This basic and shocking start sets up an intense yet delightfully confounding conundrum. How will Abby clear Candice's name without involving Abby's husband Dutch or Candice's new husband, Brice nor using their valuable FBI resources? If they are drawn too far in, the conflict of interest will wind up getting them fired. The twists and turns kept me on tenterhooks until the final page.

At times heart-wrenching, FATAL FORTUNE is still leavened by laughter with Abby's kooky rules for when it is ok to use profanity, and her very entertaining take on whistling in the dark. Although this is the first Psychic Eye Mystery I have read (I know!! What was I waiting for?) and despite the core of the story centering around Abby's relationship with Candice I still felt no sense of missing back-story. It would have been understandable (if disappointing) if Victoria Laurie had depended upon readers being familiar with the strong bond between Candice and Abby in the first eleven books in the series to support the logic of Abby's strong belief in Candice's innocence, but that was not at all the case. Even as a brand new reader, I felt absolutely confident in Abby's choices and decisions as related to her love for Candice and her pursuit of the truth.

I have read many a series book, particularly in the cozy mystery genre where the author did not take that care for someone just entering their world. There is nothing inherently wrong about an author assuming the most likely reader of a book so far into the line up is one who has read the previous novels, but it is a measure of Victoria Laurie's skill as an author that someone can pick up book twelve and fall in love with the characters as if it were book one.

Victoria Laurie is also the author of the Ghost Hunter Mystery series, with which I am most familiar, but I have to say I think I have been won over by Abby. FATAL FORTUNE is the best mystery book I have read yet this year. I have to agree with other reviewers, even though this is Book Twelve in the Psychic Eye Mystery series, I hope there will be several more. In the meantime, I am delighted to know I can go back and pick up books one through eleven to get my Abby fix until book thirteen comes out.

Book Summary