Itinerant psychic performer Mario Castigliani and police chief Beaufort Tyler join forces in Floraville, GA, to investigate a suspicious death. An elderly black man, known for his spunk in Civil Rights days, supposedly committed suicide, but Tyler has his doubts--especially since Tyler's predecessor recently died the same way. Castigliani's authentic ability to read minds (Tyler never has a doubt) proves invaluable both to the plot and to the narrative, which includes frequent "unspoken" clues. The authors enrich the action with references to Castigliani's Italian past, local textile mill unrest, personal entanglements, and believable characters. An excellent read.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
This is not the first novel to feature a psychic as an amateur sleuth, but it is one of the better ones. Sawyer and Witlin have crafted an intricate story (it begins with a suicide that might not be suicide, but that's just the jumping-off point) that challenges not only their fictional sleuth but his readers as well. The wonderfully named Mario Castigliani, who makes his living as a performing psychic, is a fresh and interesting character; it's especially nice to see him say what many readers will surely be thinking: that almost all so-called psychics are charlatans. Despite being skeptical about psychic phenomena, the authors ask us to, please, just for the sake of argument, assume what this one man does is genuinely clairvoyant. Those able to make that assumption will be rewarded with a fine crime novel. David Pitt
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