gloomy
Mysteries are back with a vengeance if the books I have been reading lately are any indication of a trend. The paranormal twist to these mysteries is also welcome given contemporary reading interests. Debut author Kim Harrington gives readers some CLARITY (Scholastic Point, March 2011). Clare (short for Clarity) Fern and her brother Perry and her mother are the triumvirate of psychics in a small Cape Cod town. Business is generally brisk, especially in the tourist season. However, this summer might prove different as a teenaged girl is found murdered in a local hotel. Clare is called in unofficially since neither the mayor (facing a n election challenge) nor the new police chief (who arrived under a cloud of suspicion) wants the general public to know of her involvement. All the critical attributes of the mystery are here complete with plenty of red herrings. Murder, romance, mean girls, psychics: this book has it all. <130>