Laura Resnick, Disappearing Nightly

Disappearing Nightly

Laura Resnick

Luna, Dec, 2005, $13.99, 400 pp.

ISBN 0373802331

Actress Esther Diamond knows she should have had the lead of Venus in the play Sorcerers instead of Golly Gee, but while she is the current understudy, she hopes that Golly will get sick and she will have the chance to play the part. During the latest performance, Golly steps into an ordinary crystal cage, and when the illusion is supposed to be finished she is nowhere to be found. Esther anticipates going on stage as Venus the next day, but she gets a letter warning her not to go in the crystal cage because "Evil is on the Loose."

She reports the note to Connor, a detective who thinks it is just a prank. In Esther's dressing room Maximilian Zadok materializes and tells her that another female disappeared while performing the same magic, and tells her that he sent the note to save her because he is a mage who belongs to the Magnum Collegium, an organization that fight evil. Other women in the same situation also disappear, and once Esther believes him, she decides to help him find what happened to the missing women, who is behind it and why.

The sparks fly between the detective and the actress, but he refused to give in to his feelings because he believes she is a fruitcake and a suspect. Combining elements from the romance, fantasy and mystery genres, DISAPPEARING NIGHTLY is an enchanting novel that will appeal to readers of all three genres. The mystery is well constructed, leaving readers trying to figure out who is behind the disappearances. The heroine is at times funny and determined, but always charming and believable.