My mum handed me this book just before Christmas and said, “It’s like Stephanie Plum…with magic.” Now I like Plum. I like magic. I really like the new Diesel series by Janet Evanovich. So I snatched this book and ran.

 

Disappearing Nightly

(Esther Diamond #1)

Written by Laura Resnick
Pages: 416
I’m not a heroine — I just play one.Also psychotics, vamps, orphans, hookers, housewives and — on one memorable occasion — a singing rutabaga. It was never my ambition to utilize my extensive dramatic training by playing a musical vegetable. However, as my agent is fond of pointing out, there are more actors in New York than there are people in most other cities. Translation: Beggars can’t be choosers.

This explains how I wound up painting my body green and prancing around stage half-naked the night Golly Gee, the female lead in the off-broadway show “Sorcerer!” disappeared into thin air. Literally.

Now other performers are also vanishing, and a mysterious stranger is warning me: There is evil among us. But the producers want me to take over Golly’s part.

Looks like I’m going to need a little magical help if I want to keep my starring role . . .

I’m not so sure I really agree with the whole Stephanie Plum analogy, but that’s OK. It is your basic chick-lit cozy mystery. I dig those. But there really is magic. I love that.

So here’s what we have:

Chick – Esther Diamond. With a name like that is it any wonder she headed off to NYC to become an actress? No, I didn’t think so either. Love it.

Hottie Love Interest – Studmuffin cop of course. One with no idea how to handle the crazy gal he’s faced with. I like his humor. Telling his mother that he’s having breakfast with a possible felon was pretty awesome. Probably my favorite scene in the whole book.

Magic Dude – He lived through the Spanish Inquisition. He is overzealous. He wants to help. He runs a bookstore, how convenient. And he is a real magic making person. Explain that to the Hottie Love Interest. Cop be not amused.

The Cast of Crazy Sidekicks – All are stage magician world people with great names like Dolly the Dancing Cowgirl, Magic Magnus, and Darling Delilah. Did I mention Darling Delilah is a drag queen and comes with buddies Saturated Fats and Whoopsy Daisy? Seriously, how do you not read a book with characters like this?

The Mystery – The assistants to various magicians vanish. No really, they vanish. Imagine the surprise to the poor unsuspecting magicians when their parlor trick turns real!

I figured out the whodunit, but not the full why or where. I definitely liked the ending and am glad to see there’s another book. Will the full cast return? I don’t know, but I hope so!

I enjoyed the book, but I definitely didn’t find it near as laugh out loud funny as a Plum novel, which is what I expected after my mother handed it off to me.  I think this falls more into some other paranormal books I read and love. If you like paranormal mysteries, this one’s for you.

–Lady O