High
Anxiety
A
Kate Holly Mystery
Charlotte
Hughes
Jove
(Mass Market Paperback)
ISBN-10: 0-515-14740-0 (0515147400)
ISBN-13: 978-0-515-14740-7 (9780515147407)
Publication Date: January 2010
List Price: $7.99
Synopsis (from
the publisher): After nursing her hunky firefighter ex-husband Jay Rush
back to health, Kate Holly is ready for a little fun, only to get stuck
with an anger management group that turns dangerous when a gun-toting
granny loses her temper. Kate’s hopes for some frisky
business are further put on hold when a monster forest fire erupts
several hours south of Atlanta, drawing firefighters by the droves,
including Jay.
Kate’s professional life isn’t faring any better.
Her patients seem to be getting kookier, her junk-dealing mother and
aunt more outrageous, and her secretary is convinced her peculiar rash
is something akin to leprosy! Kate is forced to hire oddball temp
employee Abigail Davis who becomes fixated with her. If Kate thinks it
strange when Abigail’s “makeover” leaves
them looking frighteningly identical, she soon has to wonder just how
far the troubled young woman will go to in order to win
Kate’s affection.
Review:
Psychologist Kate Holly continues to juggle a career, her family and
friends all the while dealing with a temporary receptionist who seems
to have issues of her own to deal with in High Anxiety,
the third mystery in this series by Charlotte Hughes.
After Kate's best friend and regular receptionist, Mona, takes a leave
of absence to recover from a sudden outbreak of hives, her mother steps
in to fill the void. But it soon becomes clear that families that stay
together don't work together, so Kate contacts a temp agency for a
replacement. Abigail Davis is about the same age as Kate, is
personable, and most importantly, agrees not to offer advice to Kate's
patients behind her back, something Kate's mother was keen on doing.
still, there's something a bit peculiar about Abigail, which becomes
more apparent as she takes on a new appearance and becomes more
involved in Kate's personal life.
High
Anxiety is a pleasant
mystery, with a minimum of violence that will appeal to readers who
prefer their cozies more gentle than harsh. But it lacks the light,
humorous touch that the premise seems to imply. The book opens with,
"My name is Kate Holly. I'm a clinical psychologist. My patients think
I'm normal. If I've told them once, I've told them a thousand times:
There is no
such thing as normal." The
author surrounds Kate with an eclectic cast of characters, certainly
not an average bunch but not so quirky to be outlandish either. Most
are rather compelling, and in some ways more interesting (in a clinical
psychological way) than Kate herself. Still, little humor is extracted
from them or the situations in which they find themselves ... and a
little humor would have gone a long way towards making the predictably
plotted story a lot more enjoyable.
Special thanks to Penguin Group for providing an ARC of High Anxiety for this review.
Review Copyright © 2010 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved
Have you read High Anxiety? How would you rate it?
Mysteries in this series …
What
Looks Like Crazy
Jove (Mass Market Paperback), February 2008
ISBN-10: 0-515-14423-1 (0515144231)
ISBN-13: 978-0-515-14423-9 (9780515144239)
Nutcase
Jove (Mass Market Paperback), February 2009
ISBN-10: 0-515-14593-9 (0515145939)
ISBN-13: 978-0-515-14593-9 (9780515145939)
High Anxiety
Jove (Mass Market Paperback), January 2010
ISBN-10: 0-515-14740-0 (0515147400)
ISBN-13: 978-0-515-14740-7 (9780515147407)
Omnimystery
keywords for High Anxiety
...
Location(s) referenced: Atlanta, Georgia.
