Flight Risk

June 1, 2022

First introduced in 2021's Grave Reservations, psychic travel agent Leda Foley is here asked to locate a woman who decamped in a vintage orange car with a stack of her employer's cash and a simmering hatred for her cheating husband. Seattle PD detective Grady Merritt's dog has vanished, too, but turns up with a human leg in his jaws. Of course the cases intertwine.

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September 12, 2022
At the start of Priest’s lively sequel to 2021’s Grave Reservations, Det. Grady Merritt of the Seattle PD and his teenage daughter, Molly, are searching Mount Rainier for their lost dog, Cairo, when Cairo appears with a human leg in its mouth. Where did the leg come from? And where’s the rest of the person? From Cairo’s poop, Molly recovers a man’s wedding ring, which Grady brings to psychic Leda Foley to test for possible clues. Meanwhile, Leda is looking into the case of a local landscaper who disappeared from a construction site several weeks before and whom nobody reported missing. Though resolving the two cases begins slowly, Leda and Grady eventually discover links between the two and, with the help of some “woo-woo stuff” from Leda, the investigations proceed in surprising and ultimately highly satisfying directions. The dynamic between Generation-X Leda and the staid Grady, a widower, is friendly and realistic. After overcoming his initial skepticism having been overcome, Grady has faith in Leda’s ability to make connections that prove key to solving the conundrums they face. Readers will be eager to see whether anything beyond a collegiality develops between them in their next adventure. Agent: Stacia Decker, Dunow, Carlson, & Lerner.

October 15, 2022
This second entry in the Booking Agents series (following Grave Reservations, 2021) finds Seattle psychic consultant and travel agent Leda Foley gleefully tackling her first missing-persons case. Dan Matarese is concerned about his sister, Robin Reddick, who disappeared after accepting a large landscaping deposit. Matarese doesn't think she's taken the cash and ducked out on her philandering husband, Paul. But even then she wouldn't ghost Dan and her son, Jeff. The stars align to pair Leda with Seattle homicide detective Grady Merritt when his dog, Cairo, finds Paul's in a Mount Rainier park. Making sense of Paul's disgusted son, his suspicious brother-in-law, his jealous TA, and his latest predatory affair promises an intense investigation until Leda's psychic flashes lead to a break that snaps both cases closed. Quirky Leda and ever-patient Grady share a warm, hilarious rapport as they unravel this pair of well-constructed mysteries, and Priest offers an engaging ode to her hometown. Pure frothy fun.

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August 1, 2022

Priest's second "Booking Agents" novel (after Grave Reservations) has psychic travel agent Leda Foley ready to solve another mystery (or two). When she is asked to help a man find his missing sister, Leda jumps at the chance to use her (sometimes inconsistent) psychic abilities on a paying gig. The man's sister was last seen leaving in a vintage orange car with a large amount of cash from her landscaping clients. He believes the police are not doing enough because of the well-known fact of her philandering husband and their shaky marriage. In the meantime, Grady Merritt, Seattle PD, has inadvertently become involved in a case that involves body parts--most notably, a leg, which was retrieved from the mouth of his dog, Cairo. After DNA tests reveal that "Mr. Leg" belongs to Leda's missing woman's husband, the cases become entangled, and the unlikely duo set out to decipher the clues. VERDICT This lighthearted mystery with its travel agent/psychic and her occasional, unofficial partner is a good choice for cozy mystery lovers, animal lovers, and fans of the author. Recommended.--Cynthia Price

Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.