Now You See Her (Regina Cutter Mysteries) [Hardcover]

Cecelia Tishy (Author)

Book Description

Series: Regina Cutter Mysteries | Publication Date: February 24, 2005

The first book in an exciting series featuring psychic Regina Cutter, Now You See Her brings a thrilling new dimension to Mysterious Press. From The X-Files to The Sixth Sense to Martha Lawrence's popular Astrology mystery series of novels, paranormal topics in television, movies, and books are perennial audience favorites. Women readers will be drawn to this story of a divorcee finding the strength to embark on a new life in a new city. Boston's Back Bay, a wealthy and fashionable district, is a distinct character in the book and its stateliness functions as a strong counterpoint to the psychic and criminal elements in the story. Cecelia Tishy is the William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor of English at Vanderbilt University, where she has won the university's prize for excellence in teaching. She is the author of several nonfiction books and articles, as well as the Kate Banning mystery series.

--This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Tishy's mystery thriller with a psychic twist introduces an engaging new heroine. Cast aside by her Chicago executive husband in favor of a trophy wife, Regina "Reggie" Cutter gets a new life in Boston, where she has inherited not only her Aunt Jo's South End townhouse but also her aunt's psychic abilities, which take the form of unusual pains in various parts of her body. While these pains aren't precise paranormal indicators, they're enough to get her asked by a realtor friend to check out a Back Bay mansion subject to unexplained manifestations; she's also appointed an unofficial consultant to Boston police detective Frank Devaney, whom her aunt assisted on occasion. Devaney is unsure of the guilt of a young black man who's serving a life sentence for a 13-year-old murder committed in a crack-infested building that's now an exclusive apartment house. The persistent Reggie tries everything from library research to visiting dangerous neighborhoods, baiting a charismatic preacher, hobnobbing with powerful politicians and badgering Devaney. Tishy does a good job conveying the feel of contemporary Boston, but one hopes she'll let Reggie rely more on her clairvoyant gifts than on unconvincing coincidence in future outings.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Yes, Regina Cutter, newly transplanted to Boston, has psychic ability, but it won't manifest on cue, so she does plenty of old-fashioned legwork when she starts looking into the 13-year-old murder of a young man, for which someone may be wrongly imprisoned. In between visits to the murder site and talks with folks who lived nearby at the time, Reggie does her "real job"--working at a -resale-clothing store for cash-strapped women reentering the workplace--walks the Beagle she shares with a scruffy motorcycle enthusiast, R. K. Stark, who wants her to learn to ride, and plays ghost hunter in the house of a politically connected Bostonian. With just the right degree of psychic intercession, Tishy, author of the Kate Banning mystery series, neatly interweaves the disparate threads of her newly divorced, fortysomething protagonist's life. An appealing mix of foolish enthusiasm and derring-do, Reggie make a reasonably credible and quite likable amateur detective. Psychic intuition reveals that she will be back soon. Stephanie Zvirin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Mysterious Press (February 24, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 089296796X
• ISBN-13: 978-0892967964
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,402,350 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tishy's Cutter Gets a Clue, March 25, 2005

By 

Saralee Terry Woods "bookmanbookwoman.com" (nashville, tn United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Now You See Her (Regina Cutter Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Nashville City Paper Book club March 24, 2005
Tishy's Cutter Gets a Clue
Saralee says
Are you a fan of mystery series that feature the same character solving murders? If so you are anxiously awaiting the next in the series featuring Stephanie Plum by Janet Evanovich, Kinsey Millhone by Sue Grafton or Dave Robicheaux by James Lee Burke. Make room for Reggie Cutter - the best detective to come along since Sallie Bissell's Mary Crow.

Imagine that you are a woman who is in her 40s. Your adult life has been spent building your husband's career and raising your two children. Your career is taking care of your husband and making sure he does all the right things in order to be promoted in corporate world. As your children reach adulthood your husband trades you in for a new and younger version. What do you do?

This is what happens to Regina "Reggie" Cutter, the character featured in the new mystery series by Vanderbilt Professor Cecelia Tishy. When Reggie Cutter and her husband divorce, she moves to Boston into the home left to her by her eccentric Aunt Jo. She and her aunt both had something in common: the gift or curse of feeling the unexplained or the paranormal. Whether you believe in that kind of stuff or not, Now You See Her (Mysterious Press) is a fun read.

When Cutter moves into her aunt's home she also picks up where her aunt left off with the local police by helping them solve mrders in an unofficial capacity. Cutter's realtor friend wants her to visit Back Bay, the most desirable of Boston neighborhoods, and see if she can pick up any vibes or unfriendly feelings in order to explain the happenings in a mansion. Right before Cutter arrives at the house, she hears someone being murdered.

Soon she meets Frank Devaney, a homicide detective. Devaney and Cutter's Aunt Jo used to solve murders together and Devaney wants Cutter to step into her aunt's shoes. Not an easy feat for anyone, even if you have psychic gifts.

Cutter must find out if a man serving a life sentence for a murder is really guilty; and to solve the crime she must interact with a rising state politician, a rich land developer, a socialite wife and keep her job at the Dress for Success shop where she helps women who are re-entering the workforce.

Tishy succeeds in creating a character that is interesting, vibrant and puzzling as she solves the dilemmas of her daily life and the murder case.

