Murder on the Ghost Walk

Magnolia Mysteries #1

by Ellen Elizabeth Hunter

Traditional mystery set in Wilmington NC

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Fiction, Paranormal, Cozy, Halloween, Southern

200 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Divya · Rating 2 out of 5]

Terrible! I didn't enjoy this book at all, kept hoping it would get better.
Two corpses found in an ancient mansion wall, two people found with knives stuck in their back, 4 great murders & still it falls flat. There wasn't enough logic for it to be a cozy, not enough reality or emotions for women's literature, not enough gore for horror. A complete waste of a good plot. The only good thing I can say is that the setting, southern-old-world-charm was quite well done.
Books like this one make me wish I could quit reading midway & not lose sleep over it!

[WhatShouldIRead · Rating 2 out of 5]

OMG, this book TOO long to read! I found it mildly interesting but thought the author used juvenile dialogue throughout the story. Plus I didn't like the cutsie names of the characters - Ashley Wilkes and Melanie. Please! Some bits were interesting but I felt the story, the characters profession and the relationships and investigating she did just didn't seem involved. Glad I'm done with it. Will not look for the next in this series.

[Lesley Looper · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a sucker for books with North Carolina settings, and I had high hopes for this book, especially since it was dealing with historic preservation in a North Carolina coastal town. I thought some of the dialogue was pretty simplistic, though, almost childlike. Since I read this book while I had the flu, maybe that had something to do with my impression. Still, the setting bumps this book up to a 3. I'll probably try at least one more book in this series for the same reason.

[Belinda Vlasbaard · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars - English Ebook

This is a fantastic mix of historic homes, murder mystery, romance, and a tad bit of humor as well.

The story is well written and unfolds in a nice timely fashion. The story is easy to read and understand. there is none of the confusion that can come with some stories.

The mystery portion of the story keeps you guessing until the very last few pages. The historic portion comes in the role of Ashley,our main character, who works as a historic preservationist who works at restoring older homes.

The romance part of the story was great, but Ashley did not have a 'happily ever after' ending with the guy of my choice. Okay, so I am a little greedy and want to see my hunks happy.

In the historic part of Wilmington, NC, every old house has their ghost....... or do they really....

The mansion Ashley Wilkes is presently restoring is no different. Many neighbors have attested to hearing the house 'ghost' playing the organ late at night, or do they? During her restoration work, they have decided to remove the dumbwaiter shaft to comply with fire codes. Once the wall is removed Ashley goes to check the work and finds 2 skeletons. And this the mysteries begin.

Along with all that Ashley and her sister Melanie are going through, they also have to come to grips of their mother's advanced Alzheimer's Disease. They make the decision to place her in a home.
Sorry about the spoiler.

[Sheila Myers · Rating 5 out of 5]

A nice little cozy mystery. A quick and easy read.

[Melody · Rating 3 out of 5]

Young Ashley, newly arrived in her home town of Wilmington, NC as a historic restoration expert is hired to re do a house that has been empty for 6 years. Her sister Melanie (cliched names….) is a realtor and bought the house for taxes when they went un paid for a few years. She sold to a home town woman who is an up and coming Martha Stewart wanna be and a total witch to everyone. During the demo Ashley finds a skull in the dumb waiter chase when a wall is accidentally damaged. Turns out they were the original owners thought to be traveling around Europe. Over all a good premise but moved a little slowly and in some ways unrealisticly. I would give the next in series a try to see if the author improved her dialogue and pacing.

[Elliott · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was going to give this 2 stars but the absolutely bonkers ending merits an extra star. when Teddy was introduced, I knew he was going Psycho, I just underestimated how far it would go! I found the characters, including protagonist, generally unlikable. the dialogue was simple (as others have noted on here, almost child-like at times). there were a few errors I wish an editor had caught, including mixed up lines of text so that it appears Nick is still speaking when actually it's Ashley's speech (or whoever the characters were). I did like the historical/house-related details and the ghost element.

