Line #4 Literature/TheClairvoyantCountess


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.
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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.
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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.

Context Literature / TheClairvoyantCountess