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In the third stain-busting mystery, Josie Toadfern tangles with the town evangelicals. Tiny little Paradise, Ohio, is about to sponsor its first Psychic Fair and that, plus the current Halloween festivities, has preacher Dru Purcell and his congregation up in arms. Josie tries to stay out of most of that although she has little love for Dru and his Paradise Church of Almighty Revelations ever since her aunt left the congregation. That doesn't mean that Josie is all that fond of the psychics either. One of them, Ginny Proffitt, ran into her and forcibly read her palm, giving a fortune that has Josie upset and has made her leery of the rest of the crew. Still, she ends up spending time with them and getting to know the rest of the visitors, even giving them a tour of a local Indian site. It's there at Serpent Mound that she sees Dru and Ginny hugging each other. It's at the charity corn maze later that Josie sees Ginny's feet sticking out of the cornstalks. Someone had snuck up on her and shot her at close range - possibly while Dru's congregation was out front with pickets, making a distraction. Unable to convince anyone that she had seen Dru with Ginny and not getting any cooperation from the town sheriff, who doesn't like her, Josie and her friends gang up to find out what really happened to Ginny. Religion being such a touchy subject in America, I feel obligated to point out that Dru is the classic stereotype of the hypocritical Christian bigmouth, more interested in forcing the town to follow his dictates than in following the Bible himself. That's going to offend some readers, so there is your warning. That said, I enjoyed the book and felt that there were enough positive Christian characters plus positive and accurate descriptions of other beliefs to prove that there was no underlying religious bias. Wicca readers will be pleased to know that Short uses the correct definitions of those beliefs and doesn't make up exotic fictional witches. I also appreciated that the psychics were a mixed bunch in talents and faiths; too many psychic books make them into superheroes. This was my first visit to Paradise, Ohio, and I found the town and characters well drawn - enough quirks to be interesting, enough realism to be believable. Short does a good job of juggling plot, sub-plots, twists, and revelations to keep the story moving briskly. All in all, DEATH IN THE CARDS is a pleasant read.
Reviewed by Linnea Dodson, May 2005
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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