Book Review: Body of Intuition
A Delightful Mystery Series By Claire Daniels With a New Age twist
Trica Snell wants to know if her husband, Seeger, a womanizer and successful businessman of sensual items, was murdered. Cally would have to agree especially after seeing a vision of Seeger asking her to help. So she attends The Love Workshop, a workshop which practices intimate connections, where Seeger was murdered. She involves herself into the Workshop and it's eccentric participants to dig further into Seeger's death.
Murder at the Love Workshop
An intimacy workshop is an odd place for a murder. The setting plays off really well, with the idea of murder in a place where people are encouraged to open up and think deeper about themselves. Would someone in such a place be driven to kill someone?
The workshops is written with very interesting detail with all of the peculiar sessions such as the one where characters moved closer to each other to "test their boundaries" and there are the two organizers who could use some therapy themselves.
The participants are a very intriguing cast as Cally gets to know each one. Each one has a possible motive to commit murder and each one has their own idiosyncrasies.Linda is an emotional wreck over the death of her sister. Aileen, the very sexy former business partner of Seeger carries a string of lovers. Could one of them had been Seeger? Eddy is a whiner, unliked by most, as well as a writer and has some unusual sources for his subjects. Harley, Aileen's sometimes lover has a foul temper and is nursing some private grief. The participants and the organizers make for a very fascinating group as Cally speaks to each one unsure over who to trust.
The Intuitive Energy Worker
Cally is a great amateur detective. A former attorney, she isn't someone who resorts to logic and pressing hard facts towards her clients. Because of her energy worker background, she senses other people's feelings and sees auras. For example, she hears one character talk about a death in their family and she sees a lot of reds and darks which indicates the character carries a lot of guilt and anger over what had happened. She is a very warm-hearted soul who counsels each suspect and doesn't believe in the concept of evil even though the murderer's actions suggest otherwise.
That is not to say that Cally doesn't have her share of personal tragedy. An orphan since she was 15, she sensed her parents' death before they happened. She has a bevy of unique friends and relations to help her out. In this book, her older sisters, the motherly, Geneva and the accident-prone, Melinda try to assist but end up hindering Cally's investigation with Melinda's klutziness and Geneva's interest in Cally's older friend, Warren Kapp. The two women aren't given as much range as Cally's older brother, York is given in the next book, Strangled Intuition, but Geneva and Melinda are still a fun duo and play off each other rather well.
Cally's friends also give Cally a lot of support and understanding. From her kooky hypnotherapist friend, Dee Dee to her know-it-all attorney friend, Warren, she gets assistance in many ways. She also finds love in her former boyfriend, Roy who became obsessed with dark forces. Cally and Roy balance each other out as Roy tries to stay away from darkness, and Cally tries to bring him closer to the light. In Cally's eyes, "There is always light."
About the Author
Like her lead character, Claire Daniels is also a recovering attorney. She is also a 17-year student of tai chi and an author of many different mystery novels under many different names. She has written four novels starring Cally Lazar beginning with Body of Intuition (2002) and ending with Final Intuition (2006). She lives in Marin County, California with her husband who is an intuitive energy worker.