Larry's language

Move over Robert Parker, Dennis Lehane, and Jeremiah Healy. Parker, Lehane and Healy have been the three best mystery writers basing their stories in Boston, but now Nashville's own Tishy has staked her claim to Boston in her newest mystery, Now You See Her.

A sense of place is critically important when starting a new mystery series, and Tishy's Boston setting is grand since the reader can appreciate the references to the social scene, racial tensions, history, justice for the haves and the usual for the have-nots.

Cutter is a survivor in a tough town in a tough situation after her divorce. She is not a whiner and is not afraid to get her hands dirty as she uses her spunk, her smarts, and her strange and hard to understand paranormal impulses. Cutter has the ability to walk into a room and sense that a bad thing has happened, but there is no revelation of detail to Cutter. She is challenged to figure out the criminal specifics so that she can help Boston police detective Devaney solve multiple murder cases, including a 13-year-old homicide and a 100-year-old death.

Tishy has already written one highly successful crime series of novels featuring the more traditional female detective Kate Banning in Cryin' Time, Fall to Pieces and Jealous Heart (Dowling) - all of which are set in Nashville. This latest novel proves that Tishy deserves her reputation as one of the best modern American crime novelists.

In her real life under the name Cecelia Tichi, when not involved in a life of crime, Tishy has written two highly respected academic studies of American muckraking and country music: Exposés and Excess: Muckraking in America (University of Pennsylvania Press) and High Lonesome: The American Culture of Country Music (University of North Carolina Press).

Join us for our next Book Club discussion which will feature The Illuminator (St. Martin's Press) by Nashvillian Brenda Rickman Vantrease.

Saralee Terry Woods is president of BookMan/BookWoman Books, and Larry D. Woods is an attorney and political strategist. Send your comments and requests for future City Paper Book Club discussions to [e-mail].

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Darkness has a Presence, March 28, 2005

By 

Kevin Tipple (Plano, Texas) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Now You See Her (Regina Cutter Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Regina Cutter had it all and then it was gone. Her wealthy husband dumped her in favor of a trophy wife and suddenly her years of effort, sacrifice and support for his career and their marriage didn't matter. Gone were the club memberships, the private plane, and all the other perks and trappings of wealth and power. But, she still had her paranormal ability.

She went back to Boston and moved into her recently departed Aunt's home. She shares custody of her Aunt Jo's dog, affectionately known as "Biscuit," with a rough character that rides a Harley and goes by the name Stark. And just like her Aunt did for years, she unofficially consults with the Boston Police Department in the form of Detective Frank Devaney. As the novel begins, he has a strange case for her.

Devaney, pressured for a quick arrest and conviction, may have sent an innocent man to prison for a murder he did not commit. The victim was Peter Wald, the son of a very prominent politician. The accused killer was Henry Fraiser; a man with no connections and who still to this day claims to be innocent. He may very well have been nothing more than the wrong man in the wrong place at the time. The crime happened years ago during the cocaine years when crime was out of control, the police were overworked and stressed, and everything no matter how small turned into deadly violence. Initially, Regina does not pick up anything and then as he goes to leave, she gets a sensation that is almost to the point of an image for her which gives Devaney an idea to pursue.

But, Regina isn't content to just tell the good detective what she sees and feels. Before long, she is actively sticking her nose into the case, asking questions of everyone and walking the old neighborhood where the crime took place. At the same time, she is also assisting a good friend of hers that sold a house that may or may not be haunted. The buyers are not happy and are very well connected and the outcome of their unsatisfaction could be a financial disaster for all involved. And then, what about the weird scuffling sound Regina heard in the thick fog the other night? Was a man attacked?

Author Cecelia Tishy (also the author of the Kate Banning mystery series) pulls the various threads all together in a Sue Grafton style work and creates an atmospheric read that is very enjoyable. Despite lots of self-doubt, Regina Cutter is an enjoyable character realistically drawn and full of promise. The secondary characters, in particular Stark and Devaney, seem at times a bit stereotypical, but clearly they have the possibility to become realistically drawn individuals. If this becomes a series, the pieces are certainly there to more fully develop these characters and others.

Coincidence does seem to play a strong role in the book whether in the form of the paranormal at just the right time or in the main story where something happens at just the exact right moment. However, that fact along with the fact that the paranormal plays a very small roll, much less than one would expect from reading the jacket copy, are minor quibbles and nothing to really weaken the overall enjoyable read. The result of the work is an interesting and enjoyable novel that may have too little paranormal content for those very interested in the sub-genre while having too much for those readers who simply aren't interested in the paranormal in any form or fashion. Both groups would be wise to cast aside preconceived notions on the subject and enjoy a book that was and is definitely worth reading.

Book Facts:

Now You See Her
By Cecelia Tishy
Mysterious Press
www.mysteriouspress.com
2005
ISBN # 0-89296-796-X
Hardback
$23.95 US
$34.95 Canada


Kevin R. Tipple © 2005

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Mixed review, May 24, 2006

By 

Kerry Kennedy - See all my reviews

This review is from: Now You See Her (Regina Cutter Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

I enjoyed the main character and her psychic ability. However, the book's pace was a little slow for me. A little too much of her going to talk to someone and chit-chatting about irrelevant stuff and then finding one tiny piece of information. It was as if all you had to do was read the last page of every chapter. But it was well-written.