Phantoms & Felonies - a Haunted Mansion Mystery (#2)

It absolutely sucks when you find a new series that you enjoy, with a writer that you find has created some engaging characters and a world full of great mysteries, and then have that rug pulled right out from under you after only two or three books when you discover that - oh, guess what?!  The series is over, the publisher and/or the writer has decided not to do any more books in the series.  It has happened to me more time than I care to admit.  The Change of Fortune series by Jesica Estevao ended after only two books.  The Lilly Long series by Penny Richards ended after only three books.  The Devlin Quick series by LInda Fairstein ended after only three books.  And the list goes on and on.... And now, here I have yet another wonderful series to add to this list - the Haunted Mansion Mystery series by Lucy Ness.  I came into the game a little late, picking up both the first and second book in this series after the second book was published.  I thoroughly enjoyed the first book, and so as time came around and I picked up the second one to read, I did a search to see when the next one was coming out.  Only ... there is no "next" book for this series.  (sigh)

But that did not dampen my enjoyment of this second trip into the world of Avery Morgan and the Portage Path Women's Club.  Phantoms & Felonies finds Avery getting ready for the murder mystery party that the women's club is hosting, and resident ghost Clementine Bow (or "Clemmie" as she likes to be called) is eager to help Avery get the former speakeasy in the basement ready for the event.  A local theater troupe is going to be staging the interactive play, in which the guests at the club will have the opportunity to solve the murder that is going to take place.  But, as fate would have it, a real murder is on the menu for the evening as the local banker, Bob Hanover, who is playing the lead role in the play, turns up dead in the speakeasy - and Avery's aunt, Rosemary Walsh, is found standing over the body, a bloody knife in her hand!  Boy, does Avery have her work cut out for her!

Ness cooks up quite the little murder mystery with this one.  It turns out there were any number of people who were actually out of the dining room when the murder took place and could very well have gone down into the basement and done the deed.  The banker's wife, who was fearful that her husband was cheating on her ... the banker's ex-wife who never liked the fact he left her for his secretary ... the playwright who believes the banker stole his play and intended to sell it as his own ... the local landscaper whose was put out of business when the banker refused to give him a much-needed loan ... then there's the overly nervous waitress who takes the heat off of Aunt Rosemary when she confesses to the crime!  But Avery as well as the police do not think she did it.  Which begs the question - who really killed Bob Hanover?

The story is filled with suspects, clues, and secrets galore, and poor Avery has to make sense of them.  Clemmie tries to help, but she's in danger herself of being exposed, because Aunt Rosemary is almost certain she can feel a presence in the Portage Path Women's Club, and she is determined to ferret it out, even if that means calling in reinforcements to hold a seance.  The only problem is, when you start messing with the other side, you just never know what ... or in this case, who! ... you manage to reach.  This book definitely ups the ante when it comes to ghosts and the other side, as Avery does everything she can to keep Clemmie's presence a secret, as well as her own ability to see and speak with spirits.  All of this, plus solving a murder, definitely keeps our amateur sleuth busy.  

It's truly a shame that Ness is not continuing the series.  I would love to see more Haunted Mansion Mysteries.  Avery Morgan is a fun character, and her interactions with the self-absorbed playwright, Fabian LaGrande, are priceless!  (And let's face it, she picked the right surname for the character!)  Who knows, maybe if I'm lucky, Ness will shop the series around and find another publisher that will pick up on the series.  In the meantime, I would definitely recommend this and the previous book for anyone who enjoyed a good murder mystery with some ghosts thrown in the mix.

RATING:  9 pale aqua beads spotted with gold out of 10 for mystery, ghosts, and fun all rolled into one!

