Easter Weekend reading

Sorry to do this but this will be a catchup blog of what was read over the weekend. 3 books. Imagine that. Even though I still wonder some times why I am doing this. Do I have more followers yet? Nyet. I, unfortunately have many friends who don't read and are not interested in this blog. And the ones who do read books read different ones than I do usually. But not all. I guess I will have to bribe the ones who are my sisters, in chick lit and cozies, so they will subscribe. Chocolate anyone?

I will start with the book I liked the most. Tragedy at Two by Ann Purser. This is the recent books in the Lois Meade series. Lois has a house cleaning service in rural England. Her past time is helping the local inspector, who is enamored with her even though she is married, with murders especially ones that affect her family. In this story, the murdered victim is her daughters partner/boyfriend. What's interesting is all the twists and turns she goes through to finally solve this mystery involving gypsies. This is a should read. http://www.annpurser.com/

The next one I read was a new find called Them Bones, a Sarah Booth Delaney Series #1, by Carolyn Haines. Sarah is a southern belle in Mississippi who is broke and is danger of losing her family home. So she is desperate to make some money. So she kidnaps someones' dog and holds them for ransom. Only it doesn't quite end up the way you would expect. First it works but I think only because the person who's dog she kidnaps ask her to do the money drop. How fortuitous for her. This leads to a series of "jobs" she gets asked to do finding people and such. And all this while she has a ghost of her great grandmother's nanny goading her along. It was quite a cute read and I think I will continue in the series. http://www.carolynhaines.com/

And lastly I read the second book in the Chet and Bernie series, books by Spencer Quinn. What is different about his book is that you get the story from the standpoint of the dog, Chet, who helps his owner Bernie with his private investigating job. I will tell you it does get a little strange when Chet's mind wanders, as you would suspect a dogs does. But it is interesting to suspose what the dog is thinking and catches. In this book, they are hired to be bodyguards for a dog, registered for a fancy dog show, that got death threats. Of course they are thinking this was the easiest money they will make. But the dog turns up missing right away and the owner turns up dead. But not for the reasons you think, especially knowing it is a dog eat dog world. Sorry, had to put that in. So these are nice reads and I am checking them out at the library. Check out the dog's blog. http://www.chetthedog.com/?tag=spencer-quinn

Unhallowed Ground by Heather Graham

I am fast becoming a big Heather Graham fan. In one of her most recent books, Unhallowed Ground, we find another paranormal type romance. But yet it isn't. Eeehhhh. This book takes place in St. Augustine Fla and centers around Sarah, who is a historian working as a docent at a museum while she is busy renovating an old historic house that she has always loved. Now the house has a morbid past, with being a mortuary a time or two with the morticians hiding bodies in the walls to reuse the fancy coffins and having a voodoo witch supposedly living there also. What starts the story out is missing girls, and when they are eventually found, drained of blood. Of course you think vampires but not the case. Where the romance in the story is between Sarah and Caleb, who is a private investigator who is a little psychic. He has come down to Fla to find a missing girl from a year ago and to help search for the recent one. And he keeps finding bodies as he is sort of drawn to them. Like he was to Sarah's house. And on top of that we have a mystery with a relative of Caleb's that is associated with the house. Fab book I didn't want to put down and y'all must read it. http://www.eheathergraham.com/

Shades of Grey

The first in the new Dulcie Schwartz mystery series in which the ghost of her dead cat helps her out. Sort of. Really more like guides her around things. It all starts off with her coming home to find her temporary roommate stabbed and the dead cat warning her not to go in. But she does anyway, of course, while thinking she is going crazy. What is interesting is how the whole story with the death and computer hacking at her work and at the university, where she is trying to finish her thesis, all ties in well together. Lots of clues and her research on her topic provide a good story line and a good read. I would probably read more of these books if they came to the library. http://www.cleasimon.com/

The Girl on Legare Street

I am most definitely hooked on this suspenseful, supernatural series by Karen White. I had loved The House on Tradd Street and just devoured The Girl on Legare Street. Melanie, or Mellie if you want to get on her bad side, is a realtor relocated back to the Charleston, SC area. She is in the process of renovating a historic house, left to her by a brief acquaintance, when she finds herself unwillingly drawn into helping her mother do the same to her childhood home. Her mother, with the same hereditary psychic ability as Melanie, had mysteriously left 30 some years ago to pursue a career in opera singing. But Melanie is reluctant to help her mother, as she still hurts from the rejection she experienced long ago. As the renovation starts, the ghosts come out of the woodwork. One protective and one vengeful. The key to the puzzle, so to speak, is the front window of the house which has a deceiving design in it, depending at what time of day you look at it. What lightens up the story is the unlikely romance Melanie has with an author named Jack, who knows her secrets and tortures her emotionally, constantly. I vote that this is an absolutely have to read. Not a dull moment in the book. http://www.karen-white.com/
I have not been reading much for the last couple of days. I checked out a couple of seasons worth of NCIS from our public library and am catching up on episodes that I missed.

Ghost a la Mode: A Ghost of Granny Apples Mystery

I really, really liked this cozy mystery but will admit I thought that the name of the ghost, Granny Apples, was a little corny. This is a first in a new paranormal series from Sue Ann Jaffarian starring Emma Reynolds Whitecastle, a somewhat trophy wife going through a divorce, who recently discovered she is a little clairvoyant. Her great-great-great grandmother, Ish Reynolds, visits her, not too long after her best friend visits a psychic, and asks for Emma's help to clear her good name because she had been unrightfully hung for killing her husband. In the process of solving this over 100 yr old mystery, she uncovers a newly hatched gold mine plot and nearly gets killed. I liked the unfolding of the relationship with the current owner of the land, where the gold is supposedly, of Emma and Phil and the discovering of her abilities in strange places. There will be more in this series and I say you should read them. I know I will. http://www.sueannjaffarian.com/

I see dead people.

Yes, I just finished a I see dead people book. And I loved it. It is a must read I feel. The House on Tradd Street by Karen White is a story about a realtor who gets invited to a old victorian house that she is supposedly going to list. The elderly gentleman who greets her mystifies her with questions and then sends her on her way. He passes 2 days later and leaves her his house and estate on the condition she live there for 1 year and renovate it while solving the reason why his mother left him mysteriously. The book has lots of suspense, a little romance, interesting ghosts, reconnection with family and a lively treasure hunt. There are lots of old family secrets from hers and the old mans family to uncover that are intertwined. http://www.karen-white.com/