Hello everyone!
Tonight's book of choice is perhaps a LITTLE bit early, considering it isn't NEARLY Thanksgiving yet - neither American nor Canadian.
But suffice to say, when Dina Marie releases another book, I read it.
Timeline doesn't matter!
Because her Salem Cozy Mysteries are just that good, and I've been loving them from the minute I stumbled over Going Ghost quite at random on BookSirens way back when it feels like now.
At this point, I feel like I'm an old pro when it comes to Clara Kelly and her band of ghostly misfits haha, but that doesn't mean I'll be saying no to all the good stuff still coming.
I am for sure reading whatever else we get in this series! The coziness and the general vibes are just so on point for me, I love it.
So how about I stop yapping and start actually talking about Grateful Ghost.
As this is book EIGHT of the series, suffice to say that by now you should know Clara owns a bed and breakfast in Salem, having run here from her abusive husband who met his untimely demise in the very same house, and she's discovered she can see ghosts, specifically of people who've passed away rather violently.
Really, think Ghost Whisperer.
So she's made a deal with herself to help them if she ever run into another, which is exactly what happens during the Thanksgiving volunteer event, where she catches up with all the Salem locals and meets some new faces she's yet to see, like Mickey, the guy with a business head on his shoulders since he has a logging company.
Unfortunately, however, it's he who ends up dead, and his ghost makes an appearance, prompting Clara to take some grey hair from the scene and to try her hand in investigating.
Some of her early leads don't really get her anywhere, but she eventually gets a visit from officer Callahan who's working with the detective on the case, and who's seen Clara do some ... questionable things in the past, but always with good results.
So they have a little chat, she reveals the hair thing, and it turns out the hair is of someone ... dead?
And it also apparently came off of the shirt of her best friend Beverly?
After Callahan strikes out, Clara takes it on herself to investigate, so she pretends to want to join the knitting club, only to learn that the women are all crazy, and that Beverly probably didn't do it.
But she's hitting low after low, as not only is the case stumping her, but a visiting professor waves off the weird dots she found on old letters from the town's deceased hero (who was actually a villain and got her ghostly friend, William, hanged for nothing), she still has to deal with the annoying town journalist, and when she tries to tell Sebastian (the pet groomer) what she's really doing, about ghosts and whatnot, he tells her they can't be together and she needs help.
Yikes.
However, Clara usually always gets a pick-me-up by William, who does the same thing now, and so does Mickey in ghost form, and while she spends her off-time teaching William to drive her car, she's still investigating, and tries a different angle.
What if it wasn't Mickey's personal life which got him killed, and which they'd been striking out on, but his professional one?
So, guided by Mickey himself, she heads up to his cabin, where she gets confronted by the murderer herself, one of Beverly's club members - who happens to be an activist.
Miriam killed Mickey because he was cutting down trees, except the part she willfully ignored was that his company was doing it in a HEALTHY way, as in, they deforested and reforested all at once, taking and giving and making sure the land was and would be healthy.
Also his sons will keep doing it, so she really achieved nothing but killing a good man.
Saved by Sebastian - who William drove to get since he couldn't help on his own - Clara breathes a sigh of relief as she'll let Callahan take the glory for this one, and since Sebastian now firmly believes she can see ghosts, they can kiss and make up and try the Thanksgiving dinner again.
Which is where we leave them!
I've loved Clara since she showed up, and I love her even more now that she's finally part of the Salem community. You can tell the story's come a long way when Officer Callahan is walking up to her door, asking for her opinions!
The whole book is lovingly wrapped in the spirit of giving and helping, things that are becoming lost arts nowadays in places. It feels a bit like putting on your favourite sweater and cozying up with it. The mystery has just the right amount of questions to keep pulling you forward, but I was pleasantly surprised that this book's ghost wasn't stuck to Clara like glue. It was definitely a different experience!
Sebastian ... eh. I'm still a firm believer Clara and William are meant to be, and it could have been fun writing a romance like that! However, Clara feels so very much happier now with Sebastian by her side than she did starting out that I can't even be too irked lol, my girl DESERVES happiness okay??
I can't wait to get some traction on clearing William's name, either. That's hopefully next on the list!
Ms Marie continues writing engagingly and elegantly and I look forward to the next mystery!
I've loved Clara since she showed up, and I love her even more now that she's finally part of the Salem community. You can tell the story's come a long way when Officer Callahan is walking up to her door, asking for her opinions!
The whole book is lovingly wrapped in the spirit of giving and helping, things that are becoming lost arts nowadays in places. It feels a bit like putting on your favourite sweater and cozying up with it. The mystery has just the right amount of questions to keep pulling you forward, but I was pleasantly surprised that this book's ghost wasn't stuck to Clara like glue. It was definitely a different experience!
Sebastian ... eh. I'm still a firm believer Clara and William are meant to be, and it could have been fun writing a romance like that! However, Clara feels so very much happier now with Sebastian by her side than she did starting out that I can't even be too irked lol, my girl DESERVES happiness okay??
I can't wait to get some traction on clearing William's name, either. That's hopefully next on the list!
Ms Marie continues writing engagingly and elegantly and I look forward to the next mystery!
xx
*image not mine
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