When Manfred Bernardo--professional Internet psychic--moves to Midnight, Tex., he finds that he's not the only one with secrets to protect. There's his landlord, Bobo Winthrop, who owns the local pawn shop, and Bobo's other tenant, Lemuel, who comes out only to work his night shifts.
Fiji Cavanaugh, a self-proclaimed witch, runs a New Age shop across the road from Manfred's apartment. The Reverend from the little church, dark and aged, rarely speaks, but when he does, everyone listens. Midnight is full of people who keep to themselves, and Manfred feels right at home in his newly adopted burg.
When Bobo's girlfriend, Aubrey, is found dead while Manfred and his newly acquainted friends are on a picnic just outside of town, no one seems to know what to do. Lemuel and his girlfriend, Olivia (a bad*** with a heart of gold whom no one would dare cross), head off in search of possible perpetrators, while Fiji and Manfred do some investigating of their own. What develops is a mystery that will keep readers engaged through to the end, as Manfred finds out that everyone in town has a secret, usually a supernatural one.
While Harris is best known for the Sookie Stackhouse novels that inspired the HBO series True Blood, this first book in her new trilogy begins with a lot of promise. There's something going on in Midnight, and the denizens of the town aren't super keen on anyone finding out exactly what it is. --Rob LeFebvre, freelance writer and editor