Night of the Living Deed (A Haunted Guesthouse Mystery, #1) in SOS: Serious Overload of Series

Mar 01, 2016 Lisa Kay rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: m-audible-dot-com, new-2-me-author, authors-e, authors-c, genre-mystery-cozy, series-h, challenge-2016-rlftci, challenge-2016-st

★★★★½

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Jun 25, 2010 Nairabell rated it really liked it

Shelves: 4-star, read-in-2011

Alison Kerby is carving out a new life for herself after her divorce by purchasing a rundown property on the New Jersey shore. She's always dreamed of returning to her home town and opening a guesthouse there, so when the ideal property became available she brought it straight away and moved in with her nine-year-old daughter Melissa. A head injury during the renovations leaves Alison with the ability to see ghosts, and she soon realises her guesthouse already has two residents. Paul and Maxie a Alison Kerby is carving out a new life for herself after her divorce by purchasing a rundown property on the New Jersey shore. She's always dreamed of returning to her home town and opening a guesthouse there, so when the ideal property became available she brought it straight away and moved in with her nine-year-old daughter Melissa. A head injury during the renovations leaves Alison with the ability to see ghosts, and she soon realises her guesthouse already has two residents. Paul and Maxie are stubborn, interfering spirits who won't leave Alison alone until she solves the mystery surrounding their deaths.

I picked up this last summer as I love paranormal mysteries and this sounded like a unique premise. This book does suffer from 'first-book-in-a-series-itis' which dented my enjoyment slightly. There's nothing wrong with the book, but the detailed and meticulous way in which the world and characters are created means that the story takes quite a while (probably half to two thirds of the book) to really get going. This level of world building usually indicates a series that has the potential to run for a long time, and means that subsequent books need very little set up.

The plot is packed full of twists and turns, most set up in incredibly subtle ways that don't show until you're thinking back with hindsight. I love when a mystery follows a path I didn't expect, and this one definitely did that with several 'what?!' moments scattered throughout the book.

In terms of characters, the author has done a great job of collecting the usual cozy mystery cast - the cop, the journalist, the sleuth, the slightly nutty family member, the cute kid, the love interest etc. However the depth and detail of each character presented means that these aren't your cookie cutter characters. I like Alison, especially her snarky sense of humour, but my favourite characters are definitely the ghosts and I'm hoping they stick around for future books. I love how Alison has a dead PI helping her investigate, especially as I've not seen this before.

All in all this was a great mystery to curl up with and I'm looking forward to An Uninvited Ghost out in April 2011.

Plot: 10/10
Characters: 10/10
Ending: 10/10
Enjoyment: 7/10
Cover: 7/10

Overall: 44/50 ...more

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Apr 17, 2013 Patricia rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-in-2014

Very fun, cozy mystery series. I really enjoyed the wide cast of characters, and found the story very easy to read. You definitely have to suspend your disbelief since the ghosts in this series are a little cartoonish being like regular humans just dead and having very few restrictions after death. But I love the excellent dialogue, which was funny, snarky at times and just plain fun. I'll definitely continue reading the rest of the series. ...more

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Nov 24, 2010 Joanne rated it liked it

Shelves: read-2011

This was a good mystery and kept me guessing right to the very end however it only got 3*'s from me. All the characters were interesting but, at the end of the book, I felt like I still didn't know anyone. I'll definitely keep reading this series and hope that the character development is a bit better with each addition to the series. ...more

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Apr 03, 2010 Marisa rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, first-in-series, biblioteca, mystery-cozy, ebook, challenge-mystery_around_usa, 2010, challenge-clue-2010, challenges-month, challenges-season

It should be 3,5 stars because it begins at a slow pace, and later its interest increases a lot.

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