A House of Ghosts by W.C. Ryan

First Line: The sea was black as ink and the small fishing boat, travelling under a loose sail, moved slowly across its glass-flat calm.

It's the winter of 1917, and so many people who have lost loved ones in the brutal fighting of World War I are finding it difficult to let go. Spiritualism and séances abound. Armaments industrialist Lord Highmount has invited a group of people to Blackwater Abbey, his country house on an island off the coast of Devon. The purpose of the gathering is an attempt to contact his two sons, both of whom died at the front.

Two of the guests have been sent by the British intelligence service. One, Kate Cartwright, is a friend of the family who lost her brother at the Somme and who has her own special gift in terms of the spiritual. The other is Captain Donovan, who recently returned from Europe. Top secret plans for weapons developed by Highmount's company have turned up in Berlin, and British intelligence believes that enemy spies will be in attendance at Blackwater Abbey. 

As the guests arrive, it is clear that they all have things they'd rather keep hidden. When a storm descends, they are all trapped on the island, and then someone dies...

As a teenager, I loved reading Gothic suspense novels. I couldn't get enough of the creepy old houses, atmospheric settings, and (often) searches for treasure. W.C. Ryan's A House of Ghosts fits into the Gothic suspense genre beautifully. Blackwater Abbey is hundreds of years old, the site of an ancient monastery, and it is absolutely filled with secret doors, rooms, and passageways. I wish the place were real so I could wander around it myself. The atmosphere was tense, and when the storm descended, it added to the frayed nerves of the people in the house: "It seemed as though the house and the wind were having a conversation" (and it wasn't a good one).

The two main characters, Kate Cartwright and Captain Donovan, were strong, intelligent people who were quick thinkers in dangerous situations-- even when sparks flew between them. Kate, like many of the women in her family, could see ghosts. Just see them, not talk with them, and she also had the FitzAubrey glass, an ancient mirror that women in her family could use to glimpse the future.

One of the elements of A House of Ghosts that really ratcheted up the suspense was the presence of ghosts. Around the pier on the island, the spirits of the drowned collected. In Blackwater Abbey, home of a man who made his fortune in munitions, dead soldiers kept gathering-- and the house already contained the spirits of many of its former residents. Yes, the ghosts were a strong force in the book, and they led me to believe that the ending was going to be explosive... but it wasn't. They were used and then discarded, almost as though the author didn't want his novel dismissed as a mere lightweight ghost story.

However, even though I found the ending to be a slight letdown, I still really enjoyed A House of Ghosts. Ryan left a suggestion at the end that may mean there will be at least one more book featuring Cartwright and Donovan, and I hope there is.

A House of Ghosts by W.C. Ryan

eISBN: 9781948924726

Arcade Crimewise © 2019

eBook, 384 pages

Gothic Suspense, Standalone

Rating: A

Source: Purchased from Amazon.


 

Dead and Kicking by Wendy Roberts

Title: Dead and Kicking
Author: Wendy Roberts
ISBN: 9780451228628, Obsidian Mystery, 2009
Genre: Amateur Sleuth, #3 Ghost Dusters mystery
Rating: B+

First Line: The cemetery smelled of freshly mowed grass.

Sadie Novack's brother committed suicide. It was several days before his body was found. The grieving Sadie had to clean his apartment. Vowing that no other family would have to do that while she had anything to say about it, Sadie quit her job and went into business for herself cleaning crime scenes. Along the way she discovered that she has another talent: she can see the dead and help them come to terms with what's happened.

Right now Sadie is going through a rough patch. Her father has died and doesn't show any signs of wanting to move on. Her boyfriend, Zack, is spending a lot of time with a former girlfriend, and Sadie is trying to take care of jobs for a second cleaning company while its owner is out of town on business. In the midst of all this, she finds herself shoveling out the house of a hoarder, and there's a very angry ghost trying to keep Sadie off the second floor. There seems to be something buried under all the trash that's worth killing for.

I enjoy this series, and this was another good entry. Although the crime scene clean-up can be a bit stomach turning from time to time, I still find those scenes interesting, but it's Sadie that makes me come back for each new installment. She's a very real character, and while I'm reading about her, I can run through so many different emotions: sadness, compassion, irritation, confusion, rage, and laugh-out-loud humor. I don't like a lot of "woo woo" in my reading, but the paranormal scenes where Sadie deals with ghosts are very well done and don't overload any of the circuits in my fuse box.

If you enjoy reading Charlaine Harris's Harper Connelly series, you should enjoy this series as well. I do.

[Source: Purchased from The Poisoned Pen.]

Review-- Ghost at Work

Title: Ghost at Work
Author: Carolyn Hart
ISBN: 9780060874360/ William Morrow, 2008
Genre: Cozy Mystery, #1 in the Bailey Ruth series
Rating: C

First Line: Incandescent dashes of pink and gold spangled the fluffy white clouds that arched over the entrance to the Department of Good Intentions.

Bailey Ruth Raeburn and her husband, Bobby Mac, were killed in a boating accident many years ago. Bailey Ruth wants to lend a helping hand and makes an appointment with Wiggins, the man in charge of the Department of Good Intentions, which is renowned for helping those on earth who are in dire need of aid. Before Wiggins can explain all the rules and regs of her position as emissary (what you and I would call a ghost), Bailey Ruth finds herself whisked off to a house in Adelaide, Oklahoma, where the pastor's wife has just found a dead body on her porch a few days before Halloween. Bailey Ruth has to discover the identity of the killer before the pastor's wife is hauled off to jail.

This is the first book by Carolyn Hart that I've read, and I thought she added an interesting twist to the cozy mystery genre by having a ghost as the sleuth. As befits someone who's written as many books as she, Hart is quite workmanlike at delineating her characters, setting the scene, moving the plot along, and planting red herrings.

But somewhere along the line, the entire book began to lose air like a wrecked souffle. It was fun to see Bailey Ruth become acquainted with SUVs, cell phones, and computers, and for a woman known to speak and act without thinking, she naturally broke almost all of Wiggins' rules by the end of her first evening in Adelaide. But some things just didn't add up. Her lack of a corporeal body is emphasized, but why does she need to eat and sleep? Bailey Ruth keeps mentioning Bobby Mac, but we never hear a peep out of him, or see him for that matter. Are there divorces in Heaven? And why did I keep picturing Tom Bosley as Wiggins?

All in all, I'd have to say that Ghost at Work is average. Your mileage may definitely vary!