Flight Risk by Cherie Priest

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

Leda Foley is a psychic who moonlights as a travel agent—or maybe it’s the other way around.  Her one-woman travel agency has been getting more bookings after the publicity from when she helped Detective Grady Merritt solve a murder case using her abilities.  She’s since been trying to hone her skills by appearing at a local bar doing what she likes to call “klairvoyant karaoke” but the bar’s owner prefers to bill her as the “psychic psongstress.” Leda asks the audience for objects to touch and then, based on the visions she gets, sings an appropriate song. It’s really helping her to learn to focus, which is good because she’s just gotten a new case involving a missing person.  Dan is  searching for his sister who disappeared some weeks before—just after taking a cash deposit of $30,000 that belonged to her company.  Things weren’t great at home for Robin; in fact, her husband never even reported her missing. 

Meanwhile, Grady is on a search of his own.  His big yellow mutt, Cairo, has gone missing at Mount Rainier and Grady’s daughter Molly is distraught. Just when Grady is afraid they’re going to have to give up, a commotion draws his attention.  It turns out there is good news and bad news.  The good news is that Cairo has been found.  The bad news is that he is happily carrying around a decomposing human leg. 

It soon appears that Grady’s case and Leda’s may be linked, so they join forces once again.

I enjoyed the first in the series but this one was even better.  I was fascinated by the mysteries, was charmed the characters, and laughed out loud several times.  One of the things I like is that there’s no hint of romance between Grady and Leda.  If anything, Leda is a bit like Grady’s daughter Molly, albeit slightly older. Molly may outgrow her impulsive phase; I don’t think Leda will, but that’s okay. Grady is one of the most patient people in the world and an exemplary father as well as a good person.

You don’t need to have read the first book to enjoy this one.   I don’t see that there is a third one in the works at the moment which makes me sad. 

Cherie Priest writes in several different genres, including horror, and has several YA novels to her credit as well as adult.

Grave Reservations by Cherie Priest

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

Detective Grady Merritt is, well, NOT happy.  He was scheduled to be back in Seattle in time for dinner, but now for some inexplicable reason, his travel agent—one Leda Foley of Foley’s Far Fetched Flights of Fancy—has changed his reservation to take him to Atlanta, change planes, and not get back until late at night.  He’s on the phone, demanding an explanation, and the only one he gets is that she had a feeling that she should change his flight. She also points out that he was already late getting to the gate—something she should have had no way of knowing—and assures him that this is all for the best.  Merritt doesn’t believe her.

Not until he looks out the windows and sees the plane he just missed burst into flames.

A couple of days later, Leda is somewhat taken aback to find Merritt in her office, wanting to hire her. Not as a travel agent, but as a psychic.  The detective has a cold case homicide he’s been working and he is stymied. He knows he can’t use her insights in a court of law, but he is hoping she can give him any clue as to where to concentrate his investigation. He’s paying her out of his own pocket because he doesn’t want any word to get out that he’s reduced to paranormal means but that fiery plane was a pretty darn good recommendation.

Leda is reluctant because, truth be told, her psychic abilities are not always reliable; in fact, they are pretty darn unreliable.  She’s actually trying to hone her skills at a local bar where she touches objects belonging to customers and then sings whatever song she feels.  Judging from the reactions, her results are getting better, and the bar owner wants to bill her as the “Psychic Psongstress.” (She prefers “Klairvoyant Karaoke,” but hey—free drinks.)

But Leda has an agenda of her own, and she’s going to take a chance that working with Merritt will help her on her quest.  Now all they have to do is find a killer.

I was drawn into this book immediately.  It’s got entertaining characters, humor, a plot, and a believable touch of psychic phenomena.  Priest avoids most of the expected clichés, and has fun with the rest.  Leda and her best friend Niki make quite the team, and Grady’s backstory as a widower with a teenage daughter humanizes him. I especially enjoyed some of the descriptions of a library:  “But this (library) was the granddaddy of them all—eleven geometrically styled stories of pure, weapons-grade knowledge.”

Priest is a veteran author, having written in several genres, including horror, steampunk, and YA.  I am definitely going to read more by this author. Most exciting is that there will be another book with Leda, Merritt, and company coming out in November.  I already have my reserve card filled out!