Book 113, 2016

[chez_jae]

I started an ebook last night, and I finished it this evening. It was A Prickly Predicament by Constance Barker. The story is listed as the first in the author's "Mad River" mystery series, but apparently there is a prequel I haven't read yet. That didn't affect this story, but it did contain spoilers for the prequel. Oh, well.

Shelby is a young woman living in Mad River with her sister Harriet, in the home they inherited from their mother. Shelby can see and communicate with the multitude of ghosts that call Mad River home, most of them from the Civil War era. When a pair of ghost hunters come to town, Shelby's spectral friends are understandably nervous, but when one of the ghost hunters is killed in an accident, things get really tense. The other ghost hunter claims a ghost killed his friend, and now the townspeople are clamoring for an exorcism. Shelby and her ghostly friends begin searching for clues as to what really happened, and they are aided by the ghost of the ghost hunter. Ha ha!

Fun, light story. Shelby's character was portrayed well enough, although others were a bit two-dimensional. Still, this was a novella, and it's early in the series, so I have hope that we'll learn more about the other characters in future installments.

Favorite line: I was as frustrated as Lee at Appomattox...

Better than average, four stars:

****

Comments

[evelyn-b.livejournal.com]

. . .they are aided by the ghost of the ghost hunter. Ha ha!

That's pretty funny. Does being a ghost make him better or worse as a ghost hunter?

[chez-jae.livejournal.com]

Worse, actually, since he was still sort of gobsmacked by being dead. And, he didn't really know how to use his new, ghostly abilities.

:D