In The Ghost and Mrs. McClure (2004), recently widowed Penelope Thornton-McClure has returned to her hometown to help her Aunt Sadie run the independent bookstore – Buy the Book. The ghost in this story is Jack Shepard, a 1950’s hard-nosed detective that likes Penelope’s gams. It is rumored he was murdered in the bookshop, but his body has never been found nor has the crime been solved.
Penelope has convinced best selling author Timothy Brennan to do a book signing, but he dies in the middle of the presentation. With the help of Jack Shepard, Pen must solve the murder. The Ghost and Mrs. McClure is a fun book with gumshoe trivia and language. It is an easy, fast read. It is the first in the Haunted Bookshop Mysteries.
Alice Alfonsi and her husband Marc Cerasini, using the pseudonym Alice Kimberly, write this series. Marc and Alice also write using the pen name Cleo Coyle, author of the Coffeehouse Mysteries. They currently reside in New York City. Their real-life interests include ghost hunting and coffee – imagine. They are currently doing a chat discussion at www.librarything.com through December 30th.
2 comments:
Greetings Carpebiblio!
Thank you for the lovely review of The Ghost and Mrs. McClure and also for linking to my Library Thing Chat. Clearly you are a biblio prince.
Cheers!
& Happy New Year to you...
~ Alice Kimberly
(aka Cleo Coyle)
Coffeehouse Mystery.com
“Where coffee and crime are always brewing…”
Cleo Coyle on Twitter
I also enjoyed this whodunnit with the gumshoe references and tough-guy ghost. The cast of characters was well-drawn and the ghost's back story was interesting even if still unsolved. This is a series, after all! I've read the second book and it was also enjoyable. Three more are available and I'm looking for them now. Thanks for the review!
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