Mars Eclipsed is the third novel from Ottawa resident and former social worker Karen Irving in her series featuring psychologist-turned-consulting-astrologer and reluctant sleuth Katy Klein. The cumulative effects of her first two adventures have left Klein with debilitating flashbacks and nightmares, and she is determined to keep away from trouble in the future.

Klein signs up to teach at a nearby astrology retreat and arranges to transport an American e-mail pen-pal who’s attending the event. At the last minute she also decides to bring along her teenage daughter Dawn in the vain hope of sharing some quality family time. But once again trouble follows the luckless astrologer, and she’s hardly unpacked on the sequestered island before the first body turns up.

Klein does her best to distance herself from the murder investigation, although a series of incredible coincidences (inconvenient for her but enormously convenient to overcome plot shortfalls) ensures that she’s constantly at the centre of the ensuing action. The action involves several levels of law enforcement, high school jealousies, absconding teachers, and the Russian Mafia.

Mars Eclipsed is an uncommon mystery novel in that the reader learns a lot about the protagonist’s feelings, fears, and family – probably more than some will care to know. Those who appreciate constant action and tension in their plots will find little to love here since most of the excitement is crammed into the last sections of the book. The relative inactivity of the earlier chapters becomes increasingly aggravated by the first-person narrative, which at times is self-absorbed and often outright whiny. Irving can clearly write, but she’s beginning to look like a competent novelist who has yet to find the right narrative voice.