Samhain Publishing, $3.50, ISBN 978-1-60928-247-9
Paranormal Romance, 2010
Ciara Liung, the The Naked Detective in question, is very good at locating missing jewels thanks to her psychic abilities. Unfortunately, to effort to initiate her woo-woo requires her to get naked, ideally into a body of water. In addition, physical contact with another person can actually hurt her. Still, she has served her employer, Karmic Consultants well by cooperating with the FBI in some cases that are tough to crack. That is, until she gets a new partner, Special Agent Nathan Smith, Skeptical Asshole. She’d have to convince him that she’s genuine in a case to locate some missing jewels in Atlantic City, but Nathan is probably the toughest nut she’d have to crack.
Vivi Andrews’s The Naked Detective is a quick, fun, and breezy read. It’s a short story, so there is not much depth present here when it comes to plot and characterization. Nonetheless, the characters are memorable enough to keep the story afloat when the story isn’t anything too amazing to shout about. I do have my doubts about Nathan’s ability to keep a cool head under pressure since he has this resemblance to an obstinate mule at times, but I think these two will be fine.
This story could have been silly and the nudity angle could have been played up for laughs at the heroine’s expense, but Ms Andrews manages to make the whole premise work in this story. The Naked Detective is another fun entry into the author’s Karmic Consultants series, which is shaping up to be one big ball of prime entertainment so far.
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