Oh, yeah! Huge thanks to @NetGalley for this one (probably read 90 of the year). Some of you may remember that I utterly fell in love with @skullsandpinkflamingos first book in the Booking Agent series. This one continues the fun. Seattle, again, is a character in its own right, which I am discovering is a happy place for me as a reader. Klairvoyant Karaoke is back, as is a low-key mystery plotline. For me, though, it's the quirky characters and their relationships that make this shine. And I'm really happy that there is NO romantic tension between the two leads. The unexpected closing scene of this one totally gave me all the feels in the best way. Oh, and there's a kind of grossly funny story line involving an omnivorous dog and disembodied body parts. The cover is also brilliant - lots of hints in the cover art, which is particularly inventive. November 15 is the book birthday for this one! 4.5 stars (it gets a little wandery in the middle) from me. #NetGalley #AvivaAndFriendsRecos #SimonAndSchuster

After reading the first book in this series, Grave Reservations, I was hooked and book two does not disappoint. Leda Foley is a travel agent and also a Psychic. Leda's friend and police detective Grady Merritt and his daughter, land themselves in an out of jurisdiction case after their missing dog turns up with a man's leg. When Leda's psychic client's missing person case has a crossover with Grady's case, they are once again hoping to get Leda's psychic abilities to cooperate.

This is a fun series, Don't let the disembodied leg fool you. There is an fantastic balance between police detective work and Leda's Psychic feelings. Also, Grady and Leda's friendship is outstanding. It is nice to have a cozy where the heroine is being sought out by the police for help on the case.I was drawn in from the first page and flew through reading this one trying to figure out how the two mysteries come together and which suspects overlap.

I will keep reading this series. Thank you Atria Books for the ARC on Netgalley. This is my honest review.

So, so good… this has become one of my favorite series. Priest writes incredibly lovable characters, Leda (quirky yet relatable) and Grady (solid and such a dad, in the best way possible) are the perfect sleuthing team and I have to say I adore all the side characters but Leda’s best friend, NIki, just steals every scene she’s in, hilarious. Additionally, Priest manages to flawlessly balance the clues & misdirects to create an incredibly twisty, turny head-scratcher of a mystery that will have you guessing to the end. I also very much like the fact that the book’s told in dual prospective (Leda and Grady) giving it so much more depth and complexity. I, for one, can’t wait to read what’s next for this dynamic duo. This is the second book in the Booking Agents series, so be sure to get caught up and get, Grave Reservations, book one..

I received this eARC thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books in exchange for an honest review. Publishing dates are subject to change.

I love love love this series. It's equal parts frivilous, fun and campy while also telling interesting stories that are only solved through equal parts detective work and psychic investigation. I really like how Leda has grown both as a person and with her power between the first book and this one and it was nice to see that reflected in her personality and how the other characters (including the skeptical ones) treated her.

I genuinely love Grady and while I'm hoping for a slight May-December romance with Leda and Grady, I'd be fine if all they ever were was friends and investagative partners. His relationship with his daughter and his dog are both adorable in different ways, and I greatly appreciate how he approaches people and cases and isn't afraid to have his own ideas or preconceptions questioned.

I want to be part of this found family and help them solve murders and do karaoke!

3.5 stars

Well, Leda and Grady are at it again, and fans of cozy mysteries - and especially of this series - will find this another compelling escapade of psychic detecting and antics!

As usual, Leda and Grady share perspectives, and they are both even more endearing in this latest addition to the group. This time, the novel opens with Grady and his daughter searching for their lost dog (and if you are like me and CANNOT HANDLE the idea of an actually lost dog, rest assured with the non-spoilery note that this is a cozy, and the dog is a happy, healthy, important character throughout)! When they locate him, he is carrying...an unusual find that sparks the central mystery. My sole dislike in this novel is the constant discussion of dog "poop" throughout so much of the beginning. I have two large dogs. I'm not unfamiliar with the concept. It is - however - egregious. This is not the book to read with snacks, especially in the beginning.

