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Caught Dead Handed (2014)

by Carol J. Perry(Favorite Author)

3.97 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

1617733695 (ISBN13: 9781617733697)

languge

English

genre

Paranormal Fantasy

publisher

Kensington

series

Witch City

review 1: I really liked this book BUT there were two glaring issues that nagged at me through most of it. Number 1....I do not like how the author left the main characters paranormal abilities so open ended. We dont get a good glimpse of the how or why. Hopefully that will be a topic further explored later on which is perfectly fine. The second issue is the main 1 that bothers me. The killer and the how became very obvious before I was halfway through. The main character is presented as intelligent and stumbles upon clue after clue BUT never puts things together. She does not really solve the mystery. She doesn't realize how things fit together until its spelled out for her and hardly notices when she learns something of importance which made her seem not so smart to me. This book... more wasted a lot of time and could have been shorter instead of dragging things on.
review 2: Okay. So I happen to be a huge fan of mysteries. Especially mysteries that boast paranormal involvement. Who doesn't love witches who solve crimes, I mean seriously. Ok, so Lee isn't exactly a witch, but she is psychic (something she is loath to admit), and she does hail from Salem Massachusetts home to some infamous witchery. Don't get me wrong, there are definitely legit spell casters messing with Lee's life, including the poor Ariel Constellation who Lee finds floating in the ocean outside of the TV station.For the most part this was a pretty fun and cozy little read! It was rather longer than your standard mystery book (over 400 pages), and ended up being a bit predictable towards the end but it was still well worth the time.Lee is your run-of-the-mill girl with ambition, trying to make her way in the world of journalism without having to take on too many humiliating starter jobs. As far as humiliating jobs go, I guess being a pretend TV psychic for a late-night program isn't too bad, especially if you're popular!It feels a bit uncouth to mention scrummy love interests when we're talking about a murder mystery, but there are at least two. Personally, I'm rooting for the detective who, I have a sneaking suspicion, resembles Jensen Ackles. (Ok, so most of the detective types I read in novels resemble Jensen Ackles. Why is this a surprise?)I did find the paranormal bits to be a bit underwhelming. Lee spends so much of the book fighting her gift, and the witches of Salem are portrayed as mostly-cookie and only slightly legitimate. A lot of what we see of Lee is pretty superficial and even by the end of this 400 page wonder, I still feel like I don't know her very well.Huge upside? Lee's aunt, who raised her, is a REFERENCE LIBRARIAN. Basically she knows everything and has a book on almost every topic. Super librarian to the rescue! Basically auntie is the sidekick that our heroine Lee couldn't function without!This is definitely not an "Embrace who you are" story, though I expect that will probably change as the next books in the series are released. Lots of characters are introduced that I hope we get a chance to find out more about, and the romance was just floppy-abouty enough that we're STILL not sure by the end who's the most likely candidate, perfectly fine as long as there are more books!A warm, laid back read that I definitely recommend for witchy mystery lovers. less

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