Haunted Homicide - a Haunted Mansion Mystery (#1)

Wait, what? Another new series?  But, Todd, I thought you weren't picking up any new series!  And a cozy series, at that?! Yes, yes, yes, I know.  But when you go to Barnes & Noble time and time again, and there are no new books in the series you do read, and you stumble across the start of a new series about a haunted mansion with a ghost that helps the new young business manager of the woman's club that houses its meetings and events within that haunted mansion - plus, with the unique font used for the title and the awesome cover art - well, let's face it, I couldn't help myself.  I picked up the first two books in the series and figured I would give them a try.  If I didn't like them, I knew I could always pass them on to someone else.

Well, I have no intention of passing them on!

Haunted Homicide, the first of Lucy Ness's "Haunted Mansion Mystery" tales, is a delightful little mystery with plenty of colorful characters.  Of course, when you are dealing with a bunch of high society, older-than-dirt women, you're pretty much guaranteed to have some fun characters!  The story centers around Avery Morgan, who has come to the small town of Portage Path (interesting name) to take over as business manger for the PPWC (Portage Path Women's Club).  Avery's parents died when she was young, and she was raised by her rather eccentric aunt who claims to see and speak with the dead.  Avery has never believed in any of that, and his move to Portage Path gives her a chance to get away from it all.  Or so she thinks...

Avery is welcomed into the PPWC by everyone except one - Muriel Sadler, an old, rich socialite who makes it clear that she does not want Avery there.  All of the others ladies on the Board for the women's club are happy to have Avery - Patricia Fink, Gracie Grimm, Valentina Hanover, and Agnes Yarborough.  The cook, Quentin, and the hostess, Geneva, are also thrilled to meet Avery.  But as soon as she arrives, she realizes things are not going well for the club.  Membership is down, attendance at meetings is low, and one of the rooms in the old mansion is having to be repaired because Agnes fell asleep in the records room and dropped her cigarette, starting a fire that nearly wiped out the room.  Enter: Jack Harkness.

Yes, you read that right.  Jack Harkness. No, not THAT Jack Harkness.  Although, it would have been rather hilarious if Jack Harkness turned out to be Captain Jack Harkness (as played by John Barrowman) in the Doctor Who series.  But, sadly, this is only a super-tall, super-good looking restorationist who will be fixing the Marigold Room.  However, I did smile every time I read his name, as I could only picture in my mind John Barrowman as Jack Harkness.

Anyway, before you know it, Muriel Sadler winds up dead at the bottom of the basement stairs.  Avery stumbles across the body - literally! - and she is left to wonder if the young woman in the 1920s flapper outfit she sees in the basement is connected to the murder.  Of course, Sergeant Oscar "Oz" Alterman and his policemen are unable to locate any woman in the basement.  Avery gets the suspicion they think she imagined the woman.  But she didn't.  She knows she didn't.  She spoke with the woman.  She was real.  Wasn't she?

With a series called "A Haunted Mansion Mystery," I think you pretty much know the answer to that.  Ness plays the story realistically (well, as realistically as you can with a ghost), and Clementine Bow (the ghost) is not able to simply tell Avery who the killer is.  Rather, Clemmie simply helps Avery talk through all the facts she uncovers about the suspects and the night of the murder, and she even manages to eavesdrop on some conversations that help Avery connect some dots about Muriel Sadler.  Of course, if she's going to figure out who killed the former president of the PPWC (at the request of the other board members, of course), she's going to have to get some answers to some important questions, like:  where did Patricia get those bruises? why was Muriel's husband at a movie the night of the murder when he told the police he was at home? what was Gracie doing with some of the records books at her house?  why did the previous business manager not turn in her key when Muriel fired her? and was it true that the former groundskeeper was stealing from the club, as Muriel accused him of when she fired him?  So much misinformation, so many lies, and so many secrets - all of which make for a great mystery!

Ness is off to a great start with this first book in her new series, and I hope the series sticks around for a while and doesn't disappear like Clemmie after only two books!

RATING:  9 purple t-shirts and purple-glittered hair out of 10 for kicking off this new series with a fun new mystery-solving duo!