Rating:

Psychic (Cozy) Friends Network

Just You Wait Cover I am 100% in favor of cozy mysteries with supernatural elements. Maybe even 150%. I enjoy a good cozy, but wrap it up with a paranormal bow and you’ve got me hooked. As long as you play the rest of your cozy cards right, of course.

Just You Wait is the fourth installment in the Grace Street Mysteries by Jane Tesh. Our protagonist is private detective David Randall. Randall (as he is most often called) lives in a boarding house on – you guessed it – Grace Street. Also living in the house are newlyweds Angie and Rufus Jackson, who are country large in every way; old Fred whose grumpiness is constant; Kary Ingram, who is Randall’s sort-of girlfriend; and John Michael Camden (also always called by his surname) who happens to own the house.

As we enter the story, Randall is trolling for work and Camden is fighting with his fiancée – two things that look to be commonplace at 302 Grace Street. Randall would love to get involved in the investigation into the disappearance of an elderly local stage actress.   Viola Mitchell vanished from her home, but Randall is more interested in her connection with the theater – The Parkland Little Theater, with which Camden and Kary are both involved. Could there be a connection? Are Cam and Kary in danger?

Meanwhile, back at Grace Street, Cam and fiancée Ellin are having one of their usual fights about the wedding, where they will live after the wedding, the boarding house, or maybe even Camden’s psychic abilities, which Ellin would very much him using at her workplace, Psychic Services. Oh, or the fact that her mother doesn’t approve of Cam. Could be any or all of those.

The bulk of the book has Randall tracking down Viola while Cam deals with his upcoming nuptials as well as the apparent blossoming of a new psychic ability. I fully admit that I’m smitten with Cam and his paranormalness.

But is the book any good? Yes, it is. I like David Randall, as well as the rest of the residents of the boarding house. Cam being actively psychic is a welcome bonus to the usual quirky friends and acquaintances of a cozy main character, and he does not hesitate to use those abilities to assist Randall when it’s convenient for the story line.

The mystery itself is average, but it is well put together and paced. My only issue is that I really needed to start with the first book on this one. Randall and the other characters seem to have covered a lot of development ground in those first three installments and there were times when I knew I didn’t have all the information I needed to really understand their interactions. That’s not really the fault of the Just You Wait – but be aware if you decide to read this series, you should start at the beginning to get the maximum cozy character enjoyment. 4 out of 5 stars and a recommendation to start with book one – Stolen Hearts. If I ever work my way through my teetering pile of books that’s what I intend to go back and do. I doubt I’ll be disappointed.

– S. Millinocket

My thanks to Maryglenn McCombs for sending me a review copy of Just You Wait.

[AMAZONPRODUCTS asin=”1464203695″]
Sue Millinocket
Latest posts by Sue Millinocket (see all)