Brian Hamlin Is My New BFF!

No, Captain America and I are not on the outs, and I've never even met Brian Hamlin, but he is now officially one of my all-time favorite people. Why? Because he's a reporter for the Vacaville, CA newspaper, The Reporter, and he wrote a fabulous review of my book, A MATCH MADE IN HELL , which in turn got picked up by BusinessWeek! Needless to say, I'm thrilled (can you tell?), and very excited. Here's the review, in its entirety:

Brian Hamlin column: Have you been seeing dead people? You're not alone, amigos [The Reporter, Vacaville, Calif.]

Sep. 21--The 'I see dead people' genre seems to be making a growing impact on the quirky world of supermarket paperbacks.

The latest, and possibly greatest, entry in this niche market is "A Match Made in Hell" by Terri Garey (2008, Avon Books, New York, N.Y., $6.99, 373 Pages).

Described as a "paranormal romance," it's much, much more and, like all the best supermarket paperbacks, is filled with everything you never expected to find in Safeway.

Garey, who also penned "Dead Girls are Easy," tells the tale of one Nicki Styx, a vintage clothing store owner who leads an outwardly mundane existence as a struggling businesswoman in Five Points, Ga.

Unfortunately, Nicki has suffered a recent near-death experience and, upon her return to the mortal plane, discovers that she's acquired a somewhat bothersome talent -- she sees dead people. Worse, the aforementioned dead people tend to seek her out with alarming regularity.

Nicki is still adjusting to her newfound skill when a middle-aged woman wanders into her shop to explain that she's been in an auto accident and that her daughter is trapped in the wreckage of their car somewhere.

This, in itself, is a startling revelation. After all, who rushes to a vintage fashion boutique to report a traffic accident?

If you guessed "dead people," you're right on target.

The woman, Lila "Peaches" Boudreaux, doesn't even realize she's dead yet, although she suspects something's amiss because only Nicki can see her.

The woman begs Nicki to rescue her daughter and Nicki, being a helpful soul, agrees to go in search of the wreckage. Nicki also takes a moment to notify her married boyfriend, Dr. Joe Bascombe, and ask him to accompany the ambulance once they locate the car.

With help from dead Lila, Nicki finds the wreckage and directs the ambulance to the site, where Dr. Joe goes to work.

And here's where this supermarket paperback goes from good to great.

Lila's daughter, it turns out, is actually Nicki's twin sister, who is married to Dr. Joe. And Lila is the twins' long-lost mother, who gave them up for adoption when they were babies.

And there's much, more to this complex relationship than meets the eye -- even if you've got an eye that sees dead people.

I know what some of you are saying right now: "Hey, you're giving all the good parts away. What's left for us?!"

Fear not. Everything I've so far related happens before page 35.

Wheeee!

Nicki Styx and her sister, Kelly Charon -- Styx and Charon, get it? -- still have to contend with an exceedingly quirky grandmother, a conniving dead adulteress known as Psycho Barbie, a pair of enthusiastic ghost hunters named Spider and Skully, a long-dead Civil War widow and, of course, the minions of Satan.

Supermarket paperbacks just don't get any better than this.

Hey, thanks Brian. You definitely made an author's day today!