Manfred Bernardo, phone psychic and recent transplant to Midnight, Tex., is back in this second volume of Charlaine Harris's new series about the supernatural denizens of one tiny town.
Day Shift is an even stronger novel than the first enjoyable entry in the series, Midnight Crossroad, with a streamlined, well-paced story about a client's mysterious death during one of Bernardo's séances. The dead woman's son accuses Bernardo of stealing his mother's jewelry, and it's up to Bernardo and his friends in the weird town of Midnight to find the jewels and clear his name.
Everyone in Midnight has something to hide, and media attention focused on the murder investigation is not making anyone there happy. With fewer characters to introduce as in the first book, Harris gets to provide a glimpse of several supporting characters' secrets, including those of Reverend Sheehan and his new young charge; gay couple and angelic town protectors Joe and Chuy; and bad-ass vampire-lover Olivia Charity, who gets a lot of attention in this novel as she helps Bernardo find out who really killed his client.
Add in some weretigers and a telepathic grandson--with ties to Harris's other famous character, Sookie Stackhouse--and Day Shift is a fun way to spend some downtime. Harris has a talent for interesting and engaging characters, and Day Shift is full of them, going about their daily supernatural lives in this one-stoplight town. --Rob LeFebvre, freelance writer and editor