Paranormal Cozy: A Run For the Mystic, by Ada Bell

 I'm delighted to review another installment in the ever-enjoyable Shady Grove mysteries.

 

 

Title: A Run for the Mystic: Shaky Grove Mysteries Book 8

Author: Ada Bell

Publication info: Empress Books, 2024. 212 pages.

Publisher's Blurb:

Aly's racing to find a killer...

When Aly’s boyfriend Cal gets her spur-of-the-moment tickets to watch his cousin ride at the local track, it’s off to the races! She’s forced to rein in the excitement after one of the jockeys is murdered. Once the dust settles, the local police turn their attention to Cal’s cousin, and Aly gets saddled with the task of finding the real killer.

Cal doesn’t believe his favorite relative would hurt anyone, but Jacob entered the race under suspicious circumstances. Cal begs Aly to use her physic powers to clear Jacob’s name. Unfortunately, one obstacle after another slows her down: Heightened security at the track makes it difficult to get close enough to the evidence to induce a vision. No one will speak to the outsider. Racing is a billion dollar business, and powerful people don’t appreciate her poking into their secrets. Can she find the truth before she gets dragged over the finish line of life?

A Run for the Mystic is the eighth book in the Shady Grove Psychic Mysteries series. This small town paranormal mystery with an amateur female sleuth will appeal to fans of Annabel Chase, Amy Boyles, and Lily Webb.

My Review:
First, I have to note that I participate with the author in an on-line writers' group and have read and commented on an earlier draft of this book. I have done my best to give an honest review.

I love the Shady Grove mysteries, and this is another great entry in the series. Ada Bell has managed to ease me along to a willing suspension of disbelief about the paranormal aspects of the stories, and the characters and plotting are marvelous.

In this book, Aly's struggle to gain more control (and understanding--she's a scientist, after all) of her powers is motivated by a cold case she's been asked to research, but her new insights are soon called into use in a murder that comes closer to home. That cold case, admittedly somewhat to my dismay, is left as a thread that will be on-going for several books, but the murder at the race track is immediate and urgent, and that story is brought to a masterful conclusion.

A careful evaluation of the clues *might* lead a sharp reader to the solution, but I found it unexpected. The killer dissembles very well. Too well to believe? There might be more thespian skill there than I would expect--the killer is certainly a better liar than Aly is!--but I enjoyed the process in any case. I also appreciated Aly's demonstrated self-reliance and guts.

I'm still catching up with the early books in the series, having started in the middle, but am enjoying watching Aly mature both as a person and as a seer. It's a fun series and easy to just keep going.

My Recommendation:
If you are capable of a willing suspension of disbelief, and enjoy reading about a capable young woman who is nonetheless not over-confident, you'll like this book and this series.



FTC Disclosure: I received an ARC of this book from the author, and received nothing further from the writer or publisher for my honest review.  The opinions expressed are my own and those of no one else.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."  



©Rebecca M. Douglass, 2024   
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