Baxley Powell, an amateur detective, is also a dreamwalker
who can pass through the veil of life and visit the dead.
Visiting the other side has its disadvantages – that
of owing an entity called Rose a debt Baxley must pay in hours
of her life – yet Rose helps Baxley when no other resource
is available.
Baxley is on a camping vacation with her family and best friend
Charlotte in the mountains of Georgia when she’s called
in by the local sheriff to investigate the body of a young
man with no apparent cause of death. Baxley uses her psychic
abilities and finds a secluded house where she and the sheriff
encounter eight comatose victims and Jonas, whose supernatural
abilities were used to drain the victims of their life force
energy. Jonas escapes, taking the sheriff hostage. Deputy
Sam Mayes, a Native American, and Baxley work together to
find the sheriff and capture the criminal. In doing so, Mayes
brings Baxley in contact with the little people of Cherokee
folklore. They want a treasured artifact Jonas stole and,
to insure its return, they kidnap Baxley’s friend and
two others.
I enjoyed the inclusion of Deputy Mayes, who has psychic abilities
of his own which touch Baxley in ways that make her uncomfortably
aware that he’s a man. Even Charlotte has a budding
romance. The circle of loveable characters that Maggie Toussaint
builds just keeps getting better and better.
Dadgummit is a solid and fascinatingly eerie mystery that
tingled my spine and had me sleeping with the lights on. I
didn’t want to put it down! While it’s a fantastic
follow-up to the author’s outstanding previous releases,
the backstory is so expertly woven into this new release that
the book stands on its own as an exciting, enticing and thoroughly
entertaining read.
Reviews
of other titles in this series
Gone
and Done It #1
Bubba
Done It #2
Doggone
It #3
Dadgummit
#4
Confoundit
#5
Notes:
Maggie Toussaint has also published as Rigel Carson. She is
president of the Southeast Mystery Writers of America and
has a seat on the national MWA Board. She is a member of Sisters
In Crime and Low Country Sisters In Crime, and has won the
Silver Falchion Award for Best Cozy/Traditional mystery, a
National Readers Choice Award and an EPIC award for Best Romantic
Suspense. |