Victoria Laurie, Abby Cooper: Psychic Eye

Signet Mystery (Paperback), ISBN 0-451-21363-74

Abby Cooper makes a decent living as a psychic doing readings for various clients. Though not rich, she manages to get by and slowly remodel her home. Her love life needs a little help, though, so she signs up for an online dating service. Through it, she meets Dutch. They hit it off fairly well, but she feels she spooks him after they discuss her career and a breaking news story. Her intuition tells her that the missing four-year-old boy died a few days ago and that the heartbroken, sobbing mother knows what happened. Oh, by the way, Abby doesn't like cops very much because they all dismiss her instantly as a flake.

In a few days, Abby finds out Dutch's profession -- a detective, of course -- after he shows up on her doorstep with his partner, wanting to know how she knew all the accurate details of the little boy's death. She manages to convince them of her non-involvement, but her budding relationship with Dutch appears kaput as they can't seem to handle each other's occupation. However, Abby winds up in the middle of an investigation after the murder of one of her clients, since it looks like the murderer now may be after Abby.

Victoria Laurie's background as a professional psychic shines through in her characterization of Abby. Abby stays grounded in the real world -- most of the time. Her intuitive flashes don't seem too woo-woo mystical or too off the wall. Occasionally her common sense takes a vacation, but everyone's does sometime or another. Dutch's struggle to understand and accept her abilities comes across as very true to life as well. The mystery features plenty of depth, though I figured out the details of the real killer fairly quickly. Still, Abby Cooper: Psychic Eye made for an entertaining and suspenseful read.

Jen Foote

Jen Foote recently moved to central Florida, where she is a copy editor and page designer at a small daily newspaper. She is ecstatic to live an hour away from the ocean.

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