Series: A Haunted Guesthouse Mystery
Pages/Length: 304 / 9 hours 23 minutes (audiobook)
Edition: Kindle / Audible
Publisher: Berkley / November 5, 2013
Price: $5.99 on Amazon (Audible version $3.49 with purchase of Kindle version)
Rating: ★★★★★★★★★☆
After an annoyingly long spell of reading way-too emo and dramatic books (it happens – I think I need a YA-detox), the release of The Thrill of the Haunt, E.G. Copperman’s fifth book in the Haunted Guesthouse Mystery series, couldn’t have come at a better time.
The Haunted Guesthouse books have been some of my favorites in the cozy mystery genre for the simple fact that they’re light, entertaining and, most importantly, don’t insult my intelligence with an ignorant ditz of a main character.
I was not disappointed. The Thrill of the Haunt not only met my expectations in the “feel good / cozy” category, but it surprised me with a clever plot that I think far exceeded the standard in the genre.
Thrill of the Haunt takes place about four months after Chance of a Ghost. All Allison Kerby wants to do is live a semi-normal life as the proprietor of her fixed-up Victorian guesthouse – or, at the very least, not be referred to as “the ghost lady.” But with resident ghosties Maxie and Paul at her side, a guesthouse full of seniors waiting to be spooked, and two cases to investigate, normal doesn’t exactly fit in her schedule.
For the most part, the story splits its time between two main plots – the mysterious stabbing of a local homeless man, Everett (which, even more mysteriously, Allison’s nemesis Kerin is paying her to investigate) and the tailing of a man whose wife suspects of cheating (of course, it turns into so much more than that). I was a little skeptical of having the book split so much between investigating two seemingly unrelated plots – I didn’t even think they could be related – but Copperman does a fantastic job of trying them in together at the end.
And by “fantastic job” I mean I may or may not have actually gasped out loud. Several times. It was all dramatic.
When Allison’s not investigating her cases (or even when she is), she’s also dealing with several personal struggles, most of which can be boiled down to her refusal to embrace the fact that she can see ghosts like Maxie and Paul. It’s frustrating, because she spends so much of the book acting like she is ashamed of them and that they are such an inconvenience, but she has a successful business because of them (the senior tours markets her guesthouse as being haunted and her guests expect scheduled “ghost shows” – which Maxie and Paul gladly put on even though Allison doesn’t seem to appreciate them). I was really getting sick of Allison’s attitude, but I had a feeling (and was right) that she kind of gets what’s coming to her at the end – and it’s good. I hope her attitude toward them will improve in subsequent books (please say there will be subsequent books!).
The only other criticism I had was some of the details didn’t totally match up. For example, on page 195 it says Everett was stabbed 47 times, page 278 his stab-wound count has reached 86 times and, only one page later on page 279, he seems to have gotten stabbed twice more for a total of 88 knife wounds.
Sucks to be Everett.
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