Fri 23 May 2008
Reviews by Walter Albert: Two by VICTORIA LAURIE.
Posted by Steve under Authors , Reviews[5] Comments
VICTORIA LAURIE – What’s A Ghoul To Do? “A Ghost Hunter Mystery.”
Signet, paperback original, April 2007.
Victoria Laurie is described in the inner back-cover copy as a “real-life psychic,” author of the Psychic Eye series that features Abby Cooper. She’s apparently branching out with a new series in which medium M. J. Holliday and her sidekick Gilley Gillespie help souls stuck on this “side” cross over.
This is psychic lite as M. J. and Gilley (who functions as her manager, and has a notable aversion to spooky manifestations) attempt to help the grandfather of Dr. Steven Sable cross over, a job that’s more difficult than they expect and involves some real-life characters with larceny on their mind and no objection to murder.
And, to complicate matters, M. J. has to break one of her prime rules, which is that nobody accompanies her on her ghost-busting for a very attractive doctor, grandson of the dead – and possibly murdered – ghost.
The psychic lite elements pretty much drain the novel of any suspense, but the characters are appealing, and there’s enough ghostly business to keep a ghost fancier like me reasonably entertained.
VICTORIA LAURIE – A Vision of Murder “A Psychic Eye Mystery.”
Signet, paperback original, December 2005.
I was looking for another M. J. Holliday Ghost Hunter mystery, but all I found on the shelf at the Mystery Lovers Bookshop was the third in an earlier series whose protagonist is Abby Cooper. Abby’s a professional psychic who’s taking some time off from her psychic readings to enter into a real-estate venture with her sister (“Cat”) and handyman (“Dave”) that involves fixing-up a very run down house.
(I liked this hook since my wife and I entered into a similar agreement some years ago with a handyman to a house in our neighborhood that was up for a sheriff’s sale.)
Unfortunately, the house seems to have two very active spooks, and a mysterious intruder whose intentions are just as threatening as those of the resident haunts, and a good deal more deadly.
These two books constitute a pleasant addition to my meager supply of contemporary conventional supernatural fiction (somewhat overloaded, I’ve concluded, with vampire novels). I like the author’s carefree but committed approach to the dark side and hope to visit her spectral world again.
Psychic Eye Mysteries:
1. Abby Cooper, Psychic Eye (Signet, December 2004)
2. Better Read Than Dead (Signet, June 2005)
3. A Vision of Murder (Signet, December 2005)
4. Killer Insight (Signet, September 2006)
5. Crime Seen (Obsidian, September 2007). [Reviewed earlier by Steve here.]
6. Death Perception (Obsidian, September 2008)
Ghost Hunter Mysteries:
1. What’s a Ghoul to Do? (Signet, April 2007)
2. Demons Are a Ghoul’s Best Friend (Signet, March 2008)
May 24th, 2008 at 10:28 am
At the start of each episode of “Branded”, Chuck Connors is forcibly drummed out of the US Cavalry, for desertion. His commanding officer rips the insignia off his uniform, his sword is ritually broken in two, and the huge gates of the Cavalry fort swing shut behind him, while the chorus intones “Branded! Marked with the mark of shame!…”
This is what my emotions want to do with so called “supernatural detectives.” Just can’t see how psychic powers have any place in mystery fiction. Detectives should solve cases through reason and investigation, not psychic flashes. Wish such books were NOT considered part of the mystery genre.
An afternoon reading about Ben Snow or Ellery Queen usually calms me down.
May 24th, 2008 at 10:39 am
It’s Memorial Day weekend, and I’m sorry that I’m fresh out of eleven-foot poles, Mike. And Walter’s in Columbus OH for the annual Cinevent festivities. (I wish I were there.)
Personally I don’t mind the subgenre as much as I used to, but maybe Walter can put a good word in for it when he gets back.
Best
Steve
May 28th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Steve,
I’m familiar with the opinion of many mystery readers that psychic sleuths have no place in such a logical genre as mystery fiction is considered to be. I don’t have any particular defense of the anomaly (for the die-hard fan of the rational).
I’ve always liked supernatural fiction and my early reading of the pulps undoubtedly exposed to me to stories where the supernatural intruded into a logical universe. I don’t read by the “rules” but I wouldn’t criticize anyone who does.
Walter
September 29th, 2008 at 11:26 pm
Demons are a Ghoul’s Best Friend – A Critique.
The writing style is immature and lacking in depth. Characters are shallow. I started looking for ways to clean up the sentence structure and repetitive phrases rather than diving into the story. I slogged through parts and skimmed others, and finally skipped to the end, which was kinda blah.
M.J. and Karen need not pimp themselves out to the wealthy to run their ghost buster service. Do we know where the “Ghost Busters” movie guys got the money for their crazy equipment? Should it matter? Do we really care?
If I could forward a request to Victoria Laurie I would suggest that she read anything from Terry Pratchett of the Discworld Novels for his comic timing and ability to present a conversation between two or more individuals at once (“Reaper Man” is especially funny, oh, and it has ghosts…), and “The Time Traveler’s Wife” by Audrey Niffenegger as she carries two first person narratives and several time lines in a mature writing style (could not put it down!!!).
I’m not really into mysteries, but a good mystery would be welcome relief after this mish-mash of a book.
Um, the end.
May 24th, 2010 at 8:07 pm
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