Genre: Mystery
Mass Market Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9781496733030
Kensington Publishing
320 Pages
$6.93; $6.58 Amazon
March 30, 2021
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Madison Boswell, a beauty recently transplanted from Boston, is starring in the Independence Day play in this New England town full of colonial history -- and, of course, witchcraft. Madison may not be a Wiccan, but she does seem to have certain hypnotic powers. And she's left some angry people in her wake, from a fellow actress beaten out for a role to a jealous betrayed wife. Now, as Charlene films the performance for her housemate, Jack -- a handsome ghost who shares the Victorian bed-and-breakfast with her and her Persian cat -- the drama queen takes a deadly bullet from what was supposed to be a prop gun.
With a long list of suspects and lots of backstage whispers, it looks like the investigation by Charlene and Detective Sam Holden could set off some fireworks...
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Charlene Morris owns a Salem, Massachusetts B&B that used to belong to Dr. Jack Strathmore. Unfortunately, Jack was murdered there and it was up to Charlene to solve his murder. But now Jack and Charlene have settled in nicely, except for the fact that no one except her cat knows he exists. But she can't deny her attraction to him, nor should she.
On this day, she's taken a group of her B&B guests to see a local play about the colonial battle in Salem, that occurred without a shot being fired. At least that's what they all expected. What they saw was the lead actress being killed by a single shot to her chest. While horrific, everyone wonders what went wrong. Charlene, who was filming the play for Jack, now needs to send it to Sam to see if anyone notices the shooter.
Charlene can't help herself and wants to find out who killed the young woman. What she discovers is that Madison Boswell had more enemies than friends, and no one was saddened by her death except her parents. Not even her brother, Logan. So who wanted her dead? When Charlene starts investigating the death with the help of Jack, who is going over the video for clues, it takes her to Boston to Madison's funeral, where she finds out even more about her. But when Charlene starts getting too close to the killer, it's apparent to them that she might have to join Jack in his ghostly world...
This is the fourth book in the series and I have read every one of them. I love this series and the characters. Charlene and Jack have a different type of relationship, of course, since he's a ghost and she isn't, but there are things that transcend the boundaries of life that we may never know about. (Okay, I'm a sucker for human/ghost stories and I admit it. Everyone has their quirks and this is one of mine).
Anyway, Charlene wants to know who killed Madison, and so she starts questioning people about the woman's life. Her friend Amy, who is an actress in the play, offers up not-so-flattering information, among others. It seems Madison, while beautiful, was not a nice person and didn't care who she stepped on. It's obvious that this time she stepped on the wrong body and lost hers in the process. Now Charlene has the task of keeping her guests happy and still finding time to look around, since she doesn't want a negative opinion of Salem or her guests thinking there's a random killer on the loose.
I do like the character of Charlene. She's intelligent and thoughtful; never overtly attacking people or accusing them of a crime. Jack is more human than others, truly caring for Charlene and a worthy partner in her investigations. Sam isn't, unfortunately, quite as attractive to me as he is to Charlene. I still think he has a bit of coldness about him that just doesn't relax him at all. But in this book we get to see a bit more of Kass, who was delightful in another book and just the same in this one. The characters are believable, and come to life while reading, which is always a good thing.
We also get to know a little more about the history of Salem and surrounding areas -- more than the witch trials, which I would say everyone already knows -- and I do love history and historical facts, so that was interesting to read. Of course, we mustn't forget the B&B, which would be such a lovely place to visit. Charlene is indeed a lucky woman to have it.
When the ending comes and the murderer is revealed, it was a bit of a surprise, but that is always welcomed, too. The clues might have been there, but they were easy to miss (and I will admit, I wasn't looking because I was enjoying the book too much); and the reasons for the murder were as old as time itself. I was sorry to see the story end, and I, like Jack, hope that at some time in the future he can find his way back to humanity (hey, it's fantasy so anything can happen, right?). But I also hope that this series goes on for a long time still, and I will continue to read each one. Highly recommended.
More on Traci Wilton's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/w/traci-wilton/
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