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I actually give this a 3 1/2 star. I enjoyed the mystery and the main character on the whole, a few annoying instances but nothing major. Not a fan of her sister. I liked the mystery from the past, I think it wrapped up nicely. I will continue on with this series, I'm curious to how it develops.

[Susan Schneider · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was a quick read mystery. im not inspired to read more of the series.

[JoAnne McMaster (Any Good Book) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book because it takes place at Halloween - I always like to 'Read the Season,' as it were, and I am glad I did.
Ashley Wilkes, historic preservationist, on her first important job, is restoring a home for a television personality, Mirabelle Morgan. It is not an easy job, either. Ms. Morgan is one of those people who wants everything done her way, the kind of person who is referred to with the capital "B" in front of their nickname (if you get my drift). When she's not making life a living nightmare for Ashley, she is doing so for everyone else who works for her.


So now Ashley, who is doing some sleuthing on her own to find out if the bones she found in the walls of the house actually do belong to the previous owners, is trying to keep Mirabelle happy (which isn't working, by the way), and questioning her neighbors (which isn't going over very well at all). And if that isn't enough, her mother is developing Alzheimer's and Ashley and her sister Melanie must move Mama to a home to keep her safe, which only leaves Ashley with guilt feelings about it; and of course, that doesn't help the situation.

A nice cozy to read around Halloween.

[Ann aka Iftcan · Rating 4 out of 5]

New cozy series featuring an Historic Preservationist in a small town on Cape Fear. Zany characters abound, which, really is why one reads cozies. The descriptions of the historic house that our main character was working on was great. I wouldn't mind a tour of it, if it really existed.

[Wysteria · Rating 2 out of 5]

The novel relied on stereotypes a little too much. It was also a little too "cutesy" for me. The characters were annoying and the resolution was unsatisfactory. Also, predictable.

[BJ Rose · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good premise, but it just didn't engage me at all.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were things I loved about this book and things I didn’t love. I didn’t love how many dislikable characters there were. I didn’t like that her sister was dislikable and then said one nice thing and we were supposed to forgive her. The solution seemed to almost come of left field, but in some ways it made sense. I really wanted some of the other characters to be the murderer. I didn’t love some of the details about the murdered couple. It just seemed like it was there for shock value. I love how honest Ashley was about being emotional. I didn’t love how emotional she was though. There were definitely times that her emotions seemed reasonable. It was refreshing to see anger that made sense and words that were realistic. I did love how the family mystery was wrapped up in this book too. I loved the setting, but they had to have visited every restaurant in a tri-county area! I liked how Ashley got her information. It was very realistic.
So the emotions and actions were realistic, but the solution and the characters were questionable.

[Amy Leigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cozy mystery set in Wilmington, NC. Ashley Wilkes is a historic preservationist newly returned to her hometown to set up business. She is overseeing the renovation of the historic Campbell House when the discovery of two skeletons in the wall halts the project. The body count rises as Ashley plays amateur detective, to save her career and clear her sister Melanie's name.

The mystery is light on gore, a positive for me, but the whole thing just felt a little shallow. Ashley is dealing with the issue of her mother's Alzheimer's, and she has two potential relationship prospects, but the main plus of the book is the in-depth descriptions of historical homes.

[Lynn Neilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hmmm. I first read this series in 2011 and remembered finding it entertaining and interesting. So, taking a break from running up my Amazon bill with new books, I went back to it and have just about finished re-reading the entire series. Some are better than others, most need some editing (example the main character/narrator makes a point of saying everyone else ordered margheritas but she only ordered sweet tea and within two paragraphs she's knocking back a margherita; she gets confused between the terms step sister and half sister in a couple of the books, and other nit-picky details). None of it deal-breaking but certainly distracting. Most interesting is the history of Wilmington, North Carolina and its architecture, and that is interesting, indeed. There is some repetitive copy about who is who and what is what, from book to book but that likely is for someone who starts with book 4 or whatever and doesn't read the books sequentially.

