121) Sense of Deception by Victoria Laurie

The Blurb :

A ticked-off judge has tossed Abby in the slammer for contempt of court, and during her brief but unpleasant stay she learns the story of a condemned woman who is facing a far more serious sentence. Skylar Miller has been found guilty of murder and faces the death penalty. Everyone believes she’s guilty, including her own family and her ex-husband—everyone, that is, except Abby, whose finely honed intuition tells her this woman doesn’t belong behind bars.

With the help of her husband Dutch and her friend Candice, Abby launches into her own investigation to clear Skylar and find the real killer. But after a final appeal is denied and Skylar’s attorney scrambles for a stay of execution, time is running short—and the list of suspects keeps growing. There’s no margin for error as the life of an innocent woman hangs in the balance…

My Thoughts :

The Psychic Eye Mystery series has been a little off over the last couple of books.  They were still worth reading but they weren't as good as the earlier installments.  Sense of Deception gets things back on track and shows the 'old' Abby with less FBI involvement and some real good old crime solving skills using her psychic skills.

Of course things will never be the same as they were back at the beginning.  Abby has grown and her life has changed in many ways.  These changes means she uses her psychic skills less and seems to be more cocky in her actions.   After all she has the FBI behind her so she has some big time back-up but she relies too much on her network and the author does too.

Sense of Deception started with Abby ending up in jail which was exactly a lesson she needed to learn.  It made me happy to see her getting to spend the whole night there because she couldn't be rescued by her network of friends in high places.  It brought her back down a little and also showed her a new side of the system that was scary and unfair.

I really enjoyed the plot this time around.  The injustice question, the time limit they were up again and the fact that it was a very cold case all made things very interesting and compelling.  I knew who was the killer from the get go.  I just didn't understand why it was that person.  The reason at the end seems rushed and quite stupid but I guess there is never a logical reason why anyone does something like that.

The little side plots were a nice addition to the story and stopped the pressure and stress of the main case from taking over.  I hope we see more of Oscar and keep Dutch more in the background where cases are concerned.  As I mentioned before, Abby relies on her network too much and I also don't think it is a good idea to have her husband too have such a involvement in her cases all the time.

Despite the forced and quick ending, this thirteenth book made me feel like the books did back in the good old days.  After the last couple of installments making me feel so meh this was a great boost and I hope the series continues to keep on with this style and feeling.  However what I don't hope is that they keep the price...the new release costs the same as three paperbacks.  A harsh price for us long standing fans and a huge reason why I don't pre-order this series anymore.