Genre: Mystery
Mass Market Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9780425282762
Berkley Publishing
290 Pages
$6.28; $7.99 Amazon
April 4, 2017
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The outlook is not so good for Cass's psychic shop, Mystical Musings. With winter winds discouraging tourists from riding the ferry from Long Island to Bay Island, Cass hopes to draw in more customers by hosting a murder mystery weekend, complete with a séance, in a supposedly haunted mansion.
But Cass begins to lose her spirit when her ex-husband shows up, along with his fiancée -- Cass's ex-best friend. Then, after one of the guests is found dead, a blizzard blows in, trapping everyone inside with a murderer. Now Cass must divine who did the deed before her reputation and her livelihood fade away.
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Cass Donovan ditched her psychiatry practice and cheating husband to open Mystical Musings, and also gives private and group readings in her now psychic shop. Presently she's coaxed her best friends Bee and Stephanie to take her to a spooky mansion on an island, in the middle of winter. Once there, she tells them that she's convinced the owner, Priscilla Wellington, who's opening the home as a new B&B, to invite guests and she will have a seancé and give private and group meetings on the coming weekend.
The only drawbacks are the fact that her ex-husband Donald shows up with the reason for her divorce -- her ex-best friend Sylvia; and also the fact that one of the owners, Conrad Wellington, believes that the mansion is haunted with the ghost of a former owner and wants nothing to do with it. Still, with the help of Stephanie and Bee, and her dog Beast, Cass presses on. During the seancé, something strange occurs along with the loss of power, and everyone heads to their rooms. But then there's a scream during the night, and Cass, along with Priscilla's brother Jim, finds a body, killed in exactly the same way as the long dead owner. But Cass, with her innate curiosity, notices things that seem out of place. And when Stephanie's detective husband Tank can finally reach the island, he sees them, too.
Now Cass knows that not only will she have to find an alternative place to give the readings or lose everything, but that there's a killer on the loose - and it's someone that was in the mansion along with she and her friends. But will she be able to unmask a killer? Or will the killer find her first?...
This is the second book in the series and I must say that I truly enjoyed it more than the first. In the first book, I thought Bee was stereotypical, and Cass and Stephanie managed to get into situations that at least Stephanie should have known not to do. But I am very glad I decided to pick up this series again and start over.
Cass is an interesting character; she never admits she's a psychic, but she knows that she notices things about people and her surroundings that others may miss. If she wasn't in the business that she's chosen, she might have made a very good homicide detective. The only thing that bothered me this time out is the fact that she stated she chose this business because she didn't want the responsibility for someone else's life. If you do a reading for someone, you've taken some responsibility in their actions afterward (I know this because I read the Tarot). Not as great an extent as her previous profession, but it is there nonetheless.
I absolutely adore Bee this time. He's not only interesting, he's intelligent and loyal and has hidden talents that emerge just when you need them. He surprises both Cass and the reader with these from time to time.
As far as the mystery goes, it was very good. What's better than a haunted house without electricity? I would have loved to have seen more of a ghostly presence, but that's just me. I liked how the clues were presented, and even though I figured out the murderer before Cass, she put the pieces together with clues I missed myself.
The book kept me reading in one sitting, and can be read in an evening; it had enough characters to give us red herrings, but not enough to confuse us. When the ending comes and everything is revealed, it is done nicely and I do like the fact that Cass finally got a sort of "release" for something that she needed to have. I will definitely continue this series. Recommended.
https://www.amazon.com/Occult-Battery-Island-Psychic-Mystery/dp/0425282767/ref
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3375823328
More on Lena Gregory's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/g/lena-gregory/
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