A Reason To Believe

4.5I'm always on the lookout for a good audio, they make my commute bearable, and this one by [a:Jack LeFleur 6861965 Jack LeFleur https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] was an excellent surprise. [a:Diana Copland 2980236 Diana Copland https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/f_50x66-6a03a5c12233c941481992b82eea8d23.png] is a ‘new to me' author but I'll be sure to check out more from her in the nearby future. Matthew Bennett's world imploded fifteen months ago when his partner, best friend, and lover was killed. Since then he's been stuck, closed off, and to make matters worse his idiot captain has him on desk duty. Because of the ‘gay' thing. Ugh! That makes him the low-man on the totem pole who gets called in on a Christmas Eve missing person case which becomes worse when it turns out to be the murder of a child. The silver lining in that Abby, the victim, won't go quietly. She or her ghost ‘haunts' Matt which brings him into contact with Kiernan Fitzpatrick, a tv famous psychic.I liked everything about this. It worked as a paranormal: Kiernan with his irreverent T-shirts and descriptions of ghosts and their manifestations reminded me at times of Victor Bane from the PsyCop series, but with a rather more religious/spiritual bent. I liked how Matthew went through the normal, initial doubts about ghosts and Kiernan's ability to communicate with the dead but didn't belabor the point given what he sees and feels. In other words he doesn't pull a seasons long Dana Scully. Hallelujah! I liked how Matt wasn't some kind of super cop being shackled by his superiors but rather a guy who was grieving a terrible loss.In a pinch it works as Christmas story. The book takes place in a week, from Christmas Eve to New Year's Day and though the MCs don't meet until the 26th their falling in love doesn't feel insta at all. Matt and Kiernan fit together perfectly, organically, and they make the sheets sing. However what I liked the most is that the mystery doesn't take a back seat to the romance. You see Matt & Kiernan working and figuring out what's happening. Finally the mystery itself wasn't cliched. Thank you! IGNORABLE BUSINESSI have two niggling, perhaps related, questions which neither contribute nor distract from the enjoyment of this story:a) where does this take place? I never got a fix on what town/city it was meant to be. b) is Kiernan meant to have come to America at a certain age? In the audio, which I'm guessing is approved by the author, he has a wee bit of an accent, a brogue. Lovely to listen to, particularly in Jack LaFleur's rendition, but, again maybe my inattentiveness as a reader, I didn't catch that. I thought he was of Irish parentage but American born and raised. He lives in San Diego.