Victoria Laurie, A Glimpse of Evil

A Glimpse of Evil

Victoria Laurie

Obsidian, Jul 6 2010, $7.99

ISBN: 9780451230850

With the downturn in the economy, psychic Abby Cooper is losing much of her client base to the point where she cannot earn a decent living. Her live-in lover is offered a job as Assistant Agent in Charge in Austin in a separate building with agents working cold cases. Dutch's boss Brice Harrison is impressed with Abby's precognitive skills, he offers her work as a "civilian intuitive profiler"; the Feds do not employ psychics.

They accept the positions and head to Austin where on her first day Abby applies her psychic talent, which enables the unit to solve a few cold cases in under a week. She accompanies Agent Rodriguez on a field inquiry into a car used to transport kidnapped children. They locate the vehicle and talk with the tow truck operator, but instead meet his son; he shoots Rodriguez forcing Abby to shoot him before he kills them. Internal Affairs investigates the shootings with Rodriguez and Cooper on suspension with pay. Abby continues to look at the missing children's case that she ties to the deaths of three seemingly unrelated men who are dead, but though she tries she is unable to connect the dots that would complete the puzzle.

The "Psychic Eye Mysteries" are always a treat for paranormal urban whodunit fans. The key to this terrific series is that Victoria Laurie does not try to sell to her fans her star's skills, but instead deftly interweaves them into the story line as a powerful device that supports a much more rounded individual and plot; thus they could exist as they seem "normal" in this person and setting. Obviously Dutch and Abby are in love, but their romantic subplot provides relief, often amusing, from the seriousness of the investigations. With a strong cleverly constructed mystery, readers watch a somewhat frustrated Abby work on her own time because someone else is about to be killed.

Harriet Klausner