I received this book for free from my own shelves in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Source: my own shelves
Blink of an Eye
by
Alyssa Day
cozy mystery, paranormal fantasy in a Kindle edition that was published by Holliday Publishing LLC on June 30, 2021 and has 234 pages.
Explore it on Goodreads
Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Wild Thing, Atlantis Rising, Atlantis Unleashed, Atlantis Awakening, Atlantis Unmasked, Atlantis Redeemed, Atlantis Betrayed, Vampire in Atlantis, Heart of Atlantis, Dead Eye, "Travelling Eye", Private Eye, Evil Eye, Eye of Danger, Eye of the Storm, Eye on the Ball, Apple of My Eye, A Dead End Thanksgiving Disaster, “William's Witch”
Seventh in the Tiger’s Eye Mystery cozy paranormal mystery series and revolving around Tess Callahan. The focus is on a missing persons case some 50 years back.
My Take
Blink of an Eye takes you back to the 1970s and hippies. A time of secrets that carry over to today. And doesn’t that just tick Tess off that her own family is keeping secrets from her!
Oh, lol, an angry potential customer gets the verbal clue to calm down and his daughter wants Jack to move in with them. Then the music box shows up. Its actions will be enough to make you laugh. And Jack knows how to shut it up, rofl. He’s also comfortable with teasing Uncle Mike: “Can I call you Dad?”
That Tess. She’s a sweet woman with her own business, yet compassion is more important than profit. How can you not love a woman like this! Of course, she’s still naive, as revealed by Jack’s shower comment, *grin*.
”. . . any rare moment of beauty is valuable and worth taking.”
Oooh, friction. Aunt Ruby is avoiding Tess. And Tess is making the mistake every younger generation has made. Us older folks lived pretty wild when we were younger.
The shocks, laughs, and thoughts are all from first person protagonist point-of-view from Tess’ perspective, so everything we know is from what Tess experiences.
There are bits where Day catches us up on what’s happened to people, like Ann Feeney, the family that had wanted to adopt Shelley, and today’s experience with shaky psychics. We also get some back history on Uncle Mike and Aunt Ruby vis-a-vis their relationship with Lorraine and Earl, and how Eleanor fits in.
The real story is everyone trying to protect everyone else and not telling anyone what they’d been up to. A lotta years of fear and grief could’ve been saved if they’d just spoken up.
Okay, that Phaedra needs to calm TF down!
Phaedra: “. . . will not drown you in a ditch in the future.”
It’s a complicated mess with all sorts of contrary actions that no one confesses to . . . until now.
Theres a short story at the end of Blink of an Eye, “Travelling Eye“.
The Story
It’s murder, and Lorraine is arrested for a decades-old crime. But, but, Beau says he ran Earl out of town??
It’s shocking how many people killed this guy.
The Characters
Tess Callahan only has to touch someone to know how they’ll die, and she’s now the owner of Dead End Pawn that she inherited from Jack’s uncle Jeremiah Shepherd. Fluffy is the taxidermied alligator mascot. Lou (named for Lieutenant Uhura) is the cat she rescued. Aunt Ruth (she’s the mayor of Dead End) and Uncle Mike Callahan, a retired engineer, are the couple with a farm who raised Tess, and now they’re raising Shelley (Dead Eye, 1). Bonnie Sue is the Callahans’ horse. Bonnie Jolene has been Bonnie Sue’s mother.
Jack Shepherd, a Bengal tiger shifter, had been a rebel commander back in the day and who returned in life in Heart of Atlantis, 8. Today he runs Tiger’s Eye Investigations.
Molly has been Tess’ best friend since kindergarten and is now a singer with Scarlett’s Letters. Evie is a persistent fan, who has a cursed music box to sell. The Golden Years Swamp Tours bus (GYST) regularly stops at Dead End Pawn.
Dead End, Florida, is . . .
. . . the small town where Tess lives and where most state and federal laws don’t apply, that is also friendly to supernaturals. And where “gossip is more valuable than gold”.
Sheriff Susan Gonzalez is a friend. Andy Kelly is one of her deputies. Special Agent Alejandro Vasquez is with the Paranormal Operations Division of the FBI and friends with Tess and Jack. Alejandro is married to Rose of the Cardinal Witches’ family. Dr Rachel Booker is a shaky psychic.
Carlos Gonzalez, Tess’ vampire neighbor, is Susan’s brother.
Eleanor Wolf, a friend of Tess’, works part-time for Tess, and is dating Bill Oliver. Win is Bill’s niece (Apple of My Eye). Dave Wolf is Eleanor’s gay son and Jack’s best friend in high school; Zane is his adopted son. Mitch Wolf had been Eleanor’s first husband.
Lorraine, Aunt Ruby’s best friend and a former mayor, had been married to the abusive Earl Packard, who owed money to Mark, Josephine, Emeril, Frank McKee (he’d been Bubba McKee’s great-grandfather), and Beau. Today, Lorraine waitresses at Beau’s, the only sit-down diner in Dead End. Monica, a waitress at Beau’s, has an Aunt Beatrix who is a germaphobe. Bubbles McHotpants, a stripper, had been Earl’s first wife. Frank Jr now runs the drive-in movies.
Granny Josephine, a.k.a. Josie, a gambler back in the day who had dated Emeril. Emeril and Harold Peterson, brothers, own Dead End Hardware.
Nigel, an ogre, is now a dance instructor with the Dead End Dance Studio. (His parent clans are the Stone and Mountain clans.) Phaedra “Erin” Stein is a Naiad, a scary freshwater nymph. And she’s not a nice one!
Lauren’s Deli. Missy and Trina (Miss Arizona Ruhaima is Trina’s great-great-grandma) are Shelley’s friends. The elderly Mrs Frost may be tiny, but she’s mighty with her crossbow. Larry owns Dead End Towing. Marvin, a vampire, drives the blood bank bus. Jimmy and Tina are shoplifters. Ethel needs to have her Depends annoyed off. Pastor Nash.
Dallas Fox (Austin is his twin brother and both are ex-Special Forces/Army rangers) is dating Mellie, who is a friend who owns Mellie’s Bakery. The Fox brothers are both computer geniuses and hold an ownership in the Swamp Commando Airboat Rides along with Lucky who’s dating Molly.
Rhys na Garanwyn is Fae. The Swamp Cabbage Festival took place in Apple of My Eye, 6. Vampire Victims’ Care Association assists victims of vampire violence. Ann Feeney lost a finger back in Apple of My Eye, 6. Vern is Mellie’s cousin (Apple of My Eye). The Doltar (Eye of Danger, 4) was given to Tess by Junior Schwarzendrieven. Jack secretly organized the Dead End Foundation for the Assistance of Women and Children in Need.
Atlanta
King Conlan will be stopping by for a barbecue (Atlantis Rising, 1).
The Cover and Title
The cover is a jungle graphic in greens and sand tones with great trees lining a winding path following the banks of the blue-water swamp with Jack (in his tiger form) walking alongside the red-haired Tess wearing a royal blue tank top and blue jeans. They’re coming up on a green alligator with a skull clamped in his jaws. At the very top is an info blurb in white with the author’s name below it in periwinkle. Just below the alligator is the title in white with the series info below it in yellow.
I suspect the title refers to that Blink of an Eye when everyone confesses.
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