A Finder’s Fee by Joyce and Jim Lavene is the fifth book in the “Missing Pieces” mystery series. Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime, October 2013

The mayor of Duck, North Carolina, Dae O’Donnell, is a woman with a gift for finding lost things. Sometimes it leads her to lost keys or earrings—and sometimes it leads her to murder…

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Two weeks before the mayoral election, Dae gets sidetracked from her political aspirations by a spirit in need of rescuing. An antique amber necklace allows Dae to connect with Maggie Madison, a witch who wants Dae to rebury her bones so she can rest in peace. But digging leads Dae to an even bigger mystery, a forty-year-old murder with ties to Randal “Mad Dog” Wilson, her mayoral opponent.

Dae wants to run a clean race, but town sentiment is mixed about whether she’s using her abilities to get the election to go her way. And when she learns that her own grandfather—the former sheriff of Dare County—might be mixed up in the long-buried tragedy, Dae will have to uncover the real killer and put Maggie to rest, before her political career ends up six feet under.

This was a great read that captured my attention immediately. I loved how this light-hearted whodunit flowed from chapter to chapter with a fresh take on the well-written storyline. The mystery was good as it could have been anyone and it was fun to go back into the past of several of the Duck residents. The author did a good job in keeping the suspense moving along until the final reveal. Dae has really come into her own and I loved how Maggie took over in a couple of scenes that had my laughing. As always it was good to see Dae surrounded by a wonderful group of people that includes Kevin, Horace and of course Shayla. The ending left me with a yearning for the next book as we have two mysteries to solve. I eagerly await the next book in this delightfully charming series.