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Private Eye
by
Alyssa Day
cozy mystery, paranormal fantasy in a Kindle edition on February 27, 2017 and has 194 pages.
Explore it on Goodreads or Amazon
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", Evil Eye, Eye of the Storm
Second in the Tiger’s Eye Mystery paranormal mystery series and revolving around Tess Callahan, a half-banshee pawn shop owner, and Jack Shepherd, tiger shifter, ex-rebel commander, and private eye. The focus is on the kidnapping of banshees.
My Take
Sad to say, marital abuse exists everywhere, even in a paranormal marriage.
Day uses first person protagonist point-of-view from Tess’ perspective, which provides us with her thoughts, emotions, and view of events. She’s certainly a different sort of protagonist, so warm and friendly, with the events taking place with a pawn shop as action central.
I am enjoying this series with its town that welcomes supernaturals, for its homeyness, and mostly supportive characters. I mean, how many characters do you know who admit to wearing Donald Duck pajamas?
Read this if you’re looking for a cozy mystery and could use a few laughs.
The Story
Someone is abducting banshees and Tess’ newly revealed banshee grandmother wants Tess’ help. Well, actually she wants Jack’s, which ticks Tess off.
The Characters
Tess Callahan, who sees a person’s death if they touch her and has a penchant for Donald Duck PJs, has inherited Jeremiah Shepherd’s pawn shop in Dead End. Lou is the cat she rescued. She’s also inherited Jack Shepherd. Her paternal Uncle Mike and Aunt Ruby Callahan raised Tess. Shelley is a newly adopted sister (Dead Eye, 1). Bonnie Jo is their sweet ancient horse.
Leona Carstairs, Tess’ newly re-met maternal grandmother, is a banshee. She’s also president of the North American Organization for Banshee Rights (NABR). Trey, her grandfather, had been a vicious brute. Kate had been Tess’ mother. Ned Pendergast is Leona’s boyfriend — and one of the rare male banshees. Brenda Norris and Perrin Jones are also banshees.
Jack Shepherd is Jeremiah’s nephew. He’s also a tiger shifter who retired from being a rebel commander in Day’s Warriors of Poseidon series. Now he’s opening Tiger’s Eye Investigations next door to Dead End Pawn. The Atlanteans consider Jack a valued friend.
Dead End, Florida, is . . .
. . . outside the governance of Florida and the US. Martha, Ruby’s friend, had hip surgery. Susan Gonzalez is the new sheriff (Dead Eye). The red-haired Deputy Andrew Kelly. The mean and ancient Doc Ike is the only doctor and the county coroner.
Molly is Tess’ best friend since kindergarten. She’s currently touring with her band, Scarlett’s Letters. Dice is her stress-causing drummer. Dave, Eleanor’s son, has a construction business and is a friend of Tess’ as well as Jack’s best friend. Beau’s Diner is the only eat-in restaurant and is gossip central. Lorraine has been a waitress there for the past 50 years; she’s also a former mayor. Owen, a dentist, is Tess’ ex-boyfriend. Rooster Jenkins, a mostly retired smuggler, wanted to pawn his goat, a genuine American LaMancha. The ancient Mr and Mrs Quindlen don’t have matching guns. Bubba McKee has a pet boa constrictor.
Dead End Pawn is . . .
. . . half Tess’ and newly painted a cheerful yellow with bright teal shutters. It has a mascot, Fluffy, a taxidermied alligator. Jeremiah Shepherd perished in Dead Eye. Eleanor Wolf is her only employee and the best negotiator.
The Swamp Commandos are . . .
. . . a group of ex-military, most of whom suffer from PTSD, who now live out in the swamp. Lucky and Dallas and Austin Fox, computer geniuses, are some of the men. Louise Fox is their sister.
The hot Special Agent Alejandro Vasquez is with P-Ops, the FBI’s Paranormal Operations division (Dead Eye) and had fought on the side of the Atlanteans. He’s also married to Rose, a garden witch.
The Golden Years Swamp Tours (GYST) brings a busload of tourists to Tess’ shop a few times a week. Mr Holby is the bus driver. Felix Wildenhammer, a forest Fae, creates the magical toys. Oskar is Felix’s son. Oglethorpe wants to buy one of his trains. The Darken is a hidden Internet for magic users. Annabelle Hannah Yorgenson was the first person whose death Tess foresaw.
The scraggly Chet DeKalb was pestering Brenda. Everett is Trey’s evil, illegitimate son (who thinks Leona cheated him of his inheritance) who’s trying to be a movie star. Thug One and Thug Two are also known as “Bob” and “Joe”.
Quinn Dawson had been a fellow rebel commander with Jack. She’s now married to Alaric (Heart of Atlantis, 8). Queen Riley is Quinn’s sister (Atlantis Rising, 1).
The Cover and Title
The cover is a casual graphic of the red-haired Tess in a teal tank top and black jeans (wearing black heels??) sitting on the gray porch steps of the yellow Dead End Pawn shop with its teal shutters. It’s a smug Jack in his tiger form lying on the porch behind her. At the very top is an info blurb in white. The author’s name is in a shadowed blue. On the left is a burgundy sign with pale gray lettering announcing it’s Dead End. At the bottom, in a white distressed font, is the title with the series info below it in yellow.
The title is Jack’s debut as a Private Eye.
