Book 17, 2022

Phantoms and Felonies by Lucy Ness

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



After lunch, I completed the book Phantoms and Felonies by Lucy Ness. It's the second book in the "Haunted Mansion" mystery series, featuring Avery Morgan--manager of the Portage Path Women's Club (PPWC).

Things are looking up for the PPWC. As the new manager, Avery has breathed life into the stodgy institution, and her latest idea is a murder mystery play/dinner to raise funds for the club and to attract new members. The production isn't without drama beforehand, however, as the director, Fabian LaGrande, and the lead actor, wealthy Bob Hanover, butt heads over everything. When Bob is found murdered in the basement, where his character was to meet his end, there is no end of suspects. Bob rubbed everyone the wrong way, from his ex-wife to Fabian to his employees to people brought in to PPWC to work that evening. After Avery's ditzy Aunt Rosemary is considered a person of interest, Avery makes it her mission to find out who really murdered Bob. She is aided by the ghost of Clemmie Bow, a flapper who was murdered in the same basement a hundred years ago.With Detective Oz Alterman on the official investigation and Avery and Clemmie doing their own sleuthing, they may just wrap up this crime without anyone else getting killed.

I'm somewhat ambivalent about this one. I enjoyed the story, but there were enough plot points that annoyed me, such as Aunt Rosemary showing up out of the blue to "surprise" Avery and then inviting several of her friends to come and perform a seance in the club. My eyebrows rose when Oz invited Avery to 'tag along' while he was questioning people. At least he's not an ass. Speaking of asses, whatever became of Avery's nemesis from the first book? She didn't pop in once to gloat at things going tits up? Other than that, I do enjoy Clemmie's character and her interactions with Avery.

Favorite lines:
♦ Her hair, always perfect, looked as if a couple of cats had been in there fighting.
♦ She gave me the kind of soft smile I'd seen people use with small children. Or Jack Russells who refused to listen. Which, from my experience, is every Jack Russell on the planet.

Waffling, waffling. I'll be generous and give this a score of four. I do love me a cozy with a ghost!