Give Up the Ghost
by Juliet Blackwell
Series: Haunted Home Renovation Mystery Series #6
Series Rating:
Published by Berkley on December 1, 2015
Genres: Cozy Paranormal Animal Mystery
Pages: 320
Format: Kindle
Goodreads
Get Your Copy at: Amazon
Also in this series: A Ghostly Light, A Haunting is Brewing, The Last Curtain Call
From the New York Times bestselling author of Keeper of the Castle, San Francisco contractor and ghost whisperer Mel Turner must solve a murder mystery at a haunted mansion in the Pacific Heights...
San Francisco millionaire Andrew Stirling wants to sell his Victorian mansion, but ghostly music, the squeaking of a long-disappeared weathervane, and an angry ghost keep running off potential buyers. After a famous psychic is called in, she informs the Stirlings that their multi-million-dollar renovations to “update” the home have left its resident ghost extremely agitated. So contractor Mel Turner is engaged to track down and replace some of the original features of the house.
But when the beautiful psychic is found stabbed, it appears someone had a very human motive for murder. Now Mel must use her ghost whispering gift to uncover the secrets of the haunted house on the hill, and her sleuthing skills to catch a killer.
Give Up the Ghost by Juliet Blackwell. I love this series—the cast of characters, the history, ghosts, and of course, the bay area. Juliet Blackwell nails the whole package together.
Completely Spectacular!
Mel Turner is wonderful, eccentric, and knowledgeable. She has such a great personality. I loved the way she does what she wants to do. Only in San Francisco could a general contractor be a woman who shows up for work in sequin-covered dresses and occasional feathers with steel-toed work boots. It is excellent how she jumps in and gets the job done, whether it is helping a ghost, taking a wall down, or putting in a window. She is so like her father. I like that she restores the homes instead of tearing them down or apart. She is like a ghost-talking Rehab Addict.
In this addition to the series, Mel takes on a new project that starts as one of her ghost-helping clients, so murder is soon involved. Mel keeps asking questions until motives begin to surface. We meet some new characters and some of the old return. Mel is different in this book, she doesn’t talk about running away to Paris, and she seems more accepting of her life as it is. Mel’s definitely fitting in her skin now. Although she is still a workaholic, she appears to be over the ex finally and has an understanding of what she wants. Her Dad is accepting of her ghost helping in the volume. Mel seems happy.
She has quite a collection of ghosts to assist this time. There is one ghost who cleans the kitchen when it is messy. Honestly, I would learn to get along with that ghost. In this book, more so than before, she has to jump through the living hoops to assist the spirits. Mel meets the murder victim’s family. However, she feels an unexpected pull toward the victim’s brother this time. Mel isn’t sure if she can trust her feelings as she doesn’t seem to know what she is doing with regards to this gentleman and her boyfriend is out of town (again) on business.
I think that Ms. Blackwell has created such a wondrous world of rich characters and history. She makes it so easy to follow and has creative plots. I am giving this 5 Stars and thoroughly recommend it—such an excellent cozy mystery.
Haunted Home Renovation Mystery Series
Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of Give Up the Ghost by Juliet Blackwell.
Until the next time,
About Juliet Blackwell
Juliet Blackwell was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, the youngest child of a jet pilot from New York and an editor from Texas. She graduated with a degree in Latin American Studies from University of California, Santa Cruz, and went on to earn Masters degrees in Anthropology and Social Work from the State University of New York, Albany.
While in graduate school she published several articles based on her research with immigrant families from Mexico and Viet Nam, as well as one full-length translation: Miguel León-Portilla’s seminal work, Endangered Cultures. Juliet taught Medical Anthropology at SUNY-Albany, was a producer for a BBC documentary about Vietnamese children left behind by US soldiers, and worked as an elementary school social worker in rural New York. Upon her return to California, she became a professional artist and ran her own decorative painting, historical renovation, and domestic design studio for more than a decade.
In addition to mainstream novels, Juliet pens the New York Times Bestselling Witchcraft Mysteries and the Haunted Home Renovation series. As Hailey Lind, she wrote the Agatha Award-nominated Art Lover’s Mystery series. She is past president of Northern California Sisters in Crime and former board member of Mystery Writers of America.
Juliet lives in a hundred-year-old house with extensive botanical gardens in Northern California but spends as much time as possible in Europe and Latin America. She believes in the magic of language, travel, and cultural exchange to open hearts, minds, and souls.
