Disappearing Nightly
Laura Resnick
Daw, Jun 5 2012, $7.99
ISBN: 9780756407667

In the off-Broadway production Sorcerers, actress Golly Gee gets the part of Virtue; a role that Esther Diamond wanted. Esther, who waits tables in Little Italy is Golly’s understudy and has a part in the chorus; which her agent says is better than nothing as the Big Apple has more unemployed performers than the residents in most other cities. Still Esther wishes Golly would get sick so she can take over the role.

On stage, Golly steps inside a crystal cage as part of an illusion, but vanishes. Excited Esther looks forward to being Virtue, but receives a strange note warning her not to enter the cage as evil has engulfed the city. She shows the note to Police Detective Connor Lopez who says it is just a dumb prank. Later three-century and a half old Dr. Maximillian Zadok of the Magnum Collegium informs Esther that several magician assistants disappeared while on stage doing an illusion. Maximillian joins Esther, several drag queens, dancing cowgirls, and pretentious magicians to fight the malevolence.

This Esther Diamond urban fantasy ius an engaging tale starring an eccentric intrepid heroine who has a fast education into the paranormal. Fast-paced, Esther and Connor are attracted to one another, but he refuses to act on his desire because he thinks she is a nut who is a prime suspect in the missing Golly Gee case. Readers will enjoy Disappearing Nightly as the understudy finds a show she would prefer not to be one of the stars.

Harriet Klausner