cover image Double Blind: A Kate Benedict Paranormal Mystery

Double Blind: A Kate Benedict Paranormal Mystery

Carrie Bedford. CreateSpace, $12.99 trade paper (266p) ISBN 978-1-5151-6188-2

At the outset of Bedford's suspenseful second Kate Benedict mystery (after 2014's The Aura), Kate, an architect with a psychic gift, is jogging in London's Hyde Park with her best friend, Dr. Anita Banerjee, when she spots two older men running in the opposite direction and notices that both have the auras over their heads of people who are at risk of dying in the near future. To Kate's dismay, Anita tells her that one of the men is Simon Scott, the leader of the Labour Party, who could become the next prime minister in the election less than a month away. ("I don't do politics," Kate says by way of explaining why she didn't recognize Scott.) Determined to save Scott's life, Kate turns sleuth to try to identify possible assassins, while she strives to protect Anita after spotting an aura over her friend's head. In the face of understandable skepticism, Kate gets some unlikely support from pathologist Grace Trillo, who claims that she was "an Egyptian embalmer in a former life," a past profession that led to Grace's current one. Bedford successfully juggles the multiple plot lines. (BookLife)