A Missing Pieces Mystery, by Joyce and Jim Lavene, Berkley Prime Crime, March 2011
Dae O'Donnell, mayor of Duck, NC and psychic finder of lost objects, is walking towards the Duck Historical Museum to return a gold coin when the building explodes, knocking her into the street and killing the museum's curator, Max Caudle. When she awakens in the hospital, Dae discovers she now has powerful visions of an object's history whenever she touches it. Though she's overcome with emotions when she handles old items, her new skill comes in handy when she and Kevin Brickman, a former FBI agent and new owner of The Blue Whale Inn, try to track down Sam Meacham. He's disappeared, and as he and Max were known adversaries, the police consider Sam the person responsible for the explosion and Max's death.
Dae believes Sam is innocent and that he may have some useful information about who caused the explosion. Following the impressions she picks up from a horse statue in Sam's office, she and Kevin continue to Currituck Beach, where they find an abandoned Segway in the bushes. As Dae grasps its handle, she feels intense fear and the sense of someone running. Now she believes Sam's in trouble and the same person that killed Max is threatening Sam.
Dae can't shake the feeling that the museum explosion, Max's death and Sam's disappearance are all linked to a rumored stash of old gold coins. Only when she can control her intense reactions to her visions is she able to uncover the museum's secrets, the gold connection and the real identify of the murderer.
This is a strong sequel to last year's A Timely Vision and includes some familiar faces. Dae's grandfather Gramps, a charter boat captain and a former sheriff of Duck, is a larger-than-life character who provides home, family and community stability for Dae. Kevin Brickman is an ex-FBI agent and the owner of the Blue Whale Inn. He becomes Dae's sounding-board and love interest, and he helps her come to terms with her new psychic ability. Dae's good friends and business neighbors, Trudy Devereaux and Shayla Lily, are three-dimensional, fun characters with distinctive personalities, histories and fashion style, and both provide a little comic relief.
So if you're looking for another book to read by the pool or on the beach this Summer, spend a little time in Duck, NC with Dae and her friends. You're sure to enjoy your time there.
* The next book in the series, A Spirited Gift, will be released in December 2011.
PROTAGONIST: A psychically gifted & single 36-year-old female mayor of Duck, NC and owner of Missing Pieces store
ACTION: Locked in the cabin of a boat, swimming in the cold Atlantic Ocean, car crashes, rescues
LOVE INTERESTS: Ex-FBI agent turned innkeeper
ROMANCE: Lots of kisses and hugs
QUIRKINESS: Dae's psychic abilities - touches a person's hands and finds their lost items, and sees and feels the history of an item upon contact
COLLOQUIALISMS: Local and regional sayings
INTERESTING TIDBITS: Pirating history of Outer Banks, scavaging methods of Duck ancestors, facts about the Outer Bank's wild horses
FUN FACTOR: Lighthearted with some comic relief throughout
IF YOU LIKE THIS, YOU MAY LIKE: Books by the Bay Mysteries by Ellery Adams, Haunted Guesthouse Mysteries by E.J. Copperman, Port Chatham Mysteries by P.J. Alderman, and Renaissance Faire Mysteries by Joyce and Jim Lavene