Killer Insight-Victoria Laurie

Hello, Lovelies! And Congrats to the winners of this month's contest. I think Dee did a fabulous job putting it together and deserves a round of applause! Also, a BIG THANK YOU to author Kristan Higgins for judging! How cool is it that we had an author judge the contest?! Too, freakin' cool - that's how cool. I've already got next months contest set up, and it's just gonna be your average put a name in a hat and draw kinda contest. After all, it's Christmas next month and if you are anything like me, coming up with a contest entry is just gonna be too hard. Anyway, more details on that later. We're still plugging away at setting up the new blog, hopefully it will be ready for launch the first of the new year. Hopefully. This time of year it's tough to accomplish very much. And now, without further ado...

Killer Insight by Victoria Laurie

(BCC)

A wedding retreat in Colorado finds Abby Cooper tending a broken heart and taking a mental break, but psychic intuition isn't the sort of thing you can leave at home...

Died to Match

When her relationship with FBI agent Dutch Rivers skids to a halt, Abby Cooper is fully aware that a wedding isn't the best post-breakup scenario. But when a friend from the Mile High City finds herself short one bridesmaid, it doesn't take a professional psychic to see the opportunity for a much-needed getaway.

High altitudes can be healing, and Abby reunites with friends-especially her childhood crush Duffy McGinnis, now town sheriff...not to mention tall, dark, and yummy. But Abby needs more than a shoulder to cry on. One bridesmaid after another is mysteriously flying the coop, and Abby's intuition tells her their final destinations aren't pretty.

With the wedding party falling apart and her gift of sight never quite so foggy, Abby has to save the date-and herself from becoming the next tafetta-clad target...

Other than a few minor faults, this is a rather well written BCC. Not at all misleading, and if it wouldn't be putting in spoilers, I would give some corrections. I will say, that Abby's intuition isn't so much foggy, as they suggest, as it is ignored. Several times in the book Abby mentions her intuition buzzing and she gets distracted or something else and never tunes into it.

I've been following this series since book one, Better Read Than Dead, came out it June of '05. I was in the bookstore looking for the newest Dead End Job Mystery, when the gal working the desk showed me this great new book. "First in a new series," she said to me, "And I really liked this one. Try it, you may to." So I did, and she was right. I liked it very much. Aside from the fact I could tell Laurie was new to writing, I liked the story and had faith she would get more comfortable as an author. She has, and the result is a very fast paced, fun read.

Abby Copper is a professional psychic. So why didn't she see she was going to end up dead? That's exactly where we find Abby at the start of the book, staring down the barrel of a .38 and BOOM - she's shot and floating Heavenward.

After a devastating break-up with Dutch, on Valentine's Day no less (Dutch got Abby a cell phone - one for himself, too. It was two for one deal and things went down hill from there), Abby agrees to fly to Colorado to be a fill in bridesmaid for her childhood friend Ellie's upcoming wedding, when one of them takes off without warning.

Abby has unique gifts, to say the least, and one of them is the ability to look at a picture and tell weather or not the person in the photo is alive or dead. When she gets to Colorado, Abby is terrified to learn, her friend's missing bridesmaid, didn't just leave town, she died. Confiding in Duffy, the town sheriff and Ellie's older brother, about this, they set out to either find the missing woman or her body. Not wanting to upset Ellie, they keep it to themselves until they know for sure.

But while doing a reading for Ellie as a bridal shower gift, Abby sees that Ellie's future husband, Eddie, has done something very bad, and will be spending time in jail. She also sees it was something he was forced into, but when more bridesmaids go dead, Abby isn't so sure the altitude isn't messing with her sight, and perhaps Eddie DID do something terrible and that he perhaps DID do it of his own free will.

Laurie has a hit with this series, this book in particular had a great cast of characters, people that made me laugh and touched me with their kindness. There was Ellie's Aunt Viv, a cantankerous old broad, who has a penchant for swiping anything that catches her fancy was great comic relief, in a rather heady mystery. Then their was Ellie's parents, who have always been like family to Abby, when her own parents couldn't stand the sight of her. "...you know not many people can appreciate it when someone like you comes into the mix. But I want you to know that we understand how special you and your gifts are. If you ever want to come over and hear how much we love you and your gifts, you just knock on my door. Okay?"

We also get more of Kat, Abby's rich and caring older sister, and even get to see the meanness that is her parents. One of the things I liked so much about this book, aside from the great mystery, is the way Laurie showed how special Abby was to certain people in her life and how those friends were her family. Sometimes, we forget just how special our friends can be to us, and that they are indeed, just like family. Laurie captured the honest feelings of love and friendship with Insight and I cannot wait to read the next book in the series.

And even though this is a series, like most series, you do not need to read them in order, but it will definitely help if you do. If you haven't checked out these books yet, I highly recommend you do. Abby having the gifts she does, lends a great twist to the amateur sleuth genre.

Take Care