1 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/clairvoyant_countess.png]] |
2 | ''The Clairvoyant Countess'' and its sequel ''Kaleidoscope'' are novels by Creator/DorothyGilman about Madame Karitska. |
3 | |
4 | The titular protagonist is a psychic somewhere between middle and old age, once a refugee from the Russian Revolution, and only technically a countess. She befriends a policeman, Lt. Pruden, and helps him in his investigations. |
5 | |
6 | !!Tropes included in this work: |
7 | * AboveGoodAndEvil: The Big Bad downplays it; when asked whether he used his powers for good or for evil, he chuckles and calls it a conventional question. |
8 | * AffablyEvil: Mr. Faber-Jones is stunned, after [[spoiler:Zoehfeld]]'s arrest, that so charming a person could be [[spoiler:a murderer and spy]]. |
9 | * AFriendInNeed: Madame Karitska, to several people |
10 | * BadHumorTruck: A significant ice cream truck company run by a very scary bad guy. |
11 | * TheBluebeard: Though his motive was very like the BlackWidow. [[spoiler:The stepfather murdered his stepdaughter after her mother had left her all the money; it turned out he had murdered the mother as well, and a fair number of earlier brides.]] |
12 | * BlueBlood: Madame Karitska is technically a countess. Given that she was a small child when her family escaped the Russian Revolution, it doesn't mean much to her. She calls herself "Madame" rather than Countess because she doesn't really care. |
13 | * ChekhovsGunman: Foretold by Madame Karitska, rather than appearing herself. Madame Karitska does a reading on Lt. Pruden and tells him that he will be married within fifteen months, to a woman with long, very pale blond hair and considerable psychic ability. When, later in the book, he is not able to talk straight upon meeting a woman with long, very pale blond hair and considerable psychic ability, he doesn't get it, but Madame Karitska smiles upon him and assures him that it is a very good thing. |
14 | * DreamingOfThingsToCome: One way Madame Karitska's powers manifest. It leads to her finding her current location; she dreams of a brownstone with a sign in a window: "Madame Karitska, Readings." When she happens on the brownstone with a sign "Apartment for Rent", the landlord is suspicious because he had put up the sign five minutes earlier, but she gets her office. |
15 | * DrivenToSuicide: Mazda Lorvale commits suicide in a mental institution. |
16 | * DrowningMySorrows: Mr. Faber-Jones, after his wife leaves him. |
17 | * DueToTheDead: Flowers on Mazda Lorvale's grave |
18 | * FingertipDrugAnalysis: Lt. Pruden discovers heroin by this method. |
19 | * GrudgingThankYou: Joe Painter, after Madame Karitska stops him from shoplifting and getting caught. |
20 | * HeroicRussianEmigre: Madame Karitska. |
21 | * IdentificationByDentalRecords: When Madame Karitska gets enough evidence, Lt. Pruden has a grave exhumed to double-check with this. |
22 | * ImpoverishedPatrician: The countess's background. Her parents lost their wealth fleeing the Russian Revolution; she has settled down to working for her living. |
23 | * IndianBurialGround: Madame Karitska warns against disturbing this. |
24 | * LonelyFuneral: Mazda Lorvale's funeral had no mourners. |
25 | * TheMafia: Madame Karitska finds some things that lead Lt. Prudens and the police to realize that the Syndicate is moving in. |
26 | * MindOverMatter: Madame Karitska, teaching two psychics, has them turn pages in a book. |
27 | * PaterFamilicide: One of the other psychics is rescued from one of these. |
28 | * PetTheDog: Madame Karitska sends Lt. Pruden away to deal with an appointment: a small boy who has lost his kitten. |
29 | * PolicePsychic: The titular character is a {{seer|s}} and {{psychometry}} user who becomes an AmateurSleuth after a chance encounter with a policeman, Detective Pruden. Although she does utilize her psychic abilities to help him out, her greatest gift, as stated on the back of the book, is her common sense. |
30 | * {{Psychometry}}: Madame Karitska can read the past, present, and future off of objects, including the personalities of people. |
31 | * ReincarnationRomance: Joe Painter's song is about one. |
32 | * StarvingArtist: Madame Karitska's landlord. He can't afford to be slack about rent because he needs the money. |
33 | * TalkAboutTheWeather: After Mr. Faber-Jones learns about his doctor, he struck by how different the conversation is. |
34 | * TalkingInYourDreams: After one reading, Madame Karitska finds this happening. |
35 | * ThereAreNoCoincidences: Madame Karitska discusses this with Mr. Faber-Jones. |
36 | * WarRefugees: Madame Karitska was originally a refugee from the Russian Revolution, many decades before the story. |
37 | * WhenTheClockStrikesTwelve: Gavin screams and collapses at this time, after she prevented his being sent home. |
38 | * WickedStepmother: The young woman who visits her, the first described customer, thinks her stepfather is the only person she can trust, and is horribly wrong. |
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