cover image Spirited

Spirited

Mary Behre. Berkley Sensation, $7.99 mass market (320p) ISBN 978-0-425-26861-2

Juliana Scott has just moved back home to Tidewater, Va., to get away from the sense of overwhelming pain and fear she felt in the big city—all due to her unasked-for ability to talk to the dead. Cities draw large numbers of the departed, all of them vocal and needy. Tidewater is small and sparsely populated, so it’s a shock when Jules is visited by a very strident, angry, newly deceased young woman who wants something from her. The visitation pushes Jules into the arms of Det. Seth English, her neighbor, in a disastrous series of slapstick-worthy errors and misunderstandings. Behre’s exuberant debut paranormal romance is lighthearted and easygoing, with a slow-moving subplot that promises to spark future books. Agent: Cascade Literary Agency. (Mar.)