A Fortune Teller Mystery, by Kari Lee Townsend, Berkley Prime Crime, August 2011
Sunny Meadows has always been a little different. The only child of a high-powered Manhattan attorney and a world-renowned cardiologist, she shies away from their high society lifestyle where appearance is everything. Sunny likes shopping at secondhand stores, drives a used, slightly-rusted VW Bug and prefers hot chocolate to espresso. Her desire to move away from the Big Apple and support herself as a psychic in upstate New York is just one more failing in her parents' eyes. But Sunny wants to do things her own way and be accepted for who she is. She buys a house with her trust fund money in the little town of Divinity, and despite her parents' protests, she packs up and happily says goodbye to her childhood home.
The minute Sunny steps into her new house, she finally feels welcome and at peace. Rumored to be haunted, the neglected Victorian has been vacant for years and shunned by the community. Sunny senses the house knows how it feels to be unwanted and misunderstood and that they'll be a perfect fit.
Sunny's only spent one week in her house and is whittling down her to-do list, when her first customer barges through the front door. Amanda Robbins is frantic and begs Sunny to read her future. While her client drinks tea and prepares her cup for a reading, a strong feeling of doom overwhelms Sunny. The position of the residual tea leaves and her accompanying vision indicate Amanda only has a short time to live. Interpreting the tea leaves isn't always easy for Sunny, but her visions and the psychic signs are never wrong. So after Amanda leaves, Sunny calls the police to warn them about the upcoming murder. Her report comes too late to help Amanda, and the police are suspicious about her knowledge of the crime. And if that's not a big enough problem, someone's trying to set her up as Amanda's killer. Now it's up to Sunny to prove her innocence and find the real murderer before she ends up convicted of the crime.
This is the first of what promises to be a delightful new paranormal mystery series by Ms. Townsend. With a cozy attitude and lighthearted dialogue, the author has created a likable protagonist with a lot of spunk. A few sleuthing situations may seem a little far-fetched, but they're fun to read and blend well with the overall tone of the story. The main characters, including the haunted Victorian house and its resident feline, have their own complex histories, and Sunny's potential romantic leads are both good looking and total opposites.
Whether you like paranormal or cozy mysteries, you're sure to love Tempest in the Tea Leaves. Include this book in your future readings, and you'll see why.
* The next book in the series, Corpse in the Crystal Ball, comes out in June 2012.
PROTAGONIST: Single, 29-year-old, Tinkerbell-ish psychic
CRITTERS: Morty - a large, almost-glowing white cat with black eyes and unusual abilities
ACTION: Car crashes on snowy roads, karaoke sleuthing, tackling a bad guy
LOVE INTERESTS: Possible future with a grumpy, good-looking detective or a lively, Irish-accented bartender
ROMANCE: Heavy-duty kissing frenzy, vision of heavy-duty kissing frenzy
QUIRKINESS: Non-eating, non-sleeping, big, white, hissing cat; tempermental house; forgetful ex-librarian
INTERESTING TIDBITS: Digoxin details, how dementia affects families, how to position cups to read tea leaves
FUN FACTOR: Lighthearted, fun situations, witty dialogue, some slapstick moments
IF YOU LIKE THIS, YOU MAY LIKE: Haunted Guesthouse Mysteries by E.J. Copperman, Missing Pieces Mysteries by Joyce and Jim Lavene, Witchcraft Mysteries by Juliet Blackwell, Haunted Home Renovation Mysteries by Juliet Blackwell