Of course, Leda and Grady team up, antics ensue, visions happen, and they make sense of all of the signs. Their friendship continues to evolve slowly and organically, which I really appreciate, and it makes them even more fun to read. These are two quirky and really traumatized characters, so it's comforting (and hilarious at times) to know that they can support each other in a fully platonic way.

I'm relatively new to the cozy scene (just in the last few years), and I continue to find this series a particularly enjoyable version of the genre. If cozies are your jam, snack before you crack this one, but definitely don't miss it. I'm already excited to see what these two will get up to next!

Leda and Grady are back with a very strange case After Grady’s dog brings them a leg, the police start to search for the rest of this mans body. Meanwhile, Leda is approached by a man looking for his missing sister.As they each work on their own case, they realize the two people they are looking for are husband and wife. The two are able to play off each others case to try and crack them both.

I really loved the antics of Leda and Grady (and Nikki) in Grave Reservations, so I was so excited to get to hang out with them again! These two are just the most random duo, but I could not love them more. The way they work together on these cases, while being from vastly different backgrounds is just so much fun and so enjoyable! This one definitely kept me wondering what had happened to this couple!

When I read the first book in this series, Grave Reservations, I knew I was hooked. An inconsistent psychic and a single dad detective solving crime together? Sign me up! Rounding out the cast with our psychic's bar-tending BFF and our detective's teenage daughter, there's lots to love. And book number two did not disappoint!

When psychic travel agent Leda is approached by her man to help find his missing sister, and Detective Grady's dog finds a man's leg on the hiking trails, there are not any immediate connections. But the deeper the two dig, and the more they work together, the more intertwined the cases become. Can good old-fashioned detective work combined with psychic flashes flesh out what happened?

So much to love in this series, and this book. With a stellar cast of characters, fun premise, and creative mystery, I love this book just as much as the first. No complaints!

Thanks to Atria for my ARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

5 stars - 10/10

There's a chance that mystery books are not for me. I just get tired of waiting to find out who did it and start skimming until I realize I missed a detail and have to go back and reread. This book had a lot of details I had to keep track of, but I did not have a guess as to who did it, so that is good.

I read the first Leda Foley book last year and enjoyed the quirky story. This new one, I loved! We still get the same quirky characters, from Leda and Grady to Ben and Cairo, but we get to know the core family of people even better. Cherie Priest does a great job here of keeping everyone a bit woo woo without going overboard. The mystery(ies) were good and kept me guessing about what happened and who did it. Thank you to Atria Books, Cherie Priest, and NetGalley for the early read for my honest opinion. 4.5 stars, highly recommend.

Psychic travel agent, Leda Foley, Niki Nelson, her spitfire best friend, and detective Grady Merritt are back in action after the events of book one, Grave Reservations, and once again I’m loving it!

When Grady’s dog goes missing in Mount Rainier National park and is found a few days later carrying a man’s leg in his mouth, so begins the mystery of “Mr. Leg”, as he (or at least that part of him) is initially referred to. In Leda’s travel agent office, she’s approached by the brother of a missing woman, who’s been gone for a month, but only reported missing by her husband a couple weeks prior, after she disappeared with a bag of her employer’s money. When it later becomes evident that these two cases are connected, Grady and Leda once again combine their collective skills to help solve these cases.

Here’s my argument for reading this series:

It’s fun! It’s absolutely, preposterously unrealistic, but who cares? It’s a cozy mystery in the vein of every silly TV detective series you’ve ever seen, and it’s the absurdity of it that makes it so charming!

Leda is quirky in a way that reminds me, ever so slightly, of a few other favorite female characters of mine like Nina Hill, Eleanor Oliphant or Molly the Maid. She’s often unfiltered and headstrong, but she’s also well-meaning, kind, funny and resourceful, and I always enjoy seeing what her “woo-woo vibes”, as she calls them, tell her. Put Leda with her even more unfiltered friend, Niki, and you know trouble is coming - in the good way!

