(2009) The Ghost and the Haunted Mansion

Rhode Island bookstore owner Penelope “Pen” McClure is delivering an order of books to a customer who’s a shut-in. But when she arrives, the front door of Miss Timothea Todd’s mansion is ajar, so Pen walks right in – only to discover the woman’s body.

The coroner rules it a natural death but the look of fright on the dead woman’s face convinces Pen there’s something fishy going on. Police question Seymour Tarnish, mail carrier and Pen’s friend, as if he were chief suspect – but, of course, there is no murder. Everyone is surprised to learn that Seymour is the primary beneficiary in Miss Todd’s will. Pen’s Aunt Sadie also receives a bequest.

As usual, Pen is aided in her investigation by the ghostly Jack Shephard, a private eye who was murdered in the building that today houses Pen’s book shop. Jack is able to “time travel” with Pen in tow back to 1940s New York City by influencing Pen’s dreams. The 1947 case that occupies the detecting duo involves the missing mom of a young newsboy.

I loved Alice Kimberly’s “haunted bookshop” mysteries from the beginning and am tickled every time a new one appears. The Ghost and the Haunted Mansion is the best yet. The plot is marvelous, the writing is top-notch and the relationship between Pen and Jack gets more and more interesting in this fifth outing. Even better, Pen’s eleven-year-old son Spencer is off at summer camp. He’s a good kid – not as awful as most children in cozy mysteries – but I usually find tykes a distraction in a story. I prefer them to be seen and not heard – on the sidelines.

If Alice Kimberly keeps on writing these great mysteries – and I hope she will – I’ve pretty much run out of superlatives.

By Diana. First published in the Cozy Library December 11, 2008.

(2008) The Ghost and the Femme Fatale (May)

One of the cozy-mystery world’s most unusual sleuthing duos is back in The Ghost and the Femme Fatale. The ghost, of course, is Jack Shepard, a 1940s private eye who died in a building that now houses Buy the Book in fictional Quindicott, Rhode Island. The bookstore is co-owned by Penelope Thornton McClure, widow, single mom amateur sleuth extraordinaire – and Jack’s sometime partner.

Quindicott is home to a newly renovated movie theater that’s hosting a Film Noir Festival. Two of the honored guests are former B-movie stars, Hedda Geist-Middleton and Pierce Armstrong. Sixty years ago the two starred in the real-life murder, in Manhattan, of Irving Vreen, head of Gotham Studios. Armstrong did time for manslaughter. As it turns out, the then very much alive Jack was a witness to the event, having been there spying on Vreen, an unfaithful husband with a penchant for underage girls. Jack has the ability to insinuate himself into and guide Penelope’s dreams and in that “time-travel” mode, he takes Pen back to 1948, when the Vreen murder occurred.

In the present day, Pen is working on proving that the “accidental” death of a non-fiction author writing about ‘40s film noir was actually murdered while the film festival was going on. It’s an uphill battle against an inept police chief and a race against time – as both Pen and Jack believe there could be more murder on the horizon.

I know when I pick up one of Alice Kimberly’s haunted bookshop mysteries that I’m in for a fun ride and an entertaining read. The Ghost and the Femme Fatale met my expectations -- and then some. Ms. Kimberly has conjured up a terrific cast of characters – main and secondary – and used her storytelling magic to create a super-fun read. With lots of mystery, a little time travel and a dollop of romance – what more can readers ask for?

By Diana. First published in the Cozy Library April 30, 2008.

(2006) The Ghost and the Dead Man’s Library            

Penelope Thornton-McClure, co-owner of Buy the Book in Quindicott RI, doesn’t understand why her Aunt Sadie is in such a rush to travel to Newport to look over some old books for their store to sell. Peter Chesley, wealthy, reclusive and living in his family’s musty old mansion, wants Pen and Sadie to sell a set of books by Edgar Allen Poe. Pen is surprised to learn the elderly man is Sadie’s former beau. Despite being in a wheelchair, Mr. Chesley helps them schlep the books to their car rather than waiting for a store employee to pick them up the next day – and he hurries them off. Moments after they leave, he’s dead in apparent fall down the stairs. Pen and Sadie are puzzled because he told them he never used the stairs.

After Pen and Sadie sell one Poe title for thousands of dollars, the buyer winds up dead in apparent accident. Pen and Sadie aren’t so sure his death was accidental and enlist the help of a motley assortment of Quindicott business associates and customers to investigate both deaths. They know police won’t take her suspicions seriously unless there’s evidence to back them up. Pen is assisted by the book store’s resident ghost – and her sleuthing mentor -- Jack Shephard, a hard-boiled private eye who was murdered in the building in the mid 1940s. She’s grateful when Jack silently guides her through some rough situations as her investigation proceeds.

Jack is also able to inhabit and influence Pen’s dreams, and in that way, he brings her into his 1946 case involving a wealthy spinster, a lover who takes off with her funds, and her brother, who wants Jack to find the money.

What I so enjoy about Alice Kimberly’s Haunted Bookshop Mysteries is the author’s ability to weave together elements of both cozy and hard-boiled mysteries, usually to a comic effect. For example, when Pen’s ten-year-old son Spencer tries to cope with a bully at school, Jack can’t understand why the youngster can’t take a switchblade and brass knuckles to school in his backpack. This is the third Haunted Bookshop Mystery – and with each book, the series gets better – and it started off strong with The Ghost and Mrs. McClure. This third entry has many positives: a likeable heroine, a recurring cast of interesting secondary characters, a bookstore setting, a literary puzzle – even an unlikely spark of romance between Pen and her ghost. The Ghost and the Dead Man’s Library book has it all and I suspect cozy readers will love it.

By Diana. First published in Mystery News, Dec. 2006-Jan. 2007 Issue.

(2005) The Ghost and the Dead Deb

Not many cozy mysteries have as one of the major characters a hard-boiled detective. The Haunted Bookshop mysteries get away with it (and still remain cozy) because said detective is a ghost. Jack Shepard, who died in 1949 in the building that now houses Buy the Book, is a detecting mentor to the store’s co-owner, the widowed Penelope Thornton McClure. In the first book in this series, The Ghost and Mrs. McClure, a visiting author died at a book signing. You’d think it would be hard to convince another author to appear there, but in The Ghost and the Dead Deb, Angel Stark is at Buy the Book promoting her true crime book All my Pretty Friends.

Angel is high-maintenance and high-drama. When she is murdered in a method similar to that of her book’s victim, Newport, Rhode Island socialite Bethany Banks, police look no further than Johnny Napp. He’s the nephew of one of Pen’s best customers. It seems Johnny was a strong suspect in Bethany Banks’ murder, which remains unsolved. Not totally convinced Johnny is the killer, Pen decides to do some investigating on her own.

Pen has entrée to the world of the wealthy in Newport through her former in-laws. She tries to steer clear of them as much as possible, knowing they’d like to exert more influence over her nine-year-old son Spencer than she thinks is good for the boy. But because she believes Angel’s and Bethany’s murders are related, she uses whatever inroads she can. As Pen investigates the contemporary murders, Jack is showing her one of his 1946 cases, which has some parallels to hers, through his ability to influence her very vivid dreams.

It’s not unusual for a very promising first mystery to be followed by a second that is disappointing – call it “sophomore slump.” I really enjoyed The Ghost and Mrs. McClure – and I liked The Ghost and the Dead Deb even more. Jack really “comes to life” (not in