In this 10th book in the 'Haunted Guesthouse' series, innkeeper/amateur sleuth Alison Kerby gets drawn into a buried car murder mystery. The book can be read as a standalone.
*****
Alison Kirby - mother of 13-year-old Melissa and newly married to paint store owner Josh - runs a small guesthouse on the New Jersey Shore.
After a bonk on the head Alison is able to see ghosts.....
.....and regularly hobnobs with the spirits in her house, especially former private detective Paul Harrison and erstwhile interior designer Maxie Malone.
Alison takes advantage of her resident specters by advertising her inn as a haunted house, and this attracts ghost-loving guests all year round. The ghosts oblige by putting on shows twice a day, and the guests marvel at objects flying around, their scarves being pulled, etc.
As the story opens, Alison is very annoyed. Repairs of the Jersey shoreline are ongoing after Superstorm Sandy, and backhoes are digging up the beach.
This makes it impossible for Alison's guests to enjoy a leisurely stroll on the sand. Things get even worse when a huge hole excavated behind Alison's guesthouse reveals the presence of a long-buried 1977 Lincoln Continental with a skeleton inside. The unfortunate bag of bones turns out to be a murder victim who disappeared 40 years ago.
The detective ghost Paul Harrison is THRILLED to have a new case to investigate, and - as usual - he tries to inveigle Alison into assisting with his inquiries.
Alison just wants to run her guesthouse but is nevertheless drawn into the search for the killer, as is her husband Josh, her daughter Melissa, and the other resident ghost Maxie Malone....who's the computer expert of the group.
Meanwhile, the aforementioned Maxie - at her own insistence - is also drawing up sketches to re-design the inn's kitchen, which is being renovated by Alison's contractor friend Tony due to bullet damage (from a previous case).
This results in a clash of wills, since Maxie wants the kitchen to look like a piece of modern art and Alison wants the room to be useable as a kitchen. (All this is very funny.)
The murder case is soon complicated by the theft and return of the Lincoln Continental as well as the discovery of a valuable gem, bullets, and a gun in Alison's torn-up kitchen. These incidents spur Alison to get very involved in the murder inquiry which seriously annoys police detective Anita McElone, who wants Alison to BUTT OUT of her case.
As all this going on Alison makes jokes and wisecracks a mile a minute, providing the reader with plenty of laughs.
The case turns out to be convoluted, but I enjoyed the story up until the (almost incomprehensible) denouement. Still, the book is enjoyable light reading.
*****
Alison Kirby - mother of 13-year-old Melissa and newly married to paint store owner Josh - runs a small guesthouse on the New Jersey Shore.
After a bonk on the head Alison is able to see ghosts.....
.....and regularly hobnobs with the spirits in her house, especially former private detective Paul Harrison and erstwhile interior designer Maxie Malone.
Alison takes advantage of her resident specters by advertising her inn as a haunted house, and this attracts ghost-loving guests all year round. The ghosts oblige by putting on shows twice a day, and the guests marvel at objects flying around, their scarves being pulled, etc.
As the story opens, Alison is very annoyed. Repairs of the Jersey shoreline are ongoing after Superstorm Sandy, and backhoes are digging up the beach.
This makes it impossible for Alison's guests to enjoy a leisurely stroll on the sand. Things get even worse when a huge hole excavated behind Alison's guesthouse reveals the presence of a long-buried 1977 Lincoln Continental with a skeleton inside. The unfortunate bag of bones turns out to be a murder victim who disappeared 40 years ago.
The detective ghost Paul Harrison is THRILLED to have a new case to investigate, and - as usual - he tries to inveigle Alison into assisting with his inquiries.
Alison just wants to run her guesthouse but is nevertheless drawn into the search for the killer, as is her husband Josh, her daughter Melissa, and the other resident ghost Maxie Malone....who's the computer expert of the group.
Meanwhile, the aforementioned Maxie - at her own insistence - is also drawing up sketches to re-design the inn's kitchen, which is being renovated by Alison's contractor friend Tony due to bullet damage (from a previous case).
This results in a clash of wills, since Maxie wants the kitchen to look like a piece of modern art and Alison wants the room to be useable as a kitchen. (All this is very funny.)
The murder case is soon complicated by the theft and return of the Lincoln Continental as well as the discovery of a valuable gem, bullets, and a gun in Alison's torn-up kitchen. These incidents spur Alison to get very involved in the murder inquiry which seriously annoys police detective Anita McElone, who wants Alison to BUTT OUT of her case.
As all this going on Alison makes jokes and wisecracks a mile a minute, providing the reader with plenty of laughs.
The case turns out to be convoluted, but I enjoyed the story up until the (almost incomprehensible) denouement. Still, the book is enjoyable light reading.
Rating: 3 stars
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