Who Do, Voodoo?

Who Do, Voodoo? by Rochelle Staab

When Liz Cooper's friend Robin Bloom finds an unusual tarot card tacked to her front door, Liz writes it off as a prank. Robin refuses to ignore the omen-- her late husband drew the same card, the Three of Swords, in a reading the night before he was killed in a car accident. As more cards and darker threats appear, Liz realizes someone very dangerous is upping the ante...

Liz turns to her brother's ex-college roommate, occult expert Nick Garfield. As Nick leads her into the voodoo community to locate the origin of the deck, she can't ignore their attraction to each other. Then, a woman is found murdered and Robin becomes the prime suspect. Determined to clear her friend, Liz teams with Nick to unravel otherwordly secrets and seek help from beyond- or risk being outwitted by a cunning killer...

Liz has never bought into the mystical woowoo stuff, so when someone starts sending tarot cards to her best friend's front door she just thinks some punk kids must be up to some pranks. However, Robin isn't so sure are the same cards her husband drew the night before he died. Then threats start showing up with the cards and they know things are more serious than a mere prank. So, Liz enlists the help of her brother's old college roommate, Nick. He just happens to be an occult expert. In the middle of their investigation, Robin becomes the number one suspect in a murder case. Time is not on their side as they rush to find the real killer before Robin loses everything.

To be honest Voodoo elements have never really topped the top of my must read lists as it seemed like a bunch of confusing hocus pocus to me. However, in Who Do, Voodoo things are presented in almost layman's terms, making things a whole lot easier to follow. I think a lot of that had to do with the fact that Liz was completely new to all of it herself, so there were no presumptions already formed to skew things. I really enjoyed seeing Liz's journey from complete disbelief to a resigned acceptance, and finally to almost fully trusting in the unknown. I think part of her will always be a little skeptical, but at least she seemed to open up a little in the end.

While the majority of this book is more on the serious side, there is some humor as well. Specifically in the form of Liz's mother. Trust me this woman is a quack. When talking to Liz about her brother she feels she must remind Liz that he is her brother AND his name is Dave. Seriously, she says "your brother, Dave" each and every time. Plus she has this obsession with reuniting Liz with her cheating, alcoholic ex. I can't count the number of times Liz would "accidentally" hang up on her mother or delete messages before they even start. That woman is one can of worms that must be tread carefully around.

While Who Do, Voodoo was slightly outside of my normal genre choice, I still found myself  being completely captivated by the story. There was just the right mix of paranormal, mystery and romance to make a perfectly blended story that I just couldn't put down. To be honest I am surprised that this is a debut novel as it read as smoothly as some of the more seasoned author's works. I am eager to see what happens next in this fantastic series, and I'll definitely be on the look out for Rochelle Staub's future works. You definitely won't want to miss this intriguing mystery with a little paranormal thrown in.

(Received a copy from the publisher)

Rating:

Buy now from Amazon:
Who Do, Voodoo? (A Mind for Murder Mystery)

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