Victoria Laurie – Death perception

The sixth book in the Psychic Eye Mystery series, published September 2008.




Abby Cooper's betting the house on her inner eye...
It took a while for Abby Cooper's FBI agent boyfriend, Dutch Rivers, to accept her psychic gifts as the real deal. But these days he knows better than to question Abby's visions. So when his favorite cousin Chase is kidnapped in Vegas, they both catch the next flight to Sin City. Abby's inner eye insists that Chase is still alive, but nothing else about the case adds up - especially Dutch's reluctance to involve his own Bureau.
On top of everything, Dutch is battling a mysterious illness, and Abby keeps having disturbing dreams that predict his death. Dutch wants Abby to promise that if the investigation goes south, she'll head home to safety. But when the chips are down, Abby won't fold without a fight...


The book starts with a sad note with a sad reading for Abby, but quickly continues on a fun note, with Dutch giving Abby a book called Cooking for Dummies, which makes her really mad. Dutch is a gourmet cook, and the only thing Abby can make, is breakfast. Which is more because her little dog Eggy is so fond of eggs. Dave, who is taking his sweet time fixing up the renovations to Dutch’ house, think it funny. He loves the invitations to dinner Dutch keeps giving him, his “old lady” also is not much of a cook apparently. But then Dutch gets a phone call from Las Vegas, and everything changes. His cousin is gone missing when the man he was bodyguarding was kidnapped. So Dutch and Abby immediately fly out for Las Vegas, to help Chase’s girlfriend, and try to find out what happened, and get Chase back alive.
The Las Vegas police detective who got the case is kind enough to let Dutch and Abby into the case, and even take them home with him for dinner, as his wife Nora is a great cook.

Dutch is not feeling very well, blaming the chicken salad sandwich Abby has made him for lunch. And Abby is feeling really guilty about it, especially when she went for pizza with her friend Candice instead. But he refuses to go to a hospital to get checked out.
Dutch is adamant about not involving the local FBI into the case, and he makes Abby promise to go hide out at her sister’ house when something happens to him. Abby doesn’t want to promise that, if Dutch is in trouble, she is needed right here in Las Vegas. But apparently, there are more things going on then he can tell her.

And then Dutch really disappears. Abby tries to track him down through the GPS in his cell phone, but they only find his crashed car at the bottom of a ravine, and a pregnant unconscious woman holding his cellphone in her hand … What happened to Dutch? The only thing her guides can show her, is a tombstone at the foot of an oaktree, that morphs into a palmtree. Abby really cannot imagine what that could mean. But looking at his picture she knows he is still alive, although his time is running out!
With the FBI hard on their heels, his chef trying to blacken his name, Abby, Cat and Candice are trying to get to the bottom of all this, finding out what happened, and how it all ties back to a murder 30 years ago. Luckily, they have Nora to help them, she sure is one tough woman!


A great new novel in a series that really grows on me. I know those will be on my keeper shelf. Abby doesn’t know all that much about Dutch, and when the FBI tells her he is not just an FBI agent, but also owns a private security firm and is worth a lot of millions, she is astonished. Sure, he buys a lot of things, and their hotel room is very expensive, but they don’t just talk about money. It is not like she hasn’t any of her own.
I loved it how Cat and Candice come to her rescue immediately. They pull some really awesome stunts, and together they are great. A lot of Candice’s past is revealed, and that was just awesome. The characters she knows (and who get hunted by the FBI as they are traced).

I really did not see the solution to his mystery, and was nicely surprised by it all.

9 stars.