B.T. Alive lives in lush Western New York, where he eats and breathes regularly.
Back in the day, stories saved his life. Maybe you feel the same.
Bill has played Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof, ridden the boat metro in Venice (it's awesome), been homeless in NYC (briefly), and planted fruit trees in his backyard. A few trees even survived.
These days, he shares his home with a kind, beautiful woman who is, apparently, his wife. Together, they have generated multiple entirely new people. It's really quite startling.
As "B.T. Alive", he loves writing hilarious cozies with heart.
He also writes fun books in other genres under creative other names (like "Bill Alive").
What about you? You haven't said much, but you seem like the kind of reader who'd LOVE a free funny cozy mystery.
Summer Sassafras has a secret power – her touch can make people forget. Up to this point, she’s only used it to assist her in selling software contracts to get big commissions and beat her office arch-nemesis. Unfortunately, he gets the promotion she was angling for and she quits in a snit. She gets a mysterious letter on expensive stationery from a family member she didn’t know she had leads her off on an adventure that changes her life.
Minuses - that last name … I found it irritating and annoying. It took me out of the story every time she said it and made me think, really, author, you couldn’t have come up with something better?; and the abrupt ending.
Pluses – witty dialogue, fast pace, lots of action, interesting characters, and plausible paranormal, everything I like. There were a couple of nice insider nods to the author’s other work, the Empath Detective series, that made this book more fun. Summer is scattered, but eminently likeable. The secondary characters are well-drawn, with interesting paranormal skills of their own. The setting of a country inn is perfect for bringing in new characters and situations.
This book held my interest throughout, and I liked it enough to want to read the second in the series. I received a free copy from the author, but absent that I would have bought this anyway, because I like his other work.
Summer Sassafras is having a bad day. Her hated co-worker, Nyle Pritchett, got the promotion she should have received, so she quits her sales job. Her phone is electro-fried while she sits in a coffee shop, where she’s trying to read a letter on opulent stationery, inviting her to a little Virginia town called Wonder Springs, to meet family members she never knew existed.
So when she walks into her Philadelphia apartment and spots a sinister man seated on her sofa, gripping her cat, Mr. Charm, she’s freaked. The stranger demonstrates frightening powers and specifically mentions the Touch, her “gift” that jolts her and erases the immediate memory of the person she touched — a power that no one knows about. Her sales skills and quick reflexes free Mr. Charm from his grip. But as they’re peeling out, the man grabs her arm, leaving mottled marks where his fingers encircled her wrist.
So, scared out of her wits, she runs to her car and takes off for the little town of Wonder Springs, where she discovers what looks like a gentle storybook world. She makes her way to the inn and meets a maternal woman and a strange man dressed like Gandalf on the porch, but when she shows them the marks on her arm, the wizard utters the word “sleep” and she’s suddenly unconscious.
When Summer awakens the next day, her arm is clear, so she makes her way downstairs in her rumpled suit to connect with her so-called relatives — and is pressed into breakfast service in the dining room. Where she finds herself placing a plate before Nyle, who's attending a Pritchett family reunion at the inn. And as soon as he takes one bite of his food, he keels over into his plate, instantly dead.
Something very bad is afoot.
Accused of murder and presumed guilty by the sheriff, who bears an uncanny resemblance to a bloodhound she met the previous day, Summer realizes she's in charge of proving her innocence. It doesn't help that everyone in the Pritchett family loudly declares her a murderer, but they all have secrets to hide and motives to kill. As she plumbs the inn and the town for evidence to clear her name, she finds strange things at work — could she call it magic? — and with her cousin Tina’s help, Summer discovers there's a lot more to Wonder Springs than meets the eye — including the devilishly handsome Cade, who she can't get out of her mind.
Summer fears she'll end up in jail if she can't suss out the killer. But just as otherworldly sources seem allied against her, she also senses forces of good are on her side, which gives her the strength to push on to prove her innocence. B.T. Alive's new cozy series creates an environment filled with magic, mystery, mayhem, and more than a touch of love.
Even allowing for the normal annoyances common to the cozy genre, this book was really no better than okay. For most of the book, only one of the main cast of characters was likable ... then, suddenly, at the end, all is milk and cookies and rainbows. If Grandma likes the long lost granddaughter at the end, why was she so cold during the rest of the book? Also, I'm not crazy about the plot device of the main character having an unreasonable number of terrible things pile on in one day....it disturbs me deep down. On the up-side, the amateur sleuth really did have to stick her nose into police business because the investigator was clueless; that negates one of the typical problems with cozies. Lastly, I keep expecting humor from this author, but I just don't see enough of it to lure me farther in.
