Aquarius Descending (Elizabeth Chase Mysteries) (Hardcover)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

San Diego's psychic private investigator Elizabeth Chase must infiltrate a deadly cult in order to find a missing woman in this third, stylish outing (after The Cold Heart of Capricorn). When her significant other, FBI agent Tom McGowen, asks her to find Jen Shaffer, who's his former fiancee, Elizabeth is initially reluctant, but she changes her mind when she meets the woman's father?and the $25,000 check he has in his hand. Apparently, right after Jen and Tom decided not to marry, Jen had joined the Church of the Risen Lord, later known as the Bliss Project, and cut all ties with family and friends. Now her father has received a package containing Jen's Medic Alert bracelet. He thinks his daughter is in trouble?or dead. Using a fake identity, Elizabeth joins the cult. Before she goes to an initiation retreat, however, she visits a reclusive former member who tells her about a man the group murdered and whose public identity was subsequently erased. He warns Elizabeth that the same fate will befall her if the cult finds out who she really is. As in the series' previous novels, Lawrence writes a gripping, believable story, distinguished by a wise and sensitive narrative voice, that even those skeptical of psychics will enjoy. Agent, Gina Maccoby.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Private investigator and parapsychologist Elizabeth Chase (The Cold Heart of Capricorn, LJ 1/97) approaches her third case with apprehension, then with zeal. As she searches for the missing ex-fiancee of longtime boyfriend Tom McGowan, now an FBI agent, Elizabeth infiltrates a secretive and potentially dangerous California religious cult known as the Bliss Project. With her relationship at stake and her psychic powers at best undependable, Elizabeth almost becomes a victim herself. A believable plot, well-developed characters, and a heroine with an interesting edge.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Minotaur; 1st edition (December 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312198299
• ISBN-13: 978-0312198299
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #591,284 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A tense, exciting and wonderfully written book., February 25, 1999

By A Customer

Elizabeth Chase is a psychic PI, but don't let the occult element turn you off. Elizabeth is NOT a flake, but a very real and very centered person who realizes her gift is not something that she can control at will. In the third installment of this remarkable series, Elizabeth goes undercover to find a woman who became embroiled in a cult. The missing woman was the college girl friend of Elizabeth's FBI agent lover. Once inside the Bliss Project, Elizabeth must use all her strength of character as well as some methods that might be described as paranormal to keep her own sanity--and to remain alive. Almost unbearably tense as Elizabeth comes closer and closer to the truth, this is a not-to-be-missed novel. It is probably not necessary to read the first two in the series, but if you pick this one up, you'll immediately want the other two titles. And I don't have to be psychic to know that.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Superb Lawrence Mystery, February 5, 2000

By A Customer

When I pick up a Martha Lawrence mystery, I glow with the assurance that I am in the hands of a master story teller, and I'm never disappointed. Her prose has quiet power and confidence, her characters are completely believable, her plots enticing and complex. The psychic side of her sleuth is worked in so deftly and unsensationally that when you hear readers call Elizabeth a "psychic sleuth" that almost creates the wrong impression. She's a sleuth with some psychic powers that really feel more like a very intense form of intuition. And isn't that what cops and PIs use anyway? With Aquarius Descending, prepare to be entertained by a writer who's working at the top of her form. And when Lawrence leaps onto the best seller lists, as Sue Grafton has confidently predicted she will, and friends ask if you've read her, you can proudly feel you joined the Lawrence bandwagon early on.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The dawning of the age of psychic detective Elizabeth Chase, December 12, 1998

By A Customer

FBI agent Tom McGowen fails to convince his girlfriend, psychic detective Elizabeth Chase, to search for his missing former fiancee, Jen Shaffer. However, Tom persuades Elizabeth to meet with Jen's father, who offers her $25,000 to find his missing daughter. The sweetener induces a still reluctant Elizabeth to accept the case.

Elizabeth learns that Jen joined a cult, the Church of the Risen Lord, immediately following her break-up with Tom. Not too long after becoming a member, Jen ended all communication with her family. Recently, her father received Jen's medical alert bracelet. This leads him into believing she is in trouble if not already dead. Elizabeth joins the cult, knowing full well that if they uncover her true identify, they will eradicate her.

The third Chase tale, AQUARIUS DESCENDING, continues the classy tradition of the first two novels (MURDER IN SCORPIO and THE COLD HEART OF CAPRICORN). Elizabeth remains a fabulous and unique sleuth and her support cast (recurring and new) adds much dimension to an already deep story line. Do not let the psychic hot-line fool the reader into thinking this novel is babble. Instead, the book is a well-designed, very plausible, and extremely suspense-laden tale that shows that the dawning of the age of Martha C. Lawrence is upon us.

Harriet Klausner