Trigger warning for suicide.
Nora Breen returns in Murder at the Spirit Lounge, by Jess Kid. This unlikely detective–a former nun who ekes out a living at a down-at-heel hotel in Gore-on-Sea–has been at loose ends since her last case in Murder at Gulls Nest. Her stipend doesn’t go very far and there aren’t many jobs in the tourist town that suit. So when her friend, Detective Inspector Hilary Rideout, invites her to go along on a call about a robbery, Nora doesn’t hesitate before jumping in the car with him.
Dolores Chimes is clearly a fraud. Nora has no doubt that the medium is faking everything she does, though others in Gore-on-Sea think she’s the real deal. Nora doesn’t have a chance to debunk the woman. Shortly after Nora and Rideout ask Chimes about a missing broach, Chimes is killed during a seance. (Readers who know what fern-like burns indicate will know exactly how the victim was killed.) Nora is once again summoned to administer aid to an elderly seance attendee who’s having an asthma attack, giving her a chance to stick her coulter (nose) into whatever is going on.
More victims–all invited by Chimes to the Spirit Lounge–turn up within days of the truncated seance and Nora works out that all of them knew (and possibly wronged) a veteran who suffered severely from post-traumatic stress disorder due to his service in the Royal Air Force during the war. Evelyn Leyton cannot be our killer; we are told that he committed suicide after a few years in a convalescent home more than once. And yet, Nora spots a strange figure in uniform at several of the crime scenes.
There aren’t a lot of clues–other than the connections to Evelyn Leyton–for Nora and Rideout to follow. I was surprised at the competence of the killer and their ability to stay hidden for so long. To be honest, I found that competence a little far fetched. That said, there’s a lot to enjoy in Murder at the Spirit Lounge aside from the shockingly devious antagonist. We get to see the quirky inhabitants of Gulls Nest again: observant and capricious Dinah, food criminal Irene, and charming Bill. We also get to see the relationship between Nora and Rideout grow into something a little more than friendship (though clever Nora seems to be absolutely blind to the signs that a man might be attracted to her).
I’m definitely going to keep an eye out for Nora’s next adventure.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via Edelweiss, for review consideration.