Paranormal in Manhattan, #2
Lotta Smith
Self-Pub, Jul 2016
Kindle, 167 Pages
Also available in paperback
Genre(s) Paranormal Cozy Mystery, Romance
Source Purchase
Other books in this series
Wicked for Hire #1, Wicked Little Secret #3, Wicked of the Christmas Past #4, Sweet Wicked of Mine #5, Wicked and Haunted #6, Wicked, Manor, and Murder #7, Wickedly Ever After #8, Speak of the Wicked #9, Wicked as a Christmas Fruitcake #10
My Disclaimer:
I purchased a copy of this book at the current price. I am voluntarily providing an honest review in which all opinions are fully my own. I am not being compensated in any way.
~ Judi E. Easley for Blue Cat Review
What it’s about…
Rick Rowling is the head of the FBI’s Paranormal Cases Division in NYC. His assistant is Mandy. That’s Amanda Meyer, who’s been bribed to work with him with a regular paycheck to pay off her student loans. Rick is 6’2″, sexy with green eyes and heir to USCAB, a highly successful security empire. He’s also outrageous, egotistical, and a smart-ass and no one else will work with him.
Mandy has a ghost of her own that follows her around to “help” her. Sort of a guardian ghost. Name of Jackie, or to be exact Jackson Frederick Orchard. He or she as she prefers it was a drag queen and she is always willing to help out Mandy and Rick on their cases.
Their current case being the death of Madame Giselle Carolynn Axtell McCambridge, 76 years old, and now standing watching all the proceedings of her murder investigation. At least she’s insisting it’s a murder investigation at the top of her ghostly lungs in Mandy’s ear. Mandy’s the only one who can see her. Well, Mandy and Jackie.
Can Rick and Mandy resolve this to Madame’s satisfaction?
Technical Tidbits…
The cover is Ms. Smith’s stylized black, yellow, and purple graphics artwork, which is so eye-catching. I really like the way she has used it throughout this series.
The storyline is good. It’s one that I’m sure many of you have read before in other books. It’s a plot that lends itself well to the treatment Ms. Smith has used here with the ghosts.
The characters were well developed. We know Rick and Mandy from the previous book. And now we have Jackie tagging along. We know Madame as a type, especially by her actions and attitudes. The other characters are kept quite shadowy as they are more or less suspects in the murder.
The pace, for the most part, is pretty good. There were a few places where I felt it might hit a snag, but it picked up again.
The tension was consistent throughout once you got to the main death scene.
And this is where you STOP if you don’t want to see any SPOILERS…
The good, the bad, and the ugly…and how much it lit up my life… ✰✰✰✰⭒
I found the death of Adam in the beginning rather distracting and very sad. It seemed to be senseless. It had nothing to do with the murder and it didn’t lead to anything. And yet, here we have a young male ghost now.
I really like Jackie as a sidekick for Mandy. I think once she gets used to having her around she’ll be really useful and she’ll be someone on her side! I’m really looking forward to seeing these relationships develop. Rick and Mandy are certainly going somewhere. No matter how bad things get, you just know he’s going to swoop in and rescue her like her very own superhero. So I guess he can be as egotistical as he wants as long as he takes good care of Mandy. It keeps the books upbeat and fun to read. It’s why I keep adding them to my Kindle. Now, if I could just do them in order, I think I’d be okay.
The resolution of this case was very systematic. They worked through everybody’s secrets and came up with the illegitimate daughter and a prank gone wrong in shoes too large. Hmmm. Do you buy it? Would the FBI agree to cover it up? Well, it’s a cozy and it’s magical, so sometimes you have to stretch it a bit.
696 wc
a thoughtful reveal 