A Dubious Death

The Imperfect Psychic #1

by Ashley King

THE IMPERFECT PSYCHIC: A DUBIOUS DEATH is the debut novel in a charming new cozy mystery series by Ashley King.

Charlotte Vale, 30, a psychic from New York City, has a dubious gift—her vision, not always accurate, often leaves her customers more confused than happy.

When Charlotte, at a crossroads, gets a vision on what she should do next in life, she follows it, and it leads her to a quaint town upstate, her beloved cat and companion Oliver by her side. Quiet and peaceful, the town offers the exact escape she needed. And when her own vision leads her to a charming historic for sale, she spontaneously decides to buy it and follow her forever dream of running a bed and breakfast.

But Charlotte is in way over her head. Desperate to keep it running, she is forced to rely on her psychic abilities once again, and decides to open a psychic booth once again. Everything finally seems to be going her way—when a shocking murder puts her right in the middle of the crime.

Now Charlotte must solve the case—or lose her bed and breakfast, her clients, and her future.

A page-turning cozy mystery, packed with mystery, a touch of the supernatural and humor—THE IMPERFECT PSYCHIC is an un-putdownable cozy that will keep you turning pages (and laughing out loud) late into the night.

Genres: Cozy Mystery, Mystery, Paranormal, Fiction, Ebooks, Fantasy, Amazon

183 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 25, 2020

About the author

Debut author Ashley King is author of the IMPERFECT PSYCHIC COZY MYSTERY series which includes A DUBIOUS DEATH (Book #1), A MYSTICAL MURDER (Book #2), and A CLAIRVOYANT CATASTROPHE (Book #3).

Ashley would love to hear from you, so please feel free to visit www.ashleykingauthor.com to learn more and stay in touch.

Reviews

[Moondance · Rating 2 out of 5]

Charlotte woke up excited and jumped out of bed.

Charlotte Vale is a meteorologist who also happens to be psychic. Although she comes from a family of psychics, her abilities are less than spectacular. One fateful day she has a vision at work that leads to her dismissal. The same day her boyfriend leaves her. A few days later she loses her apartment. She embarks on a journey to a small town in New York where she buys a house, turns into a bead and breakfast and sets up shop as "the imperfect psychic."

I had a really hard time with this book. It felt more like an outline with a bit of writing stuffed into it to flesh it out. It has a good premise but everything happened too fast. I found it a bit off-setting that anyone would see a house and buy it the following day without knowing anything about it. From personal experience, I know that home renovations take longer than a few weeks. Particularly if structural things have to be done.

Charlotte was an irritant to most of the townspeople. Who suddenly jumps in and starts questioning people she doesn't even know after a murder?

The murderer was introduced in the last chapter or so. It was so very random that I went back to read it to see if I missed something.

Perhaps with some editing and a bit more thought the next book will be better.

I was provided a copy of this book by Book Sirens and the author to read. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[Emmalynn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I give this a 2:5-3 stars. The concept is actually really good, the execution, not so much. The author could have done so much more with the paranormal aspect of the story. The characters are pretty one dimensional, so everything g just ended falling flat.

[Jilly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is utter tosh but strangely enjoyable!!!!

Ok, for a quick, easy read in between more substantial lierature.

[Clarence A Corter · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Imperfect Psychic

I really enjoyed this book. It was a well written mystery with Psychic adventures. I really liked the surprise ending.

[Sam Nicholson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solve your own !urder

Book kept me entertained. Quick read, well rounded characters, interesting plot twists. A great sense of humor, thoroughly enjoyed. Will read more!

[Lise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charlotte Vale's life is falling apart: fired from her job, left by her live-in boyfriend, and essentially made homeless due to changes to her rental agreement. Prompted by a vision, she uses her sudden free time for a vacation and heads up to Woodson, a small town by Lake Shawnee. Suddenly everything falls into place. Charlotte buys a house to use as a B&B and fills the time telling fortunes until her primary business gains traction. But when a local councilman targets her as an undesirable, Charlotte begins to feel the pressure of a tiny community. When the man is found dead at her home, Charlotte jumps into action to prove her innocence.

