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Evil Eye
by
Alyssa Day
It is part of the Tiger's Eye Mystery #3 series and is a paranormal fantasy, cozy mystery in a Kindle edition that was published by Holliday Publishing LLC on March 28, 2019 and has 129 pages.
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Other books in this series include [books_series]
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, Eye of the Storm
Third in the Tiger’s Eye Mystery cozy paranormal mystery series and revolving around Tess Callahan and Jack Shepherd. The story is based in Florida.
My Take
There’s greed and then there’s GREED. That Shelley has quite the entrepreneurial soul, lol. It never hurts to capitalize with this sort of friendly greed. On the other hand, there’s an evil kind of greed that won’t stop at anything.
Day is using first person protagonist point-of-view from Tess’ perspective. Since she’s at the center of most of the action, it does make sense.
Dead End is a small town with plenty of characters, most are even supportive of each other. Tess certainly has a lot of friends in many walks of life (or death).
Jack brings his own conflicts, although they are fairly minor. Even though he is originally from Dead End, some of the townsfolk have their suspicions. He certainly does not like the Fae. They have a bad attitude about shifters. And it turns out that “Tommy” is “one of the most cutthroat, bloodthirsty Fae of the High Court”.
If you need a good laugh (or twenty), you’ll love this cozy paranormal mystery.
The Story
Tess is barely over the last dead bodies on her doorstep when her new private investigator neighbor asks for her help again.
It’s buried treasure that’s found, arghh, and the greed comes out to kill.
The Characters
Tess Callahan owns a pawn shop in the strangest town in Florida. The cat Tess rescued was named for Lieutenant Uhura, a.k.a. Lou. Tess has a gift; she can sometimes see how a person is going to die. She now owns and runs Dead End Pawn with her secret weapon, Eleanor Wolf, as a part-time employee.
Shelley is Tess’ “new” sister, adopted by Uncle Mike and Aunt Ruby, the relatives who raised Tess. Tess’ maternal grandmother is a banshee (Private Eye, 2).
Jack Shepherd, a tiger shapeshifter and former rebel leader from Day’s Warriors of Poseidon series, has returned to Dead End and opened a private detective office, Tiger’s Eye Investigations. His late uncle Jeremiah had left his pawn shop to Jack and Tess.
Dead End, Florida, is . . .
. . . “even ghosts get jaywalking tickets”. It is, however, a safe place for all supernaturals, especially with the special charter that predates the founding of the US. Mellie runs the bakery. Mrs Meriwether’s Coca-Cola cake is a treasure. Mr Arroyo, a vampire, has a plumbing business. Beau’s Diner is the only eat-in restaurant in town. It’s also gossip central. Former mayor, Lorraine, has waitressed at Beau’s for about 50 years. Dave Wolf, Eleanor’s son and Jack’s childhood best friend, built the attached office for Jack’s new business. Molly Chen is Tess’ best friend and has a band, Scarlett’s Letters. Tess reckons it’s a good thing that Molly’s parents are lawyers. Veronica Dunstan-Smythe, a.k.a. Dice, is her anger-issued bass player. Melinda Mako is the queen of cutthroat defense lawyers.
Sheriff Susan Gonzalez is a friend of Tess’. Andrew Kelly is her chief deputy. The disgusting Doc Ike is the only physician in town and the town coroner.
The Swamp Commandos are . . .
. . . ex-military from various Special Forces team who have grouped together in the swamp. The boys have recently opened an airboat rides company — they’ve named it Swamp Commando Airboat Rides. They’ve already turned a profit. One of them, Lucky Tremaine, wants to ask Molly out. Dallas and Austin Fox are twins and former Army Rangers who are seriously good with computers. The Darken is a dark web for magic users.
John Luke Arnold (he’s been dating Dice) and his brother, Peter, own a gator farm, Happy Time Gator Town.
Tommy Turner, a.k.a. Tomas Turaoin who is a High Court Fae via Ireland, of Tommy’s Traveling Treasure Trackers is in town. Elaine, a.k.a. Ela’han, is the producer of his show and a witch. Her six leprechauns are captive to her demands. The Fae High Council shows up.
Pierre Arneaux is a ghost protecting his buried treasure; in life, he’d been a privateer for King Louis XIV. Dr Linda Parrish is an expert on Spanish doubloons.
Matthew is one of the tourists visiting Dead End Pawn. Yasmine had sold the bowl to Tess. It was in 1995 that the world found out about shifters, vampires, and the Fae. Felix had been the local toymaker (Private Eye). Oskar had been his son. Sheriff Lawless is the former sheriff (Dead Eye, 1).
The Cover and Title
The cover is nighttime dark with a deep purple blue sky and a full moon bracketed by the silhouette of a tree that is part of a black silhouette in the background. The ground is a hilly yellow green with a vague tree trunk on the left, a lily-pad surfaced pond in the front with green vines and plants on its far edge. In the center of this cartoon graphic the blond Lucky, in black leather and holding a long-handled shovel, and the red-haired Tess are crouched over a pirate chest — skull included. Behind Tess is Jack in his tiger form. At the very top is an info blurb in white with the author’s name immediately below it in a light violet. The title is under the chest in a white, stressed font. Below that, in yellow, is the series info.
The title could refer to the greed, the Evil Eye cast upon that pirate treasure.
