Blinded by the Light: A Tess Camillo Mystery
Morgan Hunt

Reviewed by Araminta Matthews

When this book arrived in my mailbox, I knew I would be in for an interesting ride.  A highlighter-yellow paperback with an almost "chalk-outline-effect" sketch of an irregular human body being struck by lightning on its cover, the book was clearly going to be light-hearted, fun, and hopefully, clever.  What I did not know when I received the book was that Tess Camillo was an already established amateur detective, but far from the Nancy Drew vein of amateurs.  In her previous two books, Hunt established Tess Camillo as both a survivor of breast cancer, and as a lesbian – two facts that only serve to enhance this story beyond even my most hopeful expectations. 

Tess Camillo  is a fantastic character.  Having survived breast cancer with all its rollercoaster of suspense and the constant possibility of impending death, Tess has discovered that the real value of life is simply living it.  For this reason, and reasons involving her need to obtain work, she follows her friend Beth on an adventure to Lightning Fields in New Mexico.  While there, a murder takes place in Lightning Field that, at first, appears to be the work of the dangerous lightning that is attracted to this area of New Mexico more fiercely than static electricity is attracted to a sweater in winter.  The investigators, however, soon rule lightning out and begin to point the blame at something and someone very close to Tess:  Beth, a very pregnant friend with a very real taser. 

In true Nancy Drew mode, Tess begins to investigate on her own, trying to absolve her friend of guilt while unearthing the true suspect.  And, in true Nancy Drew mode, she gets little to know help nor respect from the local authorities or the people involved with the case.  Meanwhile. Tess has met a woman on the internet who captures her heart in one of the truest and most whole depictions of first loves that I have ever read.  Tess is swept up in her own ambivalence:  on one end, enjoying the star-crashing butterflies of a fresh romance with a mysterious woman, and on the other end she is worried that her friend is going to be pegged as a murderer.   

Combining humor with energizing mystery and suspense, Morgan Hunt has offered up a very palatable story with Blinded by the Light.  Her character, Tess Camillo is believable.  She's real, ladies and gentlemen, and unlike her "lesbian fiction" counterparts, her whole life does not revolve around her sexual orientation.  She is simply a woman – a whole woman – who happens to be a lesbian, and this is what makes her my new heroine of the genre.  This, my friends, is what makes her real and not cliché.  I recommend Blinded by the Light to anyone who enjoys a good mystery, to anyone who enjoys a strong and believable heroine, and to anyone looking for a laugh.  This book is fantastic.