I read this over the course of a sleepless night. In truth, part of the insomnia was just a desire to see where the book led. I adore characters that take charge of their destiny the way that Charlotte did and I can understand her flip-flopping over the major decisions she made in such a short amount of time. Part of Charlotte's charm was her hesitancy to commit to the grand life changes she had just made.

I have to suspend my disbelief somewhat. Psychic powers aside, there were real-world leaps that weren't addressed. Initially, Charlotte rents a car to drive to see her grandmother, but it seems to have become her property once she arrives at the lake. I also find it hard to believe that someone of Charlotte's nature would roam about town questioning suspects in secluded places. I rather expected Charlotte to have a little more sense and self-preservation! Perhaps desperate times, etc.

To sum up: though I had a few concerns, I absolutely enjoyed this story. This book is a great start to a new series and I'll be following Charlotte's adventures with both envy and joy!

[Meche · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is not outstanding by any means, the story is about a psychic that screws her job, ends single and without a home and decides to move to a lake house where she tries to set up a bed and breakfast, it doesn't work so she works as a psychic and the mayor ends up dying after trying to shut her business down. She is the main suspect, but in The end everything is resolved because miraculously the assassin tells her every single detail while she is recording. The mystery is not very compelling (the way she investigates it is annoying to me and it gets worse by the fact that we don't know the murderer so it makes for nothing satisfying to read), there is no romance that makes the story more interesting and overall her character is very forgettable and at times, annoying. I think the story is about her changing her way of living into one that focuses more on her instinct, but everything bad that happens to her comes because she follows her predictions, so it really wasn't that good of a plot moving device.
Also, it annoys me that she was a scientist that LOVED her job and suddenly, she wants a bed and breakfast and is contented with her new reputation as a psychic. If she loved her job as much she should have fought harder. But rather the story focuses more on distrust in science (aka follow your instincts) and life in a quaint town ...

[Theresa A · Rating 5 out of 5]

Charlotte is a meteorologist having a tough week when this story starts! She’s done a great job ignoring her psychic visions but her life’s about to change in big ways. Moving her life forward means embracing her psychic gift and moving for a fresh start. Her new life starts when she moves to Lake Shawnee and decides to buy and old house to fulfill her dream of a bed and breakfast. Little does she know that there is an overzealous city council member not on board with her plan. Before you know it, Charlotte is the main suspect in a murder and her world is turned upside down. Can she rely on her visions and intuition to find the real suspect and clear her name? You’ll only know if you read the book!
Great start to a series! Was a little slow in the beginning but hang in there, it’s all leading to a great conclusion and helping you get to know Charlotte and her back-story. It’s important to where she is going! I love a great mystery and there were plenty of characters and potential suspects to keep you guessing. I’m looking forward to learning more about her new friends and potential love interests in the next book!

*I voluntarily read an advanced copy of this book. I am not required to leave a review. The comments and opinions expressed are strictly my own.*

[Susan Johnston · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me a while to get settled in this book. Charlotte I initially comes across as a bit of a flake, blowing a big presentation and then deciding to uproot on a whim. There seemed to be a number of sidebars that, rather than giving me insight into her character, muddied the water.
But once the murder occurs and she is embroiled deeply in it, the book took focus and Charlotte became a more interesting person. Up until that point, I wasn’t sure where the character was going. Once she had a mystery to solve, she became more complete. Of course, Oliver, the kitty who adopted her might suggest it was his influence.
I certainly enjoyed how he became her partner in more than one way. Oddly, he was the character who seemed most clearly developed from the beginning.
I see there are future books and it will be interesting to see if the character development continues as both elements of character and story line are needed for a truly compelling mystery.
Three and a half purrs and two paws up.

[Phoebe · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Imperfect Psychic by Ashley King Review

I received an advanced reader copy of this book for free for an honest review. Thank you Ashley King and booksirens.com for giving me this opportunity!

3.5/5 Stars

°。°。°。Characters°。°。°。

Charlotte is a relatable character. She often makes mistakes and feels as though she has no direction in her life. I felt that. I felt that HARD. I wish I had gotten to know some of the side characters but this is the first book of the series so I think that we will get to know them better as the series progresses.

