Book Review: Haunting Refrain

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Haunting Refrain     Amazon US TPB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada TPB Amazon Canada HC
Ellis Vidler
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Amateur Sleuth   Psychic
Silver Dagger, June 2002, $23.95, 184 pp.

To please her friend, Kate McGuire agrees to partake in a parapsychology study at the local university in the Piedmont area of South Carolina. Nobody is more shocked than Kate is when she touches a headband and receives visions of a woman being strangled by a powerful man. The professor conducting the study tells her that the headband belongs to a woman that has been missing for a few days.

When the police find the body in a place that is exactly like Kate described reporter John Gerrard prints the story and includes the psychic’s name. The killer reads the paper and decides to kill Kate before she can reveal his identity. John who has come to care for Kate, tries to protect her but the killer is determined that nobody gets in his way.

HAUNTING REFRAIN is an exciting amateur sleuth tale starring a reluctant psychic who sees her gift as a curse that frightens her. This weakness endears her to the audience because they can empathize with the heroine. The protagonist’s romance with the reporter is a clever plot device that eases the level of tension caused by the killer’s attacks. Ellis Vidler is a gifted storyteller who deserves a large following for her wonderful romantic mysteries like this one.

Harriet Klausner

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