chez_jae

Ghostly Apparitions by Aubrey Harper

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Since it was Friday, I stayed up a bit late last night to finish reading Ghostly Apparitions by Aubrey Harper. It's the first book in the "Ghost Hunter PI" mystery series, featuring Meredith Good, who is able to see and communicate with ghosts.

Unfortunately for Meredith, business isn't so good, and she's forced to move back home with her grandmother, who raised her. She's also excited to reconnect with her cousin Sarah, until she learns that Sarah is dating her ex, Jonathan. Meredith no longer has feelings for him, but she is dismayed by this new development. In addition, the entire town of Silver Bells Cove is in an uproar, because a large developer wants to build a mall and a hotel in their sleepy little village. When one of the employees of the developer is murdered, Meredith is able to contact his ghost. Bart was universally disliked in town, but he has no idea who bashed him in the back of the head. Meredith launches her own investigation, which causes her to run afoul of Jonathan and a new PI in town, Kane. She reluctantly joins forces with Kane, much to the chagrin of everyone else.

The story was lively and entertaining, if a tad choppy in places. There were some editing errors, but nothing so egregious as to throw me out of the narrative. Meredith is a fun and feisty character, and I adored Rebecca, the ghost who's been her bff since she was a little girl.

Favorite lines:
♦ "Believe me, if you saw ghosts, you wouldn't put much stock in someone being dead. He's not gone, he's just changed frequencies."
♦ This was either going to be fun or a total disaster. I had a feeling it was probably going to be a mix of the two, like most things in my life.
♦ "You're not a very nice girl, are you?" // "That's probably because I'm not a girl. I'm a woman."
♦ "Giving humanity its hope back, one pastry at a time."

Overall, an enjoyable book, and I'm looking forward to more. Four stars:

****