Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Caroline Mayville Secretly Psychic Detective by Sylvia Pink



Caroline is looking for a new way to help her savings last longer into her old age – and property development sees like a nice way to expand her bank balance.

Except Caroline has a secret – she can see ghosts. And her new house, while perfect in every other way, has a spectral tenant –and she has a mystery she wants Caroline to solve.



I’m having difficulty reviewing this book because it should never have really have landed in my inbox in the first place. It’s not Urban Fantasy – it’s a Cozy Mystery meets Romance. I was concerned when the publisher first approached us that this didn’t sound like our genre and expressed this to them. But the publisher assured me it was our genre

Sadly, I think they’ve done the author a terrible disservice to spam her book to blogs and review sites where it is clearly not appropriate. Sadly, it’s going to end up in the hands of people like me who just won’t enjoy it simply because it’s not their preference.

So I’m going to do my utmost to be fair to this author (who deserves better than her publisher’s shenanigans) even while I have to acknowledge that this is really not my thing

I found this book… pleasant. It was a nice meander of a story, the pacing wasn’t super fast or exciting but I think it suited it not to be. It wasn’t fast paced or action packed, it contained no adrenaline, no odd twists, no sudden surprises. There was no adventure or blood-fizzing or particularly intriguing or interesting elements or depth or much else to make the book zing

And that’s fine. It’s not meant to zing. It’s a not a book that makes you sit on the edge of your seat unable to stop turning the pages, or a book that makes you laugh uproariously. It’s a book to laze away the day casually strolling through it, meandering through Caroline’s story while still being able to put it down and pick it up again later or follow the development of her life

It is a sweet little story, we have an older protagonist – Caroline is in her 60s – and sexual and romantic at that as well as being competent and capable and having a powerful, loving relationship with her granddaughter.  I like her take on the world – she isn’t up to date with everything, but she has an experienced, mature outlook without being shocked or scandalised. She doesn’t live in a happy bubble and we’re not expected to consider her naive because she’s older. Nor is she weak or incapable or non-sexual even if several people assume she is because of her age.

She has some nice little plot lines – her buying the new house and decorating it even as she falls in love with it. Her sweet growing romance with Bob which is nice to see two older people and is filled with respect and affection. Her worries about her independence, her loss of identity are powerful and poignant without being over-dramatic and seeming out of place.

Diversitywise there are no minorities at all. There are several strong and capable women but that’s pretty much it.

This is a cosy book. It’s a comfortable book… and it’s just not my kind of book. Despite this, I definitely didn’t hate it – I pleasantly enjoyed it even if it wasn’t a book I’d pick up again. It isn’t a book I would choose but if it is your genre of book then I think you will love this, it’s excellently written and a good read.