One thing I didn't like about Charlotte is that in the course of her investigation she made some enemies in the town (or people just weren't happy with her) and we never really got the opportunity to see her make amends, The ending was happy but we never got to see all of the work Charlotte put in the make it happy.

°。°。°。Plot°。°。°。

This book was a great mix of fantasy and mystery. psychic visions that don't give clear answers and a murdered town councilman kept me interested from beginning to end. This book also offered a very homey feel to it. Just a warm fuzzy book with a happy ending that I think everyone can enjoy.

The end of the mystery did feel a little rushed and I wish we could have seen a few more clues leading to the suspect throughout the investigation.

The plot of the book was well planned out and the pace didn't seem too rushed or too slow. It was a super quick read and helped to end a mini reading slump I was going through.

°。°。°。Overall°。°。°。

I devoured this book. I found myself favoring it over other books on my shelf that I am reading and I just had a great time reading it. If you are a fan of fantasy, mystery or just want something quick and fun get The Imperfect Psychic.

[Kristi Duarte · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think a child wrote this book. There's no info about the author and there's no acknowledgements page in the back of the book. You can tell the author doesn't know any fiction writing rules and that no editor looked at it before publishing. Good news for the author is that writing is a skill that can be learned. Given some people loved the book and gave it 5 stars, it shows the author does have some story-telling talent which can be improved upon. For me, the writing was so bad it became amusing, like a bad movie that becomes a cult classic. I imagine I would have written like that as a teenager.

Apart from breaking all fiction writing rules, the following things were also off:
1) Charlotte is a meteorologist who speaks like someone who doesn't know anything about weather: It was a nice day, the sky was blue, there were a few clouds...
2) The moves sound like a badly programmed video game: She went to the door, turned the knob, opened the door and stepped inside. It's funny.
3) She buys a house that no one else wanted to buy, that's falling apart, and renovates it in a few days? Ha.
4) She renovates the above mentioned house and yet has to meet anyone in the village?

Sorry for the bad review, Ashley, but you can only get better from here. Read some articles or take classes on fiction writing. Stop using so many adverbs!

[Jae · Rating 3 out of 5]

Charlotte’s well-ordered life in New York implodes when she is fired from her job, her boyfriend leaves her, and the rent on her apartment is set to increase dramatically. Longing for a change of pace, she travels to a small, upstate town. There, Charlotte impulsively buys a ramshackle Victorian mansion with plans to open her own B&B. While waiting for guests, she needs to earn some money. Therefore, Charlotte turns to her psychic gifts and offers readings. Her sister is a renowned psychic, but Charlotte’s visions have always been hit or miss. Nevertheless, things are going well until someone is murdered on her property, leaving Charlotte in the midst of scandal. Not trusting the police to solve the crime quickly, Charlotte launches her own investigation.

The story was interesting, but it lacked polish. The victim was the town villain, who needed to have been murdered about three years ago, methinks. He was on the city council and liked to throw his weight around. I’ve worked adjacent to enough city councils to say that one person does not have that kind of clout. Plus, I got to wondering...if Charlotte’s Victorian was on the lake, was it even within the city limits? Hmm.

Intriguing concept, substandard execution. Three stars.

[Birgit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Charlotte Vane is 30 and a meteorologist; she is a psychic, but cannot rely on her gift, her visions often leave her more confused than knowing what to do. When her dubious gift ruins an important presentation, she is fired from her job, and at loss what to do. Following her grandmother's advice, she decided to trust her abilities (or lack thereof), and ends up in a quaint town, buying an old building needing lots of repair and deciding to follow her dream and open a bed and breakfast. When one of the town councillors tries everything to put obstacles in her way, and then ends up dead on her property, she is in over her head. It looks as if she's the #1 suspect, so - she needs to investigate herself to find the murderer, or she will lose everything.
A good start to a new series, with likeable protagonists, a nice plot and a good narration style keeping a reader turning the pages. A pity, though, that said reader does not really have a chance to investigate (and guess) together with Charlotte, as we do not get to know all characters involved.
Still, as I said, a good start, and quite entertaining - a series I will definitely follow.

