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 

Grave Reservations

 

An energetic cozy mystery follows a travel agent as she puts her psychic tendencies to work on a police cold case.

Cherie Priest (The Toll; The Inexplicables) is a prolific author who has published across genres, including steampunk, horror and sci-fi. In Grave Reservations, a smart and sassy first cozy mystery, she dips into the paranormal, telling the story of a fledgling travel agent with often erratic psychic tendencies. 

Leda Foley of Seattle owns and operates her own travel agency--Foley's Far-Fetched Flights of Fancy--and is struggling to get it off the ground. Leda also experiences very "strong feelings" and vibes about things. For fun, she practices her supernatural skills at a local bar, where she clairvoyantly selects karaoke for customers. When Leda books a flight heading out of Orlando, Fla., for Seattle Police detective Grady Merritt, a widowed father of a 17-year-old daughter, she gets a flash of insight that he should not board the plane. It leads her to proactively change his flight plans, redirecting him into Atlanta.

Leda's hasty decision upsets Grady. However, when Leda's hunch spares the detective from a fatal plane accident, it creates a bond. When grateful Grady returns to Seattle, the two begin a secret partnership, where the detective enlists Leda's psychic ability to help solve a cold case. In the process, demons from Leda's and Grady's pasts resurface, forcing them both to tie up loose threads and reconcile respective losses.

Polished prose, steady pacing and quirky characters, including Leda's lovable and loyal, long-term best friend--along with a cast of eccentric bar patrons--add levity and wit to this suspenseful story that unravels darker themes.

Grave Reservations: Booking Agents Book One by Cherie Priest

Atria Books (Simon and Schuster), $26.00 Hardcover, 9781982168896, 304 pages

Publication Date: October 26, 2021

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 (October 29, 2021), link HERE