Just two minutes can change your life.

In Greywalker, the first novel in the series by Kat Richardson, private investigator Harper Blaine was viciously attacked and died for a very short time before doctors revived her.

Or did they? Now, Harper sees dead people -- or more specifically denizens of the Grey: ghosts, vampires and such. She can also move in the Grey, their realm. Her previously mundane practice is now filled with clients seeking solutions to supernatural problems. Harper is doing her best to help despite having to proceed very cautiously while she learns about the Grey.

Now, in Poltergeist, it's almost Halloween, and Harper is approached by Dr. Gartner Tuckman, an abnormal psychologist from fictionalized Pacific Northwest University (PNU). Tuckman and his cohort are attempting to re-create the "Philip experiment," a 1970s psychokinesis study conducted by the Toronto Society for Psychical Research. In the actual study, Canadian researchers attempted to get a group of subjects to create a poltergeist based upon a fictional character named Philip. The group was able to produce several psychokinetic effects, including moving a table, etc. The experiment demonstrated that a group of subjects' concentrated attention could create a psychokinetic event.

The problem with Tuckman's experiment is that Celia, the poltergeist his subjects have conjured, has very high PK resonance, and he's afraid that one of his assistants is somehow tampering with the setup. Worse, Celia shows signs of being dangerous.

Within hours of Harper's involvement, one of Tuckman's assistants is killed by what could be a psychokinetic force, and Harper's in a race to figure out how to use her novice knowledge of the Grey to find the killer and disband the psychokinetic energies before someone else is hurt.

Poltergeist is a fascinating fictionalized look into the actual world of the paranormal. The storyline is riveting and well-plotted. Richardson lays out the clues for you in a journalistic fashion, which provides the clues a reader needs to solve the case.

I'm also enjoying how much Harper Blaine and company have developed since the first book. Her supporting cast -- including techno-wizard Quentin, the vampire Carlos and Grey consultants Ben and Mara Danzinger -- are all interesting and well worth seeing return. Also, Richardson has spent a lot of time thinking out her magic system and how Harper's awareness of the Grey will grow with each time she walks within it.

Unfortunately, the novel begins slowly. At one time, I attended a mystery writing workshop conducted by a published author of more than 50 books (at that time). He advised that your protagonist needs to find the body within the first 20 pages, preferably 10, or the reader will get lost. Poltergeist, however, really didn't get started for me til page 41. I probably would have inserted death and danger a lot sooner into the book than Richardson did.

Although Richardson's series has been compared to Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake books, I feel that some readers might be put off by the comparison. The Greywalker series has limited erotic content and the violence is kept to a necessary level. I could even recommend these books to a literate and intelligent young adult reader without fear of parental wrath.

To me, Harper Blaine is much closer to Tanya Huff's Victory Nelson of the Blood Books, which actually were the first female supernatural detective novels to my knowledge.