Genre: Mystery
Mass Market Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9780425282779
Berkley Publishing
293 Pages
$7.99; $7.99 Amazon
February 6, 2018
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Cass has always relied on her abilities to guide her, but after communications with a ghost land her in the middle of a murder investigation, she has to wonder if her gift is really more of a curse.
Cass knows she is meant to help track down the killer -- much to the chagrin of local law enforcement -- when the apparition leads her to a dead body on the beach near her psychic shop, Mystical Musings. But the police are not the only ones who wish Cass would stick to reading palms. Someone is trying to scare her off, and it will take all her powers of premonition to catch the killer before Cass herself becomes the next victim...
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Cass Donovan left her psychiatry practice in Manhattan after one of her patients committed suicide, and she found her husband cheating with her best friend -- a double whammy. She's since used her powerful intuition and the fact that she notices small details to open a psychic shop, where she sells items to help people, and also gives group and private readings to people.
But Cass is also discovering that her psychic power is growing -- she's been able to see ghosts - or a form thereof - starting recently, and now she's beginning to have nightmares of a young woman who's asking for her help. When an angry man shows up wanting her help, she does her best, but she's knows there's more to his story.
While walking on the beach with her dog Beast, he brings her a bone that appears to be human. After finding the rest of the skeleton, she calls her police detective friend Tank, and he tells her to forget it and go home. But then the news crews and lookie-loos start arriving; and a second body is found buried in the sand. Things are escalating, and while Cass is really trying to stay out of it, she sees a portrait of a young woman in the window of a new art shop, and knows it's the woman from her dreams. But when she returns to the shop, the owner says the portrait isn't for sale and has removed it. Bringing her best friends Bee and Stephanie into the equation should bring her calm, but it doesn't. After her shop is is searched and she's injured, Cass is determined to find out what's going on...if she doesn't get killed first...
This is the third book in the series and I have to say that they keep getting better. While I wasn't impressed with the first, I definitely like the direction the stories are going. Cass is learning that she really does have a bit of psychic abilities, and ghosts are appearing to her; but she's not sure what she's supposed to do with that information yet. She's finding her way, much as the ghosts are finding theirs. I love the fact that these are not poltergeists, but spirits that need help or are there to help her.
She also has the eternal friendship of Bee, whom, while he doesn't believe in ghosts and doesn't want to hear anything about them (but I think he's just a tad afraid of them) still stands by her side no matter what's happening. He's a true friend, and I think that he's one of my favorite characters in the books. Stephanie, for her part, is a bit sad in this book and won't open up to Cass, although she really should have done so; yet it all becomes understandable.
The plot is nicely done, with the police trying to figure out who the two - one skeleton and one body - on the beach belong to, and Cass is becoming more positive she knows who at least one of the people that were found is a young woman who went missing not too long ago. But being asked not to say anything to anyone is harder than she imagines, and Cass is wondering what is going on, but trying to get on with her life, as much as she can. Interwoven into the story is Cass doing what she does best -- helping people who are in need of it. These small side journeys show us the type of person she is, and one can't help wonder how her ex-husband could have been such a dolt in doing what he did (sorry; I had to throw that in).
When the story starts to come to a close, we figure it out close to the time that Cass does herself; even though the clues are there, they are hidden well enough that we don't really put it together until then, and I enjoyed that very much. At the end, it all comes together nicely, with hints of what is to come in the next story in this series. Highly recommended.
More on Lena Gregory's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/g/lena-gregory/
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