The setting was something I quite enjoyed, and the overall story was easy to follow. This is the first book I've read by this author and hopefully not the last. Illusions is one book I recommend.

A lighthearted mystery that I fully enjoyed. Didn’t realise it was the 2nd in a series but that didn’t detract and was great to read as a stand-alone. Will look at more books to get to know Alex

We start out with Alexandra Best on a cruise. Even without the title, it becomes very clear very fast that this is not the first of a series. I always like learning a new series, so I was excited to see that if I liked this one, I would have more to read! Starting off in Alex's mind is a very ugly place. She makes snap judgments about everyone, including thinking that any person she does not find attractive, especially women, couldn't possibly have ever had a romantic life. She judges a "plain" woman who is often alone on the cruise. Assuming she is a spinster, she soon hears from another passenger that she is also a psychic. Now you know she is going to approach our off-duty detective and tell her something grim and mysterious. And she does.

Alex gets home to find that an old friend is ill. She, of course, considers her unattractive and assumes she is a 26 year old virgin. I began to wonder why this woman was so interested in the sex lives of everyone she saw. Then you find out it's because she is really overly obsessed with it herself.

Meanwhile, the forgotten psychic's daughter suddenly turns up just after Alex learns that the death foretold has come true. Or is it deaths? Everyone dies around her and characters make little to no sense. At about 1/4 way in, I'm wondering if I want to finish.

The rest of the book is long drawn out descriptions of the main character slowly coming to obvious conclusions and then explaining those to the reader over pages and pages as if the readers were unable to comprehend the connections being made. I quickly read through to the end hoping for that good ending that can sometimes save a ridiculous book. It wasn't there. Alas, I do not have a new series to read.

The author wrote a thriller that started with a bang and just kept going! The twists kept coming, so I couldn't put it down. I cannot wait to read more from this author!

A very good mystery, it's takes you back in time and keeps you hooked till the last page.
I liked the well written cast of characters and the plot so full of twists and turns.
I look forward to reading other books by this author.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to Agora Books and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Illusions has a good storyline,but parts of the writing may irritate readers. The characters are interesting. I am torn on this book.

I definitely have mixed feelings about this one and that has nothing to do with it being the second in a series. The story is interesting - Private Investigator, Alex Best, comes across an apparently nondescript 'beige-lady', Leonora, on a cruise but who turns out to be a clairvoyant, seeing death associated with Alex. Upon her return to London Alex finds out that a close friend has indeed died during her absence closely followed by the murder of the clairvoyant and approach by the daughter to investigate an alleged stalker. She attends a colourful farewell to Leanora, receives her notebook with cryptic entries and is herself burgled; Leonora's murdered is apprehended, there's the local Old Folks' Home and a mysterious 'Major' who may or may not be Special Branch or simply a conman and also present on the original cruise. The characters are less interesting to me especially Alex - she seems to be a professional on one hand but spends an awful lot of time thinking about Gary an ex bike riding boyfriend and Nick, the 'hot' detective who clearly wants to be the new boyfriend but perhaps that's what modern 26-year olds do, Not to mention a nasty but story-irrelevant incident with another apparently hot detective who then commits suicide. She has odd erratic thoughts about the case and rushes off chasing these with little apparent structure which makes for some confusion. I would have liked more of her threads of thought about the case than her sex-life. The ending was sort of bizarre even if some of the thoughts came to fruition - I have to ask .. who? The first few pages of the next of the series at the back of this book again has what looks as if it will be an intriguing story but whether I can face more of Alex is debatable. Thanks to NetGalley and Agora Books for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.