Leda and Grady balance each others’ personalities perfectly. He’s the level-headed, play (mostly) by the rules type, and she’s the “go where the spirit takes me” type, and the push and pull of their friendship is always entertaining. I LOVE that the author hasn’t pushed even a hint of romance between them. How refreshing!

There are dogs. I’m more of a cat person, myself, but even I couldn’t resist the charms of Grady’s “I’ll eat anything, including dead people parts” dog, Cairo, and another detective’s scent-sniffing dog, T-Rex. Equally cute is Leda’s absolute devotion to her goldfish, Brutus, but that’s another story …

My only downsides are that I wasn’t quite as enamored of this storyline or its resolution as in the first book, and it felt like it took awhile for Leda’s psychic abilities to really come into play, but these characters have created a lot of goodwill in my heart for them, so I fully enjoyed it nonetheless. I still have my fingers crossed that this gets made into a TV series!

If you want good, silly, cozy mystery fun that you don’t need to take too seriously, it’s a great series, and I’ll definitely be in line for book #3!

★★★★

Thanks to Atria Books, NetGalley and author Cherie Priest for this ARC to honestly review. It’s due for publication on November 1st, 2022.

This book continues where Grave Reservations leaves off yet it seems to lose the magic of the first book in the series. The humor is lacking and so are the two most crucial elements: 1) karaoke scenes and 2) psychic plot points. I felt like I read it just to read it but didn’t find this mystery compelling.

Cheri Priest’s second psychic sleuth is as smashing as the first. A fun mystery with a lo t of silly and alcoholic drinks, Priest writes a delightful paranormal romantic mystery.

I am a huge fan of this series! Somehow, Cherie Priest can write gruesome murders that aren't scary or grotesque, but they're still so fun to solve. I can't wait to read more of Leda and Grady.

Flight Risk stars Leda who is a psychic who uses her skills to help the Seattle police department. This book is the second in the Booking Agent series and centers around a missing woman, missing money and the gruesome discovery of a dismembered limb. The characters were relatable and quirky and this book had just the right amount of witty banter and thriller action. Overall, this was a fun, quick read and I strongly recommend it for fans of both cozy and paranormal mysteries.

This series is super fun! It’s the perfect book if you’re coming off something a little too serious, it’s light and easy. Such an enjoyable read! Looking forward to more from this series!!

Flight Risk the second book in The Booking Agents series, has us rejoin psychic Leda Foley and Detective Grady Merritt not long after the events of the first book. Leda has grown more series in pursuing a side line in using her psychic talents to help people find things or people they're missing. A new client arrives for help finding his missing sister. Meanwhile Grady and his daughter had gone to a state park and their dog Cairo had run off and they were not able to relocate him.

The book begins with Grady and his daughter passing out missing dog fliers at the park, when who should turn up? Cairo, and he found a special treat! A cadaver's leg. While it is not officially his case, as Grady was out of jurisdiction, he works with the local police.

Grady and Leda fairly quickly learn their cases are linked and once again work together to solve their cases.

Like in Grave Reservations, there is very much a sitcom like feel akin to Monk. This is a playful, comedic psychic aided police procedural mystery. That's a mouthful, but speaks to the genre blending combination that this series embraces. And sure you'll probably guess some of the major plot points, but the character's interactions still make it worthwhile.

Now that we're in book two, we know the main characters (Leda, Grady, Grady's daughter Molly, and Leda's best friend Niki and this allows Priest to be more playful with the banter and situations in the book. Leda is growing in her capabilities and Grady is less the stereotypical loner cop. While they are both still dealing with the trauma of their losses, they seem less haunted by them.

I'm look forward to their next adventure.

