Day Shift is the second book in the Midnight, Texas series by Charlaine Harris. Somehow, when I requested this book from Netgalley I missed that it was a sequel. While I do feel like I missed some background story, I was able to fully enjoy the novel even without having read the first book (which I have downloaded from audible and will be listening to soon).
There is no such thing as bad publicity, except in Midnight, Texas, where the residents like to keep to themselves. Even in a town full of secretive people, Olivia Charity is an enigma. She lives with the vampire Lemuel, but no one knows what she does; they only know that she’s beautiful and dangerous. Psychic Manfred Bernardo finds out just how dangerous when he goes on a working weekend to Dallas and sees Olivia there with a couple who are both found dead the next day. To make matters worse, one of Manfred’s regular, and very wealthy, clients dies during a reading. Manfred returns from Dallas embroiled in scandal and hounded by the press. He turns to Olivia for help; somehow he knows that the mysterious Olivia can get things back to normal. As normal as things get in Midnight.
Day Shift is set in the universe of the Sookie Stackhouse novels, and there are some character crossovers, but it is a tiny Texas town. the cast of characters follows with Harris's tradition of detailed and unusual characters which each carry their own mix of good and bad while deifying most stereotyping. Manfred is the key to this novel, although it does alternate between a few different viewpoints as the story progresses. He is being accused of stealing a now deceased client's jewelry by her obsessive son. At the same time a new hotel and elderly housing unit opens in a formally empty hotel, and a strangely fast growing boy joins the town's population. This is a town that likes its peace and quiet, and all of this attention and additional people are putting them on edge. Can they solve the mystery of how Manfred's client died as well as where her missing jewelry might be while unraveling the intentions and consequences of recent changes in town.
Day Shift is a book that Harris fans will enjoy. While Sookie fans will like seeing some of their favorite secondary characters from the series pop up, I liked the more mystery and suspense feel that was more reminiscent of her more mystery heavy series. I was a little put out with the lack of answers to questions raised, but I am hoping that the next book will handle at least some of them. I look forward to listening to the first book in the series, and following the story as it continues on.
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