A quirky new series by Bill Alive. It seems that most people in the town has some sort of gift. So this makes things interesting. I have to admit I'm not fond of Summer, the main character. I find her rash and thoughtless.
I will reserve judgement and read the next book to see how the series unfolds and the characters evolve.
Thank you to the author for the opportunity to read and review this book.
This is a wonderful story! I love the character's and the touch of magic the author uses in his story. It has a great plot. I read this book in one sitting and enjoyed the way the author wrote the story. I want to read more from this series.
Murder with a Psychic Touch by B T Alive is the first in the "Wonder Springs" series of paranormal cozies. Story is told in first-person point of view by the main character, Summer Sassafrass.
Summer's life implodes when she is passed over for a promotion, quits her job in a huff, and returns home to find a menacing character menacing her cat. Summer has the odd ability to touch someone and cause them short-term memory loss. She uses her gift to zap the man, grab Mr Charm, and make a run for it. The only place Summer knows to go is Wonder Springs, the town she recently received an odd letter from. There, Summer discovers that others have abilities similar to hers, and that her work nemesis is at the inn for a family reunion. When Nyle is poisoned, suspicion falls on Summer, as the two of them were actively arguing at the time, and she had delivered his meal to him. Now it's up to Summer to clear her own name, along with a little help from the perky Tina. It's too bad that the new guy that Summer is crushing on, Cade, seems to be paired with Tina. Summer is about to learn there's far more going on in Wonder Springs than she imagined, and that her family (whom she never knew) are right in the thick of things.
Eh, I don't know. The story was cute, but it sure didn't keep my attention. Summer was not the most likable character, and she had plenty of character flaws. I admired her persistence and tenacity. Tina was a sweetheart. I didn't care for Grandma nor Jake, the sheriff, who seemed far too eager to pin the murder on Summer.
I started out liking Summer's character, then disappointment became mine when the scene changed to Wonder Springs. A small portion of the disappointment was lost but most of it remained to the end of the story. Chief of this was, "Who was/is Summer's mother?" "What happened to her?" Grandma Meredith's daughter was not a suitable answer! I found that there were too many unanswered questions. I was looking for some answers in the epilogue, instead, I was thrown headlong into the next book. Will my questions be answered there? I don't have a clue. Your curiosity might lead you in a different direction, so go ahead, give Summer Sassafras a try!
First in the Wonder Springs paranormal romance series and revolving around the unethical Summer Sassafras.
My Take Murder With a Psychic Touch is a whirlwind of psychic powers and family members tearing away at each other, most of them with secrets they keep from each other.
The tale begins with a threat and evolves into a sales pitch with tests to see if you’re worthy.
Jeez, I don’t know where Summer gets her chutzpah — she has no morals. She’s all whiny about losing that promotion, and it turns out she should have lost it. And her job!
We learn all this through Alive’s use of first person protagonist point-of-view from Summer’s perspective, and she strikes me as a somewhat unreliable narrator. I guess she comes by it naturally, since her maternal side of the family is so “particular”. Summer had to pass muster to be accepted.
The cops in Wonder Spring don’t seem to need evidence to arrest someone or to search someone’s room. And, while I can understand Grandma’s suspicion, I’m suspicious of her as well. She also seems hardhearted since she issued the invite.
There are plenty of turnarounds in Murder With a Psychic Touch. Phone-obsessed teens with an unexpected mission. Fiancées who don’t plan on following through. A telepathic parrot who keeps spouting truths — he's my favorite character. The Pritchetts’ underhandedness.
While Alive presents a cliffhanger at the end, it’s not enticing enough for me to want to read what happens next.
The Story At just the right moment, as Summer is fleeing for her life from the threatening Cadaver with his burning touch, she receives a letter from family she’d never met.
The “firing”, the maxed-out credit cards, the accusation of murder, the arson; the hits just keep coming, as Summer tries to figure out this family who hadn’t bothered with her for all these years.
The Characters Summer Sassafras has the Touch, one that has aided her career as a high-class sales professional, allowing her to wipe people’s short-term memories. Mr Charm is her Ragdoll cat.
