Tome Thursday: G is for Ghost

 

Hello everyone!

 

I'm on an afternoon shift after a while and I'll tell you what, writing this blog post in the wee hours of the morning feels a little strange after having done this every afternoon for about a month haha.

 

But we're back with a cozy story tonight!

 

I've been a fan of Dina Marie since I accidentally picked up the first book in her series, Going Ghost, and I haven't stopped since.

 

Sure, is her main character sometimes comically silly?

 

Does she make some of the most ridiculous mistakes that look positively cartoonish on occasion? Also true.

 

But that doesn't detract from the general vibe of these books, wherein you get to visit Salem, look around the landmarks a little, meet some interesting people, catch up with favourites, and overall have a pretty relaxing time, even while there's a murder investigation going on.

 

That takes some skill, honestly.

 

So let's hop right back into the Salem Spirits series with G is for Ghost.

 

Links to previous related posts can be found at the bottom of the page, as per usual!

 

Clara Kelly is our heroine in these, who escaped to Salem running from an abusive husband; said husband eventually met his demise falling down the stairs (yes, he actually did that), and now she's been renovating the old home she'd been staying at into a bed and breakfast.

 

Are there going to be some legal battles ahead in her future? If her sister-in-law has anything to say about it, yes, but for the time being, Clara's perfectly content enjoying her life and getting the wheels turning.

 

Which is how she ends up at what's basically Career day at the high school, her ghostly roommate William in tow, to talk to the students about to graduate and head out into the world.

 

All's well that ends well, and then they find one of the professors, who seemed to be napping in the background, actually somehow died during the entire thing!

 

Zoinks!

 

Now, initially, even Clara thinks it might have been a peaceful passing, until she sees his ghost, then jogs over to introduce herself, and help him figure out why he hasn't crossed over yet.

 

Unlike the ghosts in previous books - as well as Clara's reluctance to help them - this one is incredibly charming and just cute as a button, an old man who has a lot of knowledge to share and little secrets to uncover, and their romp across Salem trying to figure out what happened to him is just adorable to witness.

 

The police initially don't think anything of it, then they find some medication in his briefcase that shouldn't be there, and start thinking along the lines of ordering a toxicology report.

 

By this point, Clara's wondering who would have wanted to poison the guy and for what reason, and her primary suspect is his daughter, who lived with him and has a chip on her shoulder about the size of Texas.

 

Then she runs into her old pal the real estate agent, who her husband was screwing behind her back, and she lets slip the deceased's house is being put up for sale, but the other occupant - namely, the daughter - had no idea about it, and things start looking more and more suss.

 

If the daughter didn't know ...

 

Luckily, the realtor panics and sends an SOS message to the REAL culprit, who turns out to be the deceased's SON, a boy who didn't like being touched from an early age on, who withdrew into himself, and expected his parents to read his mind and still try to coddle him when they respected his wishes and left him alone, so he was holding a grudge, raked up gambling debts, and needs the house to sell so he can pay them off.

 

Clara holds him off by telling him everything his ghostly dad tells her in apology, and by that time, William, you know, her friendly household ghost, has dialed the police from her phone, and they arrive to arrest the real culprit.

 

With the mystery solved, her first guests on the verge of arriving, and her personal quest of changing history books marking William a traitor on the go (she's got tons of printed old articles to browse through, thanks to her frenemy Taylor, journalist extraordinaire who you roll your eyes at all the time), Clara's well and truly settled in Salem by now, and I can't WAIT to see what - and who - she runs into next!

 

In case I forgot to mention this, I received an advance review copy for free from BookSirens. Thanks, BookSirens!

The book also features Clara finally having a first date with Sebastian and still making goo-goo eyes at William. Also, the case-of-the-book this time, the deceased teacher, is a lovely ghost to have around and I really enjoyed the time she got to spend with him.

The case itself is fairly straightforward, inheritance, gambling, money, the works, but what I liked about it most is the expanding sense of community, of friendships Clara's making in the town around her, and how even the police officer who was so suspicious of her in the beginning has now warmed up to her after having to come to her rescue before she gets turned into a ghost herself!

All in all, another quiet, cozy read for a rainy afternoon.

 

xx

*image not mine

 

Going Ghost - Ghost Writer - Here Ghost Nothing - Anything Ghost

Love Ghost On -Tailing Ghost Cat