A Case of Imagination

Beauty pageant tomfoolery and psychic shenanigans add comic zest to Tesh's cozy debut. Madeline "Mac" Maclin, the former Miss Parkland of Parkland, N.C., is a struggling PI and a young divorcée in hot pursuit of clients and even hotter pursuit of romance with Jerry Fairweather. When Jerry asks Mac to check out his new inheritance, a spooky old house in the nearby town of Celosia, she jumps at the chance. Soon Mac finds herself investigating the murder of a contestant at the local beauty pageant as well as the haunting of a famous romance author's neurotic husband, though her slapdash sleuthing is more reminiscent of Nancy Drew than, say, Kay Scarpetta. While Jerry renovates his new digs, he contemplates launching a haunted B and B with Olivia Decker, Mac's main rival for Jerry's affections. At times Tesh writes as if she doesn't know where she wants to go—zany, romantic, serious?—but hopefully she'll develop a more consistent tone as she hones her craft in later entries in the series. (Feb.)