A TIMELY VISION: A Missing Pieces Mystery #1 - Joyce and Jim Lavene

From the back of the book: Meet Dae O'Donnell, a woman with a gift for finding lost things. Sometimes it leads her to lost keys or earrings--and sometimes it leads to murder....

The mayor of Duck, North Carolina, Dae O'Donnell wears many hats. She's the ceremonial ribbon cutter, champion of the local turtle population, and the person everyone turns to when they've lost something. One touch and Dae can find it, and missing pieces seem to find their way to her, whether she wants them to or not.

When town matriarch Miss Mildred seeks out Dae to help find her missing watch, Dae's vision leads her straight into a murder investigation. Now she must prove that Miss Mildred isn't a cold-blooded killer. With the help of town newbie and retired FBI agent Kevin Brickman, Dae sets out to prove Mildred's innocence---hoping she won't become Duck's next missing piece....

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I was nicely intrigued when I read the premise for this series. Can't remember where I read it, but the locale of Duck, North Carolina was part of the draw. Something about the East Coast along the water seems perfection for cozy mysteries and the premise of the main character's ability to find lost objects by touching the losing person's hand I thought was pretty cool.

And I was rewarded for my intrigue with a well written cozy mystery with plenty of atmosphere and excellent characters. I love Dae's multi-tasking self of being mayor of Duck and owning a shop of treasures, Missing Pieces. I want to go to Duck and visit or live there and I want to go to the shop and root around the treasures there and I want to help save the turtles.

There's the atmosphere part of the draw. The other hook is the mystery. There is a murder and really there are a lot of suspects, rather good ones and the end had me saying, 'Well, HUH!" A believable suspect with a believable reason....

All told, the atmosphere and characters are the main reason I'll come back to the series and look for the other series this duo writes, Renaissance Faire Mystery series, Peggy Lee Garden series, and it looks like it they write some sci-fi, too.

Five treasures and turtles beans....