“So, you shot her, then killed yourself. Very touching. Very, very sad.”
Holly Campbell on the outs with her police detective father. It was his and her mother’s wedding anniversary, and he’s stood up a member of his family again for a case. And he’s done it again without even bothering to call home and let anybody know he’s too busy for his family.
The problem is when he finally gets home, Holly lights into him and lets him know that he has made her mother cry, again. Then her father drops a bomb on her world. It turns out that her father’s latest cast is the investigation of the double murder of the parents of Cody, her boyfriend.
Holly then takes great offense that Cody, who can’t be found, is being treated like a suspect by her father and the police. And then her father ends up getting upset that Holly is getting so upset.
Then, out of the blue, Cody shows up outside his house after a trip back from his parent’s lakeside cabin, and his parent’s deaths is something that comes as news to him.
Still feeling that Cody is being picked on, and that nobody is giving him a fair shake, Holly constantly blows her stack, and decides that she’s gonna prove him innocent no matter what it takes.
But her father eventually gets so upset with Holly’s head-strong and stubborn impetuousness, and her constant interference, that he forbids her to hang out with, or date, Cody.
During her obsessive interference and investigations, she comes into contact with Glenda Jordan, an eccentric woman who is a neighbor of Cody’s. Holly met Glenda when Holly had asked her if they had seen anything on the night of the murder.
Glenda claims to be a clairvoyant, and offers to help Holly solve the murders, but, only if Holly can keep an open mind.
While I enjoyed
“Spirit Seeker”
, the mystery is pretty rudimentary, and the more the evidence builds up against Cody the more you realize that not only can’t he be the killer, but it becomes just as obvious who the killer really is.
And while a big deal is made out of there being a clairvoyant on the back cover, for all intents and purposes, the appearance of Glenda becomes nothing more than a red herring as her contribution to the solving of the mystery is next to nothing.
And as far as the characters are concerned, most of them are pretty unlikable. Holly is loud, obnoxious, and annoying; her father’s is just unsympathetic and distant; Holly’s mother is just, well, there, etc.
All-in-all, this is one of Holly Lowery Nixon’s lesser and weaker novels, it’s well written, but I wouldn’t read it again. But, then I’m not this novel’s target audience.