Title: A Reason to Believe
Author: Diana Copland
Publisher: Carina
Length: 81k words
Genre: m/m Contemporary/PNR Mystery Romance
Heat: 3 – Sexy & Mild
Sex Frequency: 3 – Average Story to Sex
Keywords/Tags: Cops, Crime, Ghosts, Psychics
Rating: Really Like It
BLURB
Detective Matthew Bennett doesn’t believe in ghosts. So when the spirit of a murdered child leads him to her body, he’s shaken to the core–and taken off the case. Unable to explain his vision, or to let go of the investigation, Matthew turns to renowned medium Kiernan Fitzpatrick. Though he has doubts about Kiernan’s claims to communicate with the dead, Matt is nevertheless drawn to the handsome psychic, who awakens feelings he thought were long-buried.
Haunted by the lingering spirit of the little girl, Kiernan is compelled to aid in the search for her killer. The chance to get closer to the enigmatic Matt is an unexpected bonus. Although Kiernan’s been betrayed by people who turned out to be more interested in his fame than in himself, with Matt he’s willing to risk his heart. As the two men grow closer, Kiernan helps Matt rediscover that life offers no guarantees–but love offers a reason to believe…
REVIEW
Diana Copland is a new author for me. At the time of reading this a couple of weeks ago, I hadn’t read anything by her. After reading this, I decided to read her earlier Christmas ballet themed book, Grand Jete, and even though I liked it, I can see that she’s improving as an author. A Reason to Believe was much better in my opinion. Maybe it is because the addition of another plotline (the mystery) give the story staying power. As often happens with mystery, as the main plot it gives time for the romance to unfold on its own. Maybe it is something like misdirection, but I like that the author allowed that to happen. The relationship between Matt and Kiernan grew organically in a way it might not have otherwise.
I doubt I’m the only one to notice this, so I think it is safe to say that the murder of the young girl in this story reminded me very much of a very public past popular unsolved mystery — that of JonBenét Ramsey. Many of the original details are there in the story of a similarly murdered young girl. It is around Christmas in the Denver area. A girl is killed in her own house, dragged from her bed to the basement. The parents are originally targeted as suspects and the immediate police investigation and crime scene is severely bungled. At first, this scared me just a little, and I wasn’t sure how much the author would borrow from the case in her story. What I appreciated, was that even though the first details are very much similar, the differences soon emerge. Of course, there is the paranormal aspect of this story as the little girl shows herself to Detective Matthew Bennett. Then there is the entrance of Kiernan Fitzpatrick, who along with an interest in the good detective becomes embroiled in the story by his talents as a medium.
Centered around this mystery the two men are brought together by their shared psychic experiences. Matt brings quite a bit of past emotional trauma, as he’s still dealing with the death of his former partner, also a cop and the subsequent outing of his orientation within the force because of that. His Captain already has him one foot out of the door and is just looking for another excuse to boot him out entirely, and the “visions” provide an ample opportunity to do so. The ghost of the little girl is persistent though, and Matt finds that he just can’t step away when he and the little girl see how corrupt the police department is. But, he has two problems with continuing his own investigation: the persistent presence of Kiernan Fitzpatrick and their growing feelings for one another and the real possibility that his interference will cost him his job.
The pacing of the story is set up beautifully, part of what I mentioned before, the miracle of juggling the different plot lines. The story unfolds naturally and even though I didn’t find the mystery particularly engrossing, it was still interesting and kept me on my toes with a fair amount of red herrings and different suspects. I have nothing much to say about the romance in particular, except that I couldn’t find much wrong with it and really enjoyed the guys and their connections to one another. In some says I suppose this felt a bit like the beginning of a series, but maybe only in the sense that the paranormal detective setup is often a series and also that I would enjoy seeing the progression of their relationship, especially down the road when they’re really used to working together on cases. I think future stories with this could would work out really well and if the author were inclined to write them, I’ll be there to read them 
Snowtulip
Cole, I read this yesterday and the pacing was spot on! I agree that I’d read a series if that’s what the author decided to do, their teaming really worked for me
Cole
Hey Snow!! I was really pretty impressed by this and I really liked this couple — they’d make a great series because they do work really well together as a team. I’d like to see more of that detective/paranormal work between the two of them
Carole Lake
You rock, Cole. This is another one I would not have read without your recommendation, and you were spot on. Well worth reading — and I probably wouldn’t have from the blurb. Have you read Power Exchange by A.J. Rose? It has the same kind of “I don’t think this is going to work” beginning and then you are drawn in and can’t stop reading…. and when you’re done, you just say, “Wow.”
Cole
Thank you sweetie!!
You know, I haven’t read that one, but everyone keeps telling me to. Sadonna reviewed it on the blog a week or two before GRL and she really liked it, we even talked about it a few times at GRL, so I’m going to have to read that one!
Carole Lake
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