Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Murder In The 11th House-Mitchell Scott Lewis

Murder In The 11th House
Mitchell Scott Lewis
Poisoned Pen, Sep 6 2011, $24.95
ISBN: 9781590589502

In Manhattan David Lowell runs Starlight Detective Agency. His best source for during an inquiry is using astrology charts; even his broker sells or buys when David tells him his order.

His daughter Melinda enters his office just before closing. Without a hello, she hires him. Melinda explains that as the most junior associate at her law firm, she is stuck with a pro bono case. Bartender Johnny Colbert has been charged with the murder of Lower Manhattan Debt Claims Judge Farrah Winston. She hands her dad her acrimonious uncooperative client’s birth chart, which he analyzes like a real Sherlock Holmes enhancing the likely facts with an astrology reading. Though the case is shut and closed, he and his team (Sarah the office assistant Sarah, Mort the hacker and Andy the bodyguard/driver) begin to find cracks as he seeks a killer’s "Mercury in retrograde" mistake.

Murder In The 11th House is a fun lighthearted paranormal Manhattan murder mystery starring a brilliant idiosyncratic protagonist and his eccentric team. With a nod to Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes and Victoria Laurie’s Psychic Eye series, this entertaining story line contains astrological references throughout that add uniqueness to the sleuthing. It is in the stars that readers will enjoy our first but not last visit to the Starlight Detective Agency.

Harriet Klausner

No comments: