Our Red Hot Romance Is Leaving Me Blue

April 19, 2010
When hunky firefighter Justin Sadler's late wife, Rachel, appears to be trying to communicate from beyond the grave with refrigerator magnets in the pseudonymous Cash's (Curing the Blues with a New Pair of Shoes
) wacky sixth novel, Justin asks the Domestic Equalizers, Debbie Sue Overstreet and Edwina Perkins-Martin, of Salt Lick, Tex., to determine whether his house is really haunted. Debbie Sue and Ed, who also own the Styling Station beauty salon, accept the challenge, while a young teacher moonlighting as a “mentalist,” Sophia Paredes, who's the granddaughter of a recently deceased El Paso psychic, also agrees to help Justin. Adding some skullduggery to the ghostly goings-on is Justin's greedy brother-in-law, who covets the mineral rights of Justin's ranch. Cash (Texas sisters Pamela Cumbie and Jeffery McClanahan) neatly mixes woo-woo weirdness and romance with the gosh-darn Texas humor fans expect from this light crime series.

May 1, 2010
In the latest crazy, Texas-based Domestic Equalizers adventure, someone has been messing with Justins head, and though his heart tells him its the ghost of his beloved wife, Rachel, his brain tells him it cant possibly beor can it? Her favorite blanket is found mysteriously draped across the sofa as if Rachel had just taken a nap, her rings turn up on the kitchen table, and her signature companys coming yellow roses magically appear in a crystal vase. As if these signs werent unsettling enough, magnetic letters affixed to the refrigerator start spelling out meaningful messages. Although not the kind of case Cashs Domestic Equalizers usually encounter, Edwina and Debbie Sue are sufficiently perplexed by Justins predicament to accept the challenge. But first they call in some extra help in the extrasensory department, the granddaughter of a well-known psychic whose powers help lonely-guy Justin solve all his problems. Because Cashs stylin sleuths pour on their trademark saucy innuendos and infectious glee, this installment delivers a rollicking good ride.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)