[Suzanne Brett · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did like this book. It had a little bit of a twist to the end which I thought was interesting and a good way to lead onto other adventures. I found this was an easy read and something that I would happily take on holiday.

The character that the reader meets is called Charlotte Vale, a meteorologist who unknown to her started experiencing visions. These visions start at an inconvenient time, which then leads her to on a completely different path to the one that she is currently working in.

I wasn’t sure about the character at the start; I thought she may have been a bit too soft but as the book progressed so did Charlotte and led to an interesting adventure. I would have liked to seen a couple of easy going remarks between the characters that would make the reader smile

I’m quite interested to read the next book. Would I recommend this book to someone else, my is yes I would to someone who wanted something easy going, not scary.

I received an advanced review copy for free and leaving this review voluntarily. Many thanks to Book Sires for the ARC.

[Jeanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Imperfect Psychic: A Dubious Death is Book 1 in the The Imperfect Psychic Cozy Mystery Series by Ashley King.

I thought the book started out well. I liked the premise of the book.

Charlotte arrived in town and everyone was friendly, but no one shows up for the open house. She does something else and is very popular, but is then is a murder suspect, and almost everyone turns on the “outsider”. They seemed like one-dimensional characters.

The police officer was nice and seemed to be trying to help her, but she decides she needs to investigate and is qualified based on a college course she took. Then she’s surprised that people aren’t real cooperative with her.

It is the first book so I will likely give the next book in the series a try.

Thank you to BookSirens for the free copy of this book and I am voluntarily leaving a review.

[moxieBK · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Imperfect Psychic: A Dubious Death (Book 1) — Ashley King/Narrator: Sarah Kempton (28 chapters) May 2-3, 2022

I am not a fan of the current (May 2022) cover of this delightful paranormal cozy mystery. That’s the bad.

A woman who’s life career is in meteorology has a premonition that her forecast is going to be wrong, and when it turns out the opposite, she goes home in ruin, only to find her boyfriend sulking away from breaking up with her.

A dream with her long lost mother tells her to head north where she reinvents herself two times and becomes friends with an eclectic mix of people who feel more like family than she ever has experienced. These people are not all good and in the course of the story one ends of dead (this is a cozy after mall, natch!)

This is the beginning of what’s feels like a very nice cozy mystery series. I can’t wait to read the next book.

Three stars.

[Amanda Evans · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this. I was halfway through the book when I realized it was a cozy mystery, not a romance. Oopsie. It’s okay, I like both.

I liked the story, and I liked the fact that people were like, ‘I know what you’re doing, you’re trying to pin this on me.’ They still said more than most people would have in that situation, but it was all good.

I don’t like how they found the killer. I don’t want to spoil the ending, but it was really too quick and out of the blue. Also, I don’t particularly appreciate how fast everything lined up for her. She found the house, she suddenly came into money and bought it and it was ready to go in what, one week? Maybe two?

I think some of that stuff was far-fetched, but again, it was a cozy so it wasn’t as out of touch with reality as some of the ones I’ve read.

[MGB · Rating 2 out of 5]

This story unfortunately misses some obvious points. The protagonist, who is clearly a very smart scientist, jumps without investigation into an old house. She wanted the house a lot, but still given her background she would have done a deep dive.

She finds a "minx" cat. Did she mean Manx? She learns of the art opening tonight, but immediately following that it is "the night of the art opening" rather than tonight. When she discovered the body she didn't note that the car was parked in the driveway. Yet the GPS story reveals later that it was. These multiple inconsistencies leave the reader thinking the author couldn't keep track of her story.

The story itself just didn't flow very well.

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW THAT'S WOW!!!This is a high caliber writer that brings you into the world of storey teller by giving an intelligent and vibrant woman working in a world of meteorology then the winds blow to a new direction. Charlotte believes she is at the peek of fulfillment, BOOM a vision, loss of job ,loss of, loss of, and the winds blow to a new direction.Theese caracters surrounding this mystery are as vibrant as ever and challenging in so many ways. Ashley King a high caliber writer that has brought us into the world of passion , intreage, humor and murder.Aquier "The Imperfect Psychic "so you yourself can enjoy reading it as much as I have.

