Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Bad Moon Rising-L.F. Crawford

Bad Moon Rising
L.F. Crawford
Five Star, Feb 2010, $25.95
ISBN: 9781594148583

After working a gruesome serial killer case with a paranormal spin that left her nearly killed (see Beverly Hills Voodoo), Beverly Hills medical examiner Dr. Mary Eclaire leaves town and her boyfriend Police detective Art Murry for her hometown to try to emotionally heal. Murry is heartbroken so his brother the opera star Lance and his police partner Billy Kidman persuade him to go with them on a cruise.

When a young passenger Nina Porter who went off with Billy is found dead in New Orleans, local detective Jean Gallant arrests Billy though she feels he did not commit the crime. While Murry investigates to prove his partner out on bail innocent, Billy disappears. Murry knows that ship employee Thomas Samson and his lover affluent Sylvania Benoit killed the woman, but struggles to prove it even with help from Marie LeVeau on some sort of mystical plane.

The second Murry paranormal whodunit is an entertaining mystery containing several supernatural twists. The story line is fast-paced once the NOPD hone in on Billy as the killer as Murry has no more time to lament and drink away his feelings of failing his beloved Mary as he over does at the beginning. Fans will know who the killer is early on, but the fun is watching what Murry deals with in proving his partner’s innocence. Well written, Bad Moon Rising gives credence to the fact that justice comes in many ways.

Harriet Klausner

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