All in One Piece

January 9, 2006
Boston psychic Regina "Reggie" Cutter is a little more comfortable with her sometimes strong but always unpredictable paranormal powers in her second outing from English professor Tishy (after 2005's Now You See Her
). Reggie escapes with minor injuries after a car tries to run her down outside her South End townhouse, which she inherited along with her psychic abilities from her Aunt Jo, but her troubles really begin with the brutal murder of her upstairs tenant, Steven Damelin. Threats multiply as Reggie tries to untangle threads that reach into the immigrant past of nearby Lawrence, Mass., and into the complex relationships of Steven and his putative family and friends. As in Now You See Her
, Aunt Jo's police detective pal, Frank Devaney, and an enigmatic biker, R.K. Stark, lend a helping hand. Middle-aged Reggie dithers less this time out and is more determined than ever to take charge of her own fate when challenged.

January 1, 2006
Reggie Cutter (" Now You See Her," 2005) may be psychic, but her ability isn't much help when it comes to figuring out puzzles close to home. She has no idea, for example, why someone would deliberately try to run her down on the street. Nor do her visions reveal the identity of the monster who viciously killed her upstairs tenant, Steven Damelin, nailing his body to the floor and marking her own front door with his blood. When local cops are slow to act, Reggie investigates on her own, piecing together information about Steven's business dealings and his personal life that puts her own life in jeopardy. Supporting characters--Stark, Reggie's deus ex machina on a motorcycle; Biscuit, the dog they share; and Reggie's two grown children--make brief appearances here, but it's really Reggie's show. And though her fortuitous escapes grow a bit wearing and her paranormal talents are barely in evidence, the suspense builds all the way to the end, which is unforeseen even by the psychic at the center of it all.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)