Monday, November 24, 2014

Abracadaver-Laura Resnick

Abracadaver
Laura Resnick
DAW, Nov 25 2014, $7.99
ISBN: 9780756409784

In Manhattan, film director Ted Yee shut down his project after his mother’s antics and much worse his sister used cursed fortune cookies attempting to murder those involved in the movie (see The Misfortunate Cookie).  Two backers including Chinatown mobster Capuzzo died while a family friend John Chen, whose family owns a Chinese-Italian mortuary, fortunately survived; the Yee & Sons Trading Company store did not as it was destroyed by a fire.  Actress Esther Diamond is out of work with the filming ended and her sometimes boyfriend NYPD Detective Connor Lopez is fuming for her breaking into his department car to destroy a fortune cookie.

However, the popular TV crime show The Dirty Thirty hires Esther to return as prostitute Jilly C-Note; which is another reason for Connor to rage at her as the drama depicts police corruption and worse.  Strike three with Connor occurs when Esther persuades her superego star to ride with Lopez and his partner Quinn. 

Esther is stunned when her three century and a half old sorcerer friend Max Zadok’s dog Nelli growls at Quinn.  John informs Esther, Max and their associate semi-retired Gambello family hit man Lucky Battistuzzi that soon after a visit by Quinn, Capuzzo left his coffin and walked a few feet before collapsing.  Esther and associates seek evidence that Quinn is a mystically dirty cop.

The seventh Esther Diamond lighthearted (except for the Yee family) urban fantasy (see Vamparazzi and Doppelgangster) is an enjoyable paranormal investigation that leads to strike four with Lopez and strike out forever with his mom.  Though it behooves the audience to read the previous entry The Misfortunate Cookie; it is unnecessary as Laura Resnick deftly weaves the key points into this entertaining tale. 


Harriet Klausner

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