3.5⭐️

Flight Risk is the second book in the Booking Agent series that follow Leda, who is a psychic who consults for Detective Grady Merritt with cases that are considered unsolvable. Though Leda's powers are inconsistent and she's a little out there, she is able to help solve cases that are difficult and a little quirky in their own way.

The story starts out with Grady's daughter's dog is lost in a state park and is found with a human leg in his mouth. Grady is sucked in to the investigation and asks Leda for her help. But he doesn't know that Leda has also been approached to conduct her own investigation that involves finding a missing person. Grady and Leda go on a wild adventure to solve their case, which feels impossible to solve.

This story was a slow burn and took a while for something to happen. Don't go into this book thinking you're going to get a fast-paced cozy mystery. But, if you don't mind that kind of story and you enjoy quirky characters that are awkward and have a dry sense of humor, you might really like this story! I found it funny, but it was a little too slow and then seemed to end right when things started to happen. Otherwise, this was a fun story!

Leda Foley is a travel agent, psychic songstress and sometime police consultant. It's a lot. She is hired by the brother of a woman who went missing en route to depositing $30k cash from her employer. Did she abscond with the money? Was she fleeing her philandering husband? Or did something more nefarious occur? Seattle PD Grady Merritt is walking his dog when his dog shows up with the leg bone of man in his mouth. Turns out it's the missing woman's husband's leg so Leda and Grady team up to investigate. I enjoy seeing this strange combo work together (but could do without Leda's annoying BFF butting in). A quirky, fun mystery.

(Note- this is posted on Goodreads but the API between this site and GR never works for me so the link to the review is listed in the links section)

I was a huge fan of the first novel in this cool series by Cherie Priest apparently titled The Booking Agents. Naturally, I was absolutely delighted to receive a copy of this novel as an ARC!

The Booking Agents series follows a psychic travel agent called Leda Foley who, by chance, begins working with the police. The reader watches her develop her psychic powers. She performs a psychic act at a local bar, and the characters she works with are fun- particularly her BFF Niki who always want in on solving crimes. On the law enforcement side of the fence we have Detective Grady Merritt, who despite being a bit curmudgeonly, is also a memorable character. He's a single father who's wife passed away, and his love for his daughter Molly is endearing.

I'm sad to say this pales in comparison to the first novel. Where the first novel was effortlessly quirky, this comes off as a bit forced.

The debut novel's mystery was more complex and engaging, and while reading it I certainly was trying very hard to figure out who perpetuated the crime.

Not the case here. I found the mystery to be sort of drab and more of a backdrop to exploring the cast of characters. While I mentioned a lot of the "quirkiness" and fun seemed more forced in this sophomore effort, the characters are still good and we learn a bit more about them in this book. That's a welcome addition. However, I think the author spends too much time reiterating things we already know. This is a series- you start with the first book, right? We don't need to know everything a second time.

Cherie Priest writes in a direct and easy-to-follow way. She is not overly pretentious like Riley Sager (my god, I swear that dude doesn't know what words even mean sometimes) or other "hot thriller writers" that I've forced myself to look into.

The biggest compliment to the plot itself is that the ending is beyond unrealistic, but is totally hilarious in the process of reading it. I don't know how the author even came up with it, but it's great in the most cheesy way possible.

Still, this is a readable book and I am certainly hoping that The Booking Agents #3 is in the works. These characters remain quite enjoyable and distinctive, and that's where Cherie Priest stands above other contemporary mystery/thriller authors. I personally strongly recommend reading the first novel because it was one of my best discoveries of the year! If you enjoy it then perhaps consider checking this out upon release- or, if you partake in NetGalley, maybe try to grab an ARC.

I really enjoyed Cherie Priest’s last book ‘Grave Reservations’ and I was happy to read what Leda, Niki and Detective Grady are up to now!
‘Flight Risk’ is full of humour and sharp observations while also being twisty and cleverly writtten.
Funny, amiable and a good mystery! I will be recommending this to our patrons!