and notes for a Lord Peter novel--what would become Thrones, Dominations, were found. It wasn't until many years later that Sayers's literary trustees commissioned Jill Paton Walsh--at the suggestion of Hope Dellon, an editor at St. Martin's Press--to complete the novel, which was published in 1998.

Walsh, the Booker Prize-nominated and Whitbread Prize-winning author of many novels for adults and children, has since written three additional books in the Lord Peter Wimsey series, including A Presumption of Death and The Attenbury Emeralds. In The Late Scholar (published by Minotaur), Peter and Harriet once again return to the page, post-World War II. In this installment, Peter is asked by his alma mater, St. Severin's College, Oxford University, to help resolve a dispute involving a valuable rare manuscript that needs to be sold in order to raise funds. But when the clever couple arrive at the college, they are faced with a string of mysterious deaths of faculty members.

Were you always a fan of Dorothy Sayers's work? What was your first experience with her writing?
My first experience with Sayers's work was when I was about 14 years old. I read Even the Parrot, a book for children, and managed to like it, though it's very patronizing. Then I moved on and fell in love with Lord Peter. When I read Strong Poison, the first Lord Peter book that features Harriet Vane, I noticed the unusual attitude of Lord Peter to a clever woman. I gave him my heart at once, and he helped inoculate me against the attentions of the men in my generation who wanted a woman chiefly to iron their shirts.

Were you intimidated by taking over the writing of the very successful Lord Peter series?
Yes, of course, I was intimidated... I still am. But it has been an irresistible challenge to my technical skills.

With Thrones, Dominations, you are considered a "co-author" with Dorothy Sayers. Were the notes she left behind easy to follow in finishing the story?
The materials left by Sayers consisted of about one-fifth of the length of the finished novel, in chapters not numbered in order. There were several versions of some of the scenes. There was a plot diagram, down a single page, showing a line for Peter and Harriet and a line for Murderer and Victim. It was annotated with the words "Moves and countermoves as many as may be necessary" and "little bump of emotional development leads to solution." The written part left behind did not get as far as the murder. It was not easy to decipher.

How much influence do the literary trustees of the Dorothy Sayers Society have over the content of each book? Have they ever asked you to rework or rewrite parts of the story?
The trustees are lawyers advised by a literary agent. They have not offered any literary comment or advice, and I would not agree to work under such supervision. But the publisher also has discretion to publish or not to publish, and I accept editorial advice from the publisher as I would with a work entirely my own.

How do you research each book, especially The Late Scholar, which is set mostly on the campus of your alma mater, Oxford University?
Each book is different. They all require some research into the historical setting. The Late Scholar needed very little research, just some checking, because it is set somewhere in 1952-1953, and I went to Oxford in 1955. Peter's life and mine nearly overlap there.

What's the most challenging part of continuing the series? What's the most enjoyable and rewarding?
Writing about someone else's characters imposes a duty to correctness about what is already written about them, as though they were real people. Peter is the most entertaining man possible to imagine, talking in my inner world. He's just fun.

Do you have a favorite book in the Lord Peter series?
Gaudy Night is my favorite--it would be, it's about Oxford, and it's about women with professional careers. But I think the best of the series is The Nine Tailors, even though it had no Harriet Vane for me to identify with.

How hard is it to keep updating the series with recurrent characters, now aging, and moving into a more contemporary, post-World War II era?
It's easier, actually, than writing about characters who do not grow and change. Characters need to be real to me before I can make them real to anybody else, and real people change over time.

Why do you think Lord Peter and Harriet Vane have gained and retained such a loyal and devoted following throughout the years?
Peter is very unusual in needing an intellectual equal for his wife. I can think of two others in literature: Benedict in Much Ado About Nothing and Ralph Touchett in A Portrait of a Lady. Sayers produced a picture of a deeply desirable relationship between a man and a woman--clever, passionate and mutually respectful.

If someone has never read a Lord Peter novel, which one do you suggest they read first? And what do you foresee for the future of the Lord Peter series?
I'd suggest Strong Poison--if someone likes this book, they will like them all. And in terms of Lord Peter's future, he seems to be immortal. Really, doesn't he?

Will there be another Imogen Quy novel? Also, will you write another children's book?
Yes, I do plan to return to the Imogen Quy series. I would also love to get a good idea for another children's book. But my own children are now in their 50s, and my grandchildren are growing up in Australia. I haven't enough contact with children to know in my bones what they like reading... just the same, I'd grab the chance if something promising occurred to me.

If you could meet Dorothy Sayers, what would you like to say to her?
I would be rather afraid of her--such a sharp and clever woman. But I would ask why she abandoned Thrones, Dominations.

Note: This interview is a reprint and is being posted with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this Q&A on Shelf Awareness (6/17/14), click HERE