The Inn at Wonder Springs, Virginia, is . . . . . . run by Christina Meredith, Summer’s maternal grandmother. Jake is a bloodhound. Tina, an empath, has princess-luck. Helen and Denny are Tina’s parents. The eccentric Uncle Barnaby/Barnabas, a telempath who wears a wizard hat. Trudy is eccentric. Keegan is a telepathic parrot. Hamish is a waiter. Vladik is the chef.
Cade is a healer of people and nature. Una is his boss at the orchard. Sheriff Jake is Cade’s father. Mr Wilson is a handyman. Natisha runs Namaste, a yoga and tea shop. Vivian runs a New Age gift store. Dr Kenise is a knockout.
Philadelphia is . . . . . . where Summer used to work with Nyle Pritchett, a fellow sales rep who has been Summer’s arch-nemesis.
The Pritchetts are . . . . . . Nyle’s family having a family reunion in Wonder Springs. The pink-haired Mercedes is Nyle’s fiancée and Lionel’s ex and works with city government. The abusive Lionel is Nyle’s brother; his wife is the very jealous Deanna.
Kitty Carter, Nyle’s cousin, is part of the Pritchett family reunion at The Inn at Wonder Springs. Aunt Delilah, Bryce’s mother, can’t make it. The hipster Bryce knows his tech and is interested in Tina. Taylor and Tyler Pritchett are teens with the messy Fitzgerald Pritchett their father. Nana, Priscilla Pritchett, Fitzgerald’s mother with a telekinetic gift, has the creepy Pritchett Manse and an estate, which is going to Cousin Kitty. Who’s not real family.
The cadaverous Enoch is a disruptor who can kill with a touch. I think his father is Great-uncle Vincent. Malice Alice.
Sheila drinks tea, and her son is a foot model. Tribesy is an addictive app that combines the worse of various social media sites. The Truce has rules.
The Cover and Title The cover is a graphic with Summer, her long curly red hair streaming over her shoulders and wearing a bluish gray corset-like top and a skirt with a top band of beige and the full-skirted bottom in mustard, stands on the left holding Mr Charm, her white cat in her right arm while her left is bent, her hand releasing a spark of magic. In the background is a muted royal blue sky with a full moon sinking behind a quirky big house with lit windows. Flowering cherry trees are lightly scattered across the landscape with Keegan flying on the right. The background is bordered top and bottom with a wavy black that provides a background for the publisher’s colophon and the series info in mustard and white at the top. At the bottom is the author’s name in beige. The title waves across the night sky in a gradated beige to mustard.
The title is the conflict, Murder With a Psychic Touch.
Exciting & interesting take on what could be a life time problem for touchy feely people!
I really enjoyed this book! I read it without picking up another to read also. The problems that crop up when we're different than others are well thought out & expressed here.
I loved this book. It kept me fully engaged with the funny, kooky, sometimes crazy characters and some have magical powers. Then add in a murder. Twists and turns kept me guessing til the end. I'm looking forward to reading the next book in this series.
Fun interesting read. Enjoyable characters that make you laugh. You really can't go wrong with this series. You have a great cast of characters that aren't perfect nor are they meant to be.
This imaginative book is one of the most creative i have ever read. I identify with the main character, except she always seems angry. I have not decided who my favorite character is, but i have narrowed it down to Cade, Mr. Charms, and Denny. Special read
Had a hard time staying engaged with the story. There was enough mystery that kept me wanting to see how it would end. Being it was the first book in the series, I would try another to see how the characters develope.
B.T. Alive, Does a Good job in"Murder With a Psychic Touch" of Alive Characters and Story. The good characters are well developed, and the Bad are coming Alive. It is a Very Good Read. Santa Mike
Summer is an unlikely and unlikable hero. She is selfish and impulsive. I didn't care about her or any of the other characters. Maybe she will grow through out this series but I have too many books on my shelf to slog on for one that failed to grab me.
Almost too much psychic action but still a fun read. Can't remember if they revealed what actually happened to her mom. Enjoy this rush of action and crazy characters.
DNF 35% FMC character sucks. She’s an entitled idiot who feels she deserved a promotion over the man who trained her and had better sales on a monthly basis. Oh except the month she cheated. By listening to her tell the story the guys stole it right out from under her.
This is a good paranormal cozy mystery for teens and young adults. It's about secrets in families and how the secrets are revealed though out a murder investigation.