Dark Aura [Hardcover]

I really enjoyed the other two books in this series, but Carla Day seems to have gone off the deep end. The narrative voice is spacey. There are two murders in this book, and not a bit of evidence is collected. A part time sheriff's deputy, Carla spends time not working at her administrator's job in a sort of self-care facility, while she fumbles around asking questions about the two murders she's supposed to solve. She doesn't seem to have any training as a law enforcement professional, and doesn't seem to know how to investigate a murder or get cooperation from her suspects and witnesses. There doesn't seem to be any paperwork produced, evidence analyzed, or reporting done. Carla gets back with Rob the doctor, but the hospital scenes are no more convincing than the investigative scenes. I couldn't suspend my disbelief while reading this poorly written, confused story, which was solved by accident in the last ten pages. I expected better from this talented author.

This is the third and final installment in the series featuring Carla Day, a part-time Deputy Sheriff and full time problem solver for the adult care center where she and her father live. Stanton Mills, CA is a small town with aging hippies and new-agers, so crime isn't always a big problem, but when an indigo child, Tamina Kerry, ends up at the bottom of a cliff after a dark portent, the local sheriff feels quite obligated to investigate. Unfortunately for law enforcement most of the inhabitants of the quiet and reclusive community are quite leery of the police and won't speak freely around them. Since Carla and her father spend time in the community with friends, the sheriff assigns the case to Carla with the hopes that someone will come forward - and not pushing this time.

Carla is known to the community but is still an outsider. Her father, an aging, retired Egyptologist with Alzheimer's, has earned the respect of the locals but his condition is deteriorating quickly - making his information less than useful, despite his close friendship with the dead girl. What Carla does seem to come across is news of missing babies - just hints - but no one seems willing to confirm or deny the information for fear of retribution - like Tamina.

Carla didn't cut the mustard with me. Even though she was a reluctant deputy, she had to have received some investigative training - but you wouldn't know it after reading this novel. She has no outline of a crime or suspects, never remembers what she is looking for much less writing it down in a report or notes, and her search patterns and reasoning are non-existent. I know that amateurs have been modeled this way, but in this Carla is supposed to be considered a professional. I could see if this was supposed to blend into the community in some way, as the residents seem to be fairly laid-back and lackadaisical, but it doesn't.

Maybe the first two books make up for the third in the series, but I would never think to pick them up after reading this one. It, quite simply, was not to my taste. I enjoy most mysteries with something of a paranormal bent, which is what drew me to this one, but I am afraid I this was not one of them. Those who enjoy mysticism and Egyptology may enjoy some of the writings and background.

In Stanton's Mill, California many of the New Age residents believe in the prophecies foretold by the Indigo child, fifteen years old Tamina Kerry. Whenever Tamina spoke in her Oracle like metaphors, people heeded what she said. So everyone waited breathlessly for she has told them she has something significant to say.

However, before she can relay her message, Tamina falls off a nearby cliff to her death. In her last moment she mentions a missing Indigo child. Still no one thinks about it as the Indigo are strange and others like her have died young or vanished abruptly to never be seen again. Encouraged by her boss sly blonde bombshell Sheriff Cherie Ghent, part-time deputy sheriff Carla Day investigates whether Tamina's death was an accident, a suicide or a murder. She uses her skills honed from obtaining information from her Alzheimer's suffering father to inquire of the eccentrics who live there. When a man is found dead with his throat cut, Carla believes there is a link to the Tamina death and fears more will follow.

The key to this entertaining whodunit is the fullness of the prime characters especially the heroine, who works the case amidst an eccentric crowd that orates in riddles when asked a straight question. Her caring for her father, a professor losing his memory except when it comes to Egyptology, enables her to work through the odd responses she receives. Cherie is terrific as her boss as she plays the police version of Reese Witherspoon's Legally Blonde but more as a ploy to fool the rubes into giving her whatever she needs. Fans will appreciate Diana O'Hehir's enjoyable third mystery as no clues are straightforward. They require New Age translation into police English (see ERASED FROM MEMORY and MURDER NEVER FORGETS).

Harriet Klausner