[Elsie Broadbent · Rating 1 out of 5]

I thought this book would be light and entertaining, I was so wrong! This is quite possibly the worst book I have read in a very long time. The sentences were short and staccato and the characters wooden beyond belief. Charlotte Vale the " Imperfect Psychic " was exactly that. She dithered from place to place, almost going round in circles. Eventually she did solve the murder, more by good luck than good management. Let's just say I won't be reading any more of the series.
Thanks to Book Sirens for my ARC.

[Gee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked the idea of this book, a psychic meteorologist who didn’t want to believe her visions. Being fired sets her off to try to find her own way. Ending up in a place she’s seen her mother in a vision, it looks like she has found a home, but things take a turn for the worst.

This is nice and easy to read, but it felt just like a scene setter rather than a novel, and leaves too many questions. However, it’s nicely written and I would be interested where the next instalment takes Charlotte.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[S.A. Krishnan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice cosy mystery
Charlotte Vale works as a meteorologist, but the story starts with her making a mistake by trusting her dubious ‘psychic’ gifts. But she is fired and she gets some guidance from her grandmother and she decides to trust her instincts and it ends up with her opening her Bed-and-Breakfast. But because it does not work out, she opens a psychic booth.
Then there is a powerful man who wants to shut her down and the man ends up dead. What happens after that?
Interesting characters and good twists making a nice cosy mystery.

[Penny Lane-Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unexpectedly entertainhg

I was intrigued by the title of the book hence I was reading it. However during the course of the book I found it drew you into the tale. I normally read crime mysteries and in that respect this book was like a Mills an Boon mystery , I now understand the 'cosy' term not sure how many I would read in future but this introduction to the gendre was delightfully refreshing.

[Sharon Urschel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lacked a little something!

I thought the booked was lacking something, the writing was good but the book seemed to be missing some points in the main story line. It just seemed to me that the story was rushed as the time frame seemed to move so fast. The main character went from being unemployed to buying a bed and breakfast and opening up a shop! We never found out anything more about her Mom and why she had seen her in her visions, which kind of left that hanging.

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good mystery. I would read more of this series.
Very disconcerting to have the performer narrate with an English accent and have all the characters (except the Italian guy) with American accents.
And please for the love! Stop saying ammeejitly!!! I know she knows the word because she actually had one character say immediately. And I never notice how much a word is in a book until the performer drives me crazy saying it.

[Avid · Rating 2 out of 5]

Difficult to rate. Not my cup of tea. Even if it were along the same lines of the other stories, I still have issue with the officers having no real clue when they know the people in this small town, the way the book bounced every where and added characters as needed to fit the storyline (Very apparent if you read the book and learn who the killer is 🤷‍♀️,... seriously!), and other annoyances like these. As stated though, not my cup of tea.

[Julia Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book about a lady that could see the future but not always what she thinks the vision is about, it could be something deeper. In fact, it got her fired at her meteorology job that she has a degree for. Which made her decide to move to a place by the lake and open a bed and breakfast. Made new friends and an enemy. She had to investigate a guy's death and ended up good at it. Lots of twists and turns. Great characters, easy read.

[Emily Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this a lot more than I was expecting to! I struggled a bit with the first 30ish pages but I think I just wasn't in the right headspace as I've just finished the rest in two hours and it's now 1am. It took a while to get to the actual murder but it was great to learn about the main character, the setting and her getting established in a new town before the plot began to focus on other characters as she went to solve the murder

[T.L. Hill · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had 2 big problems with this book. First, it shouldn’t take 18 chapters to get to the murder. Second, the fun part is trying to guess who done it. You could not do this with this story because the murderer wasn’t introduced in the previous chapters. So when you learned who the killer was, you had no previous knowledge of the character’s existence.
I will read the next book but hope it is a bit better.

[CanditheBookworm · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun read. Very light-hearted and fluffy. I liked the visions were imperfect and not taken too literally. It’s not a heavy serious read, but it’s entertaining and flows well. I recommend for someone looking for something light and enjoyable way to spend an lazy afternoon.

Thanks to the author and Booksirens for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.