Review

Psychologist Liz Cooper hates the occult. Her mother, Vivian, is always making ridiculous predictions that never come true. However, she does a tarot card reading that seems to have predicted the tragic death of Liz’s best friend Robin’s husband. Now, two years after Josh’s death, someone is tormenting Robin by posting tarot cards with hand-written threats on her door.

Liz turns to family friend Nick Garfield, an expert in the occult, for advice in tracking down Robin’s harasser. Right after Liz and Nick think they have found the culprit, the person is murdered and Robin is the main suspect. Liz sees a different side of her friend when observing her on the job as a representative of an entertainment talent agency. Did her good friend decide to take matters into her own hands?

This is a promising new series with interesting characters. Liz, Robin, and Nick don’t always act predictably which adds to the realism and enjoyment of the book. While Liz and Robin are best friends, they do have disagreements, just as friends in real life do, but they do support each other when times are tough. Nick is a great love interest for Liz. He was always her older brother Dave’s friend, but now that she is divorced, Liz is seeing Nick with new eyes. They make a great team when investigating the threats being made to Robin and then into the murder. However, the relationship between them builds slowly in the book and has the change to grow into something even better in future books. Who Do, Voodoo includes an eclectic group of supporting characters from the entertainment business and from the world of the occult that add further interest and entertainment to the book.

Unfortunately, not all of the characters are entertaining or even likeable. Liz’s brother Dave, a Los Angeles Police Department detective, comes off like a jerk. Liz wants his help to look into a potentially dangerous situation and he won’t leave his couch and the football game he is watching to assist. However, he does tell her not to date Nick because she will get hurt. I couldn’t tell if he was concerned about Liz or just controlling. There are a few things that suggest Dave does have Liz’s best interests at heart, so there is potential for this character. One the other hand, I don’t think there is any hope for Liz’s ballplayer ex-husband. Jarret is supposed to be the bad guy, but his antics when trying to win Liz back become irritating and start to detract from the story. Liz’s ditsy, but opinionated mother is even worse. She knows Jarret’s history with drinking and womanizing, yet continues to take his side over Liz, doing whatever she can to throw them together. Even if she has reservations about Liz and Nick becoming a couple, her blind allegiance to Jarret seems to be self-serving and not out of love for Liz.

The voodoo angle of the book and the information about voodoo, hoodoo, and the occult is explained clearly and thoroughly, but remains entertaining. It’s fun to see Liz slowly change from a total non-believer dismissing all of Nick’s theories about the power of voodoo to someone who actually embraces a powerful event she experiences at a séance. The book has a nice balance between the mystical and reality and the result is a fun book with elements of the supernatural that isn’t too far over the top. The debut book in the Mind for Murder mystery series is a good one that will appeal to those who like authors Madelyn Alt and Victoria Laurie.

Reviewed by Christine