MIDNIGHT CROSSROAD

An online psychic settles in Midnight, Texas, an unusual small town where all the residents have shadowy pasts and a lingering mystery brings unwanted attention.

There are just a few houses and a few businesses at the crossroads in Midnight, and everyone seems to socialize at the Gas N Go, Home Cookin or Midnight Pawn. Psychic Manfred Bernardo has moved here for a variety of reasons, and isolation is just one of them. An outsider himself, he is completely surprised when he winds up in a community full of outsiders, which kind of makes him one of the crowd. Not at all what he was expecting, but somehow comforting and welcome: “In fact, it’s just like he belongs here.” Trouble soon appears, though, when it becomes clear that town resident Aubrey, who everyone thought had run away, was actually murdered. Bobo, owner of the pawnshop and Aubrey’s ex, has been mourning since she disappeared, but now that she’s dead, her history with a violent religious sect puts Midnight's close-knit community in danger. Luckily, the town’s residents are uniquely talented at survival, and they’ll do everything they can to keep their little band of misfits safe—a band which turns out to consist of a vampire, a witch, a mysterious Black Ops character and an assortment of enigmatic humans. Harris, of the spectacularly successful Sookie Stackhouse books, begins a new series that is not as overtly supernatural, revolving more around human foibles than vampire ones. Yet she maintains her ability to build intriguing worlds and create fascinating, textured characters, combining them with dark, complex tangles of plot and motive.

A little magic, a little mystery and a lot of imagination make for a story that is both fun and edgy, and some unresolved details will keep readers coming back for more.