Book Review: An Uncertain Currency

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

An Uncertain Currency     Amazon US TPB Amazon Canada TPB
Clyde Lynwood Sawyer Jr. , Frances Witlin
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Supernatural   Psychic
Avocet Press, 1999, $14.95, 347 pp.
Trade Paperback

When he was twelve at an archeological dig, Mario Casigliani felt the energy surge from the ancient coin. Ultimately, the coin provided him with his muse that he dubbed La Lucia. Almost forty years later, after wasting the psychic abilities given him on that fateful day in 1948, Mario earns a pittance with one-night stands in small towns. Mario’s current performance is in Floraville, Georgia in August.

Locations and seasons are no longer a choice for Mario, who advertises the solving of various crimes. The town’s police chief Beaufort Tyler visits Mario to discuss the death of an elderly black man, Roy Washington, a local celebrity from the Civil Rights era. The coroner believes Roy committed suicide, but Beaufort feels murder occurred. Other so-called suicides have haunted the hot Georgia summer. Beaufort asks Mario to use his gift as a psychic to help the cop solve a series of murders or a succession of suicides.

AN UNCERTAIN CURRENCY is an exciting blending of a regional mystery with supernatural powers. The use of a psychic detective has been around for seemingly eons (think Hitchcock’s Family Plot), but what makes this tale enjoyable is the lead character. The Mario scenario works as he sticks out amidst the townsfolk in numerous ways, the least being his talent. The mystery is entertaining and the intriguing relationship between Mario and Beaufort is fun yet bewildering, augmenting the feel of the story line. Clyde Lynwood Sawyer, Jr. and Frances Witlin provide readers with a strong novel that beg for the psychic to make future appearances for those of us who accept the authors’ abilities to entertain readers.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner