Old Haunts by E.J. Copperman

First Lines: "Careful!" I said. All right, shouted. "We can't afford to drop this."

Alison Kerby is busy turning the attic of her Jersey Shore guesthouse into a bedroom for her daughter. Not only would it give her daughter her own space away from guests, it would free up a room to create more of that all-important cash flow. It's a good idea, but those around her have other plans.

Alison doesn't even have time to climb down from the ladder before she finds herself in the middle of "Revisit Your Failed Relationship Week."  The resident ghosts want Alison to put her newly minted private investigator's license to good use: Maxie wants to know who killed her ex-husband, and Paul needs a status update on the woman he was going to ask to marry him.  And wouldn't you know it... right in the midst of all this chaos (and I'm not including  the guests wandering in and out expecting ghostly apparitions to appear on cue) walks The Swine, err, Alison's ex-husband.

Once again, E.J. Copperman (AKA Jeffrey Cohen) has crafted a light, fun mystery that's the perfect way to spend an afternoon. Alison is just the type of stressed, smart alecky character that I love. The fact that her guesthouse has a deal with Senior Plus Tours to provide accommodations for senior citizens wanting "special experiences" has all sorts of wackos walking in and out of the premises, and you have to know that the author knows how to play this for all it's worth.  However, it's the relationship between Alison, her daughter and her mother that mean the most to me. The love, thoughtfulness, snarkiness, and exasperation make readers feel as though they've walked right into the middle of a real family.

Alison is helped in her attempts to be a private investigator by Paul, who was one before he was murdered in her house. Alison is a pretty smart cookie, and Paul must be a decent teacher because his pupil seems to be picking up a thing or two-- which is good because she has a lot on her plate. By the time everything's done and dusted, everyone's pitched in to find answers to all the questions, and isn't that the way it should be? In Alison Kerby's haunted guesthouse on the Jersey Shore, no man (woman, or ghost) is an island. They're all in it together.

If you enjoy light-hearted books with good mysteries, good humor, and characters that feel as real to you as family, I think you'll like reading E.J. Copperman's Haunted Guesthouse series.

Old Haunts by E.J. Copperman

ISBN: 9780425246207

Berkley Prime Crime © 2012

Mass Market Paperback, 304 pages

Cozy Mystery, #3 Haunted Guesthouse mystery

Rating: B

Source: Purchased at The Poisoned Pen. 

An Uninvited Ghost by E.J. Copperman

Title: An Uninvited Ghost
Author: E.J. Copperman
ISBN: 9780425240588
Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime, 2011
Mass Market Paperback, 304 pages
Genre: Cozy Mystery, #2 Haunted Guesthouse mystery
Rating: B-
Source: Paperback Swap

First Line: Five minutes into this ridiculous escapade, and already Scott McFarlane thought it was a bad idea.

Alison Kerby has her old Victorian guesthouse on the Jersey Shore up and running. A company offering "unique" vacation experiences to senior citizens has agreed to book rooms there-- as long as ghosts make twice daily appearances. Alison isn't giving much thought to that private investigator's license she got at the urging of one of the resident ghosts. After all, she pretty much solved any mysteries on the premises. However... she doesn't take into account that other spirits may get in contact with her resident P.I. ghost to ask for help.

That's exactly what happens when in floats the deceased Scott McFarlane. McFarlane was hired to scare a prominent local business woman, but he's worried that he actually killed her. Why doesn't he know if the woman's dead or not? Scott McFarlane is blind.

It doesn't take much detecting for Alison to discover that the woman is still alive, which is good because she's now earning a bit more money by agreeing to allow a reality television program to film on the premises. But then the business woman attends a seance and drops dead right in Alison's parlor. Cranky, ghost-loving senior citizens, guests who never come out of their room, foul-mouthed television "stars", a producer with his eye on the ratings, demanding ghosts, the list goes on and on. Perhaps Alison should study to become a ringmaster for the circus? It seems like a good fit with her dual career as guesthouse owner and private eye....

Copperman (AKA Jeffrey Cohen) had me laughing from the start with Alison's trial by fire in the hospitality industry. If you've ever had to work any sort of customer service job, you're going to recognize every one of Alison's guests. When she decided to take on the entire cast and crew of a reality TV program as well, I shook my head. Yes, I  shook my head. Copperman writes the type of characters that get you involved. I even like the local police detective in this one. McElone has a lot to deal with-- especially since she doesn't believe in ghosts-- and I think she handles Alison and her crew rather well.

The only letdown in An Uninvited Ghost for me was Scott McFarlane. It is rather daring to have a blind ghost as a character. In his Author's Note at the beginning of the book, Copperman tells us that one of the nice things in having ghosts as characters is that there are no rules; you can make them up as you go along. Unfortunately McFarlane's blindness seems to come and go throughout the book. Several times, he would do something that would make me stop and think, "Hey, wait a second. Isn't he supposed to be blind?" Make up all the rules you like, but please be consistent, too.

That was a minor letdown, however. I enjoyed this visit with Alison, and I'm looking forward to seeing what else happens in that haunted guesthouse of hers.

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Night of the Living Deed by E.J. Copperman

Title: Night of the Living Deed
Author: E.J. Copperman
ISBN: 9780425235232
Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime, 2010
Mass Market Paperback, 336 pages
Genre: Amateur Sleuth, Cozy, Paranormal, #1 Haunted Guesthouse mystery
Rating: A+
Source: Paperback Swap

First Line: "I don't get it, Mom."

Newly divorced Alison Kerby has returned to the Jersey Shore to fulfill a dream: renovating a Victorian fixer-upper into a beautiful guesthouse. She figures she has the know-how and just enough money to complete the makeover and open for business so she can provide a decent future for Melissa, her nine-year-old daughter.

As she begins the process of renovating, she gets the odd vibe now and then but thinks nothing of it until a fifty-pound bucket of joint compound knocks her in the head, and she begins seeing ghosts. Two of them. One an evil-tempered young woman named Maxie (the previous owner of the house), and the other, a private eye named Paul. Both died in the house on the same night. Police think they "drank the Kool-aid" and committed suicide. Maxie and Paul insist that they were murdered-- and they also insist that Alison drop everything to find out who killed them.

It's quite a stretch for Alison to believe in the resident ghosts to begin with, but she finally has no alternative. Both ghosts are very good at getting their way, although they have very different methods. However, Alison's not bad at driving a hard bargain herself, and she manages to persuade them that she'll investigate as long as the renovations keep on schedule. As she begins to play sleuth, things begin to happen, and she realizes that she'd better identify the killer before she becomes the third ghost in her guesthouse. (And don't you dare call it a bed and breakfast!)

I was in the perfect mood for a light, fast-paced, and laugh-out-loud funny read. Night of the Living Deed almost immediately had me in reading nirvana. The cast of characters is superb. Alison's voice is pitch-perfect: alternately sarcastic, befuddled, DIY knowledgeable, stressed out, and punch-drunk... as only the mother of a young girl can be. Her daughter, Melissa is a nine-year-old prosecuting attorney who's the perfect sort of child to have live in a haunted house. Alison's mother, her friends, the police detective she runs to constantly, and the ghosts, Maxie and Paul, all add color, depth and humor to the story.

When I wasn't laughing or telling Alison to "Check there! Check there!", I was appreciating the fact that this mystery with the home renovation theme actually had quite a bit of DIY detail. Alison kept to her bargain and managed to wear her deerstalker cap while she refinished cabinets. So often in themed mystery series, the theme seems to be a thin veneer that's easily cast aside. Not so in this book, and that's refreshing.

I tired of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series long ago, and I've felt the lack of a truly funny mystery series in my reading life. No more-- and I have E.J. Copperman to thank for it!

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