In this fourth volume of the Ghost Hunters series, the author returns in some respects to the territory previously explored in her earlier trilogy set on a similar planet with a colony cut off from Earth. Before now, we haven't heard about marriage bureaus despite the fact that Covenant Marriages are for life - on Harmony, Marriages of Convenience allow people to see if they are compatible first. But the heroine in this book is a marriage counsellor.
In the prologue, a woman is attacked in an underground carpark and drugged. It is some time before we discover what happened to her. We switch immediately to the heroine Celinda who is visited by the police - a cameo appearance by Detective Martinez who has been a minor character in previous volumes - in company with Davis Oakes of Oakes Security. It transpires that a small object Celinda purchased in a junk shop for the amusement of her 'companion animal', a dust bunny called Araminta, is connected with the death of a drug addict and small-time thief. The object is actually a relic from the alien ruins which cover much of Harmony, especially underground. It was stolen from the ghost hunter Guild in the city, and the chief of the guild has hired Davis to get it back. (To explain, pyschic powers are routine on Harmony and one of the most important is that of ghost hunting - the ability to control/manipulate the energy clouds which manifest in and around the underground catacombs and which are dangerous to humans. The guild provides protection for anyone who works underground to retrieve alien artefacts, the trade in which is an important part of the economy of Harmony, as well as creating a lot of research jobs in universities.) Most ghost hunters are male as the talent is very bound up with testosterone.
Celinda is about to give Davis the object when her dust bunny, objecting, grabs it and runs off with it. For quite a bit of the story following, they attempt to find out where she has put it, without success. The object of course turns out to have special properties, and a couple of very dangerous people are after it. Various threads are interwoven in the novel: the continued search for the artefact and the evil machinations of those working against them go on alongside the mutual attraction which Celinda and Davis are fighting. They end up attending a family wedding as a couple so that he can provide her with protection, to the surprise of her family. And even there, they are not safe.
In previous volumes, we saw the author expand on the psychic powers developed by the human population since the colony was cut off from Earth, with some individuals not being dependent on amber, the stone which allows most people to focus their psychic power most effectively. We also saw the discovery of an artificial environment underground - rain forests created and left behind by the long-departed aliens. As part of this, came the revelation that some ghost hunters can manipulate energy elsewhere on the spectrum, rather than the normal green light. It transpires that Davis is one of these: he is the Silver Master of the title, and silver light has particular properties which I won't divulge to avoid spoilers. The downside is that to use it heavily doesn't just put him into the normal post burn situation - ghost hunters experience strong sexual desire followed by an irrestible urge to sleep for several hours - it can put him into a coma. His past experience of hospital treatment after such an episode has left him paranoid about the medical profession. Meanwhile, Celinda has her own past traumas to deal with, and her own particular psychic ability, which makes her a good matchmaker - she can pick up on the mental and psychic characteristics of others, and in extremis influence them. We have the usual situation in this series where the characters are strongly attracted to each other, but resist it to the bitter end.
Light relief is provided this time by Davis' partner in the business, a down-to-earth character called Trig, who is reading Celinda's book on how to make a good Covenant Marriage, and the protagonists are a little more developed than in the previous volume, and more interesting as a result. And for double cuteness, both the heroine and the hero have dust bunny 'companions' this time. A 3-star read: satisfying but not spectacular.