TAROT SAYS BEWARE

This Herculeah Jones Mystery begins when the amateur sleuth looks out her window one morning and her hair starts to frizzle, a sure sign that something's wrong. At the home of her neighbor, psychic Madame Rosa, the door is wide open and a pet parrot, Tarot (who shrieks, "Beware!" throughout the book), is perched on a porch chair. Herculeah is on the case and is horrified to find the psychic's body under a table in the parlor. As fans of the series know, Herculeah's father is a cop and her mother is private investigator, but neither of her divorced parents will intervene to their daughter's satisfaction. With the help of friend Meat and Tarot, Herculeah works her way through a maze of real and false clues to find the murderer, whose identity will surprise no one. As a formulaic mystery, this is competent if lackluster. Most readers will find themselves carried along on their own expectations, with little to meet them: Missing are the trademark humor, crackerjack plotting, and fully believable characters that have won Byars (McMummy, 1993, etc.) so many readers in the past. (Fiction. 8-12)