In Riley Thorn and the Blast from the Past by Lucy Score, Riley Thorn has to admit that after a 
summer filled with one dangerous situation after another, she’s ready to kick back with her boyfriend, Nick, and relax in their new-to-them house. Surely they’ve earned some downtime, right? Erm, not so much. Nick is soon hot on the trail of a case that’s been weighing on him for six years, leaving his new private investigative (not-so-silent) silent partner Mrs. Penny to take up the slack. As disturbing as that is on its own, Riley’s psychic powers decide to take a nap. And she’s not sure they’ll make a reappearance.
“I’m not taking part in something that is definitely going to end up with us in jail,” Riley said firmly.
“There’s no way this could possibly go wrong,” Jasmine insisted.
It took less than five minutes for the whole plan to go to hell.
Just as Nick is about to crack the cold case wide open, everything goes sideways, as seems to be the norm lately. Not only does he and Riley have new house guests who seem to land in trouble no matter where they are, but Mrs. Penny is doling out “primo” non-paying cases to his employees. Including one chasing after the so-called Dog Doody Bandit. No wonder Nick’s head aches more often than not these days. But with Riley by his side, whether or not she can use her psychic abilities, he knows they’ll battle the bad guys and win to live another day in the crazy, chaotic life they’re building together.
‘Conversations with his elderly business partner often ended in him experiencing a persistent eye twitch. He probably should have listened to Riley’s warning about his partnership with the old woman.’
Blast from the Past, the third book in Lucy Score’s Riley Thorn series, had enough zany shenanigans, lovable & trouble-making octogenarians, and Scooby Doo-style mystery plot twists to make this reader insanely happy to lose myself in its pages.
“I’ll calm down when my girlfriend explains why I shouldn’t be pissed off about her attracting her second stalker in two days,” Nick snapped.
“It’s not my fault that people keep following me,” Riley argued. It sounded stupid, but sometimes that’s exactly what the truth was.
How does the Riley Thorn series just keep getting funnier and even more entertaining? After a bit of a bombshell thrown at Riley, Nick, and Kellen at the end of book two (Corpse in the Closet) by Riley’s scary psychic grandmother, this installment continued the search for Kellen’s sister Beth, who had been missing for six years. And what a tangled web that turned out to be. In a nutshell, expect the unexpected as the truth unravels. And of course expect a lot of “help” from Riley and Nick’s now next door neighbors who are (sort of) well-meaning but still have no sense of privacy.
Nick and Riley’s relationship was put through the wringer while he obsessed over Beth’s cold case files, Riley’s psychic abilities went bye-bye, and everywhere they turned they met some kind of problem with their fixer-upper of a house. It was outrageously funny. (The Halloween/Birthday party scene–oh my word!) It was a fast-moving storyline. And yet it still had that lovely sense of community and family that I love in Score’s books.
It felt like Nick–even though he was distracted by the case–was finally one hundred percent ready to admit he was totally in love with Riley, with his eyes set to the future. Not bad for a reformed perma-bachelor. And Riley continued to love and support Nick, as well as be there for her friends and family in any capacity they needed. Is it any wonder why I’d love to hang with Riley, Nick, Kellen, Mrs. Penny, Jasmine, and the rest of the crew in real life? They exemplify what it means to have each other’s backs. Kinda handy with a group who gets into so many wild predicaments as they do!
QOTD: Riley’s psychic skills (or lack thereof, in this installment) are a huge part of the storyline. Have you read any books with a psychic as one of the main characters?
Book Info:
Publication: April 21st 2022 | Pub: That’s What She Said Publishing | Riley Thorn #3
Book 3 in the Riley Thorn Series is coming April 21!
Riley Thorn and her hot, tattooed, private investigator boyfriend are all moved in to their new fixer upper. Not only do they finally have their own home, they also haven’t found any new dead bodies on the premises.
Yep. It looks like summer is over and so is Riley’s bad luck. Or is it?
While Nick gives up sleeping and showering to obsess over the cold case that still haunts him, his business partner Mrs. Penny is calling the investigative shots. It’s every bit as bad as you can imagine.
Meanwhile, Riley has her hands full fixing up the crumbling crime scene they call home and setting boundaries with the breaking-and-entering octogenarians next-door. You know. Normal stuff.
But normal comes to a screeching halt when our favorite psychic is abducted by a stranger with candy and Riley’s powers go on the fritz. Stranger danger gets even more dangerous when the bad guys come knocking with a severed finger and a warning for their new house guests who are definitely either in trouble or are trouble. Maybe both.
Can Riley and Nick solve the case the old-fashioned way before they all end up in pieces? Or will a surprise birthday party, a dog doody bandit, accidental arson, and a blast from the past be too much to handle?