In general, the characters are well developed and it is easy to visualize them, the dialogue is pretty good and in keeping with whichever character is "talking," and the mysteries (murders, of course!) are original and not easily solved by the reader.

I was glad to find the series in my archives - I had recollected the books as ones I had liked, but could not remember the author or the titles. In re-reading, I have remembered some of the plots but not to the extent of saying "been there, done that" as I re-read. Nice way to pass some reading time, especially, as noted, for the setting and the reflections on the times, probably ten to fifteen years ago, and the history of a city I otherwise knew nothing about.

[Andy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was just okay. Not awful but not great. First, the things I liked. I enjoyed getting to learn more about restoring a historical dwelling. The main character Ashley is a historic preservationist who has moved back home after getting her degree. What I didn't like was the very uneven writing, some parts were good, and others were not. Also, people's emotions seemed to swing from one extreme to another. The mystery seemed like it should be more exciting than it was. All in all like I said it was just okay.

[Kellene · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have wanted to read this series for a long time because I love Wilmington, and finally got around to the first book. While I love the setting, being able to visualize the locations as they are visited, and knowing the history behind many of them, the characters left me flat and the story wasn't great. The mystery itself was interesting at its resolution, but getting there left me wanting so much more. I will read the next one in the series, hoping that the story improves.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

The idea of this book was really great and at first it grabbed me and I didn't want to put it down. The more I got into it I couldn't decide if I felt sorry for Ashley or wanted to tell her to grow a spine and tell her sister where to go. The sister just made me want to tell her off. It was a mixture of liking it and feeling like it was a pity party. The characters came off as spoiled and Pre-Teen petty.

[Marlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great cozy mystery!

I loved the characters and all of the red herrings and plot twists! I have been reading this cozy book on the eve of planning to evacuate from the first ever twin hurricanes to enter the Gulf of Mexico at the same time, just three years after losing our home to hurricane Harvey. So when this surprisingly turned out to have a hurricane, too, it made for the best plot twist ever!

[Peggy Landon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun read

This book is a fun read. I like to read a strictly entertaining book at times where I don't have to do a lot of thinking but can just enjoy. I found it easy to picture everything in my mind. I recommend this for anyone who enjoys a well written book just for the fun of it.

[Marie Deremiah · Rating 2 out of 5]

The most positive thing I can say for it is if Wilmington is new to you, you get a lot of local surface history and many restaurant recommendations. Little to no character development and juvenile writing. I’ve no idea if she becomes a better writer in the next nine books. Think I’ll wait until someone tells me she has improve greatly, because I did enjoy the local information.

[Beach Happy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Charming series introduction!

The book is a page turner and so much fun to read. The characters are entertaining and the Wilmington setting is the perfect backdrop for the book's events. I will definitely read the entire series!

[Faye Sexton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Totally enjoyed this book!

The author did a great job fitting all the characters into this book. It's well written and I am hoping the rest of the series is this good. I didn't guess the ending, which is great!

[Sarah Jowett · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hurt my shoulder in the middle of reading this and wasnt able to lay in bed going on a month now. I kind of lost interest but it was okay, i would have finished it if not for the injury interruption.

[Miriam Roush · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick read that draws the reader into the storyline from the very beginning. Captivating mystery, a likable main character, intriguing descriptions of old Southern houses, a satisfying ending. I am looking forward to reading more Ashley Wilkes Mysteries.

[Melissa Blanz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like it - pretty good story. I didn't get a very clear idea of what people looked like, but they were 3-dimensional just the same. Also the storyline was interesting, and not always easy to follow.

[Volha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great premises, the mystery looked intriguing enough, but the characters are rather bland and mostly left me indifferent.

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A just spooky enough mystery with murder and intrique.

[Ruth Kevghas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Packed with suspects and twists and turns! Loved it! I can't wait to read her next one!