REVIEW:

Did I have reservations about reading this mystery? Yes I did.

Did I need to? No I did not.

Grave Reservations is the debut book in a new contemporary-cozy mystery (concozery???) series by Cherie Priest, an author previously known for her sci-fi and steampunk novels. The blurb compares it to Lisa Lutz’s The Spellman Files, and I would have to agree. It’s also got Finlay Donovan vibes - and dare I say - I enjoyed this more than the second Finlay book.

Readers follow a 30-something psychic travel agent from Seattle named Leda as she helps a police detective try to solve a cold murder case. She also sings Klairivoyant Karaoke at a local bar a few nights a week to try to hone her unique abilities. She’s pretty chipper and fairly funny, and I enjoyed spending time in her company. She’s got an unfiltered BFF called Niki who’s a hoot too… the Ethel to her Lucy.

I was surprised how pleasantly readable this book is, and I turned many of the pages with a smile on my face. Is everything about it believable? No. Did I appreciate that Leda and the detective (Grady) had a platonic relationship? You betcha. Will I read the next book in the series to see if it stays that way? Yes, without reservation.

My thanks to the author and Atria Books for providing an advance copy to review via NetGalley. Grave Reservations is out now!

PUBLISHER SYNOPSIS:

A psychic travel agent and a Seattle PD detective solve a murder in this quirky mystery in the vein of Lisa Lutz’s The Spellman Files and Charlaine Harris’s Aurora Teagarden series.

Meet Leda Foley: devoted friend, struggling travel agent, and inconsistent psychic. When Leda, sole proprietor of Foley's Flights of Fancy, impulsively re-books Seattle PD detective Grady Merritt’s flight, her life changes in ways she couldn’t have predicted.

After watching his original plane blow up from the safety of the airport, Grady realizes that Leda’s special abilities could help him with a cold case he just can’t crack.

Despite her scattershot premonitions, she agrees for a secret reason: her fiancé’s murder remains unsolved. Leda’s psychic abilities couldn’t help the case several years before, but she’s been honing her skills and drawing a crowd at her favorite bar’s open-mic nights, where she performs Klairvoyant Karaok — singing whatever song comes to mind when she holds people’s personal effects. Now joined by a rag-tag group of bar patrons and pals alike, Leda and Grady set out to catch a killer — and learn how the two cases that haunt them have more in common than they ever suspected.