Details:
This review is based on the nine (so far) published books in the Mary O'Reilly Paranormal Mystery series
Edition: Kindle
Price: $0.99 - $2.99 on Amazon
★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆
Books like those in Terri Reid’s Mary O’Reilly Series remind me why I chose to do a 10-star rating scale instead of a 5-star one. On one hand, I enjoyed the overall story and I didn’t want to give it a negative review. On the other hand, there were so many little nits I couldn’t ignore. I found myself liking the book “in spite of...”, and I couldn’t decide if that was good or bad.
Since flat lining in the hospital after being shot in the line of duty, former police officer, Mary O’Reilly, can communicate with the dead. Using her new ability, Mary sets up shop as a private investigator, helping ghosts with unfinished business move on.
Each of the books has its own “mystery (and I’m using that word loosely, as I’ll explain), but much of the plot focuses on Mary and her relationship with Bradley, the town’s Police Chief. Bradley comes with his own personal ghosts. Eight years ago, his pregnant wife disappeared and he’s never been able to find out what happened to her. You can see where this is going.
In the beginning, the characters were great. I genuinely liked Mary. She was smart, witty and had just enough naivety to be endearing without being a twit. Bradley was a little one-dimensional, but down to earth and open to possibilities, which made him a great match for Mary. Mary’s friends, Rosie and Stanley (who I can't help picture as Fred and Ethel Mertz from I Love Lucy), sashayed in to provide a little comedic relief. The other characters – the suspects and the bad guys – were only present enough to raise suspicions.
That’s not to say some of the characters weren't corny as hell. Especially the villains. I won’t give anything away, but the person who ends up being the villain in the first book actually says, during the dramatic moment where he/she evil explains the evil plan, “It makes it so much easier to get away,” he/she takes a dramatic pause, “...with murder.” I’m not sure if that was meant to be so bad it’s funny, but it certainly earned a loud snort from me.
My main problems with the series:
The series is billed as a paranormal mystery, but there isn’t much mystery to it. In the first few books, you can guess who did it pretty much as soon as they’re introduced. Instead of working on improving the mystery aspect of the book, Reid seemed to push it aside and focus more on the relationship between Bradley and Mary.
There were too many grammatical errors! I think I’m fairly forgiving of grammar usage in books. I don’t hold authors to using the King’s English and I can accept maybe one or two typos if it’s otherwise fine. But each book had so many errors – things were spelled wrong, words were repeated, characters were introduced and then re-introduced in the next paragraph – that I couldn’t ignore it.
As the series went on, I started getting this weird religious vibe. Not just religious, but proselytizing. It was like being invited to an “ice cream social” that turns out to be a ploy to get people to join a church. I didn't mind Mary's "old fashioned" values (like she was waiting until marriage to have sex). In fact, it was kind of refreshing since gratuitous sex scenes are becoming almost cliches in this genre. But, as Bradley and Mary's relationship grew, it seemed like every few minutes they were reminding themselves (and the reader) how they could go no further than kissing.
Furthermore, I couldn’t help but noticed the only two mentions of relations in the book were in the situation where the character was pregnant, having an affair, or was being raped. I thought that was a little strange.
And further furthermore, it seemed like Stanley became really bigoted toward the end. He started controlling Rosie, almost treating her like a subordinate, and repeatedly made comments about someone needing to speak English since they were in this country.
Oh and further further furthermore, if I remember correctly, only the bad guys are mentioned drinking alcohol.
It just made me suspicious.
But, as I said, I really did enjoy most of the story (more so in the first few books). It just had some rough spots and I hope Reid can get back to more of the mystery aspect of the books (though, given the end of #9, I doubt it will). I fully intend to read the next book when it comes out, but it may not be on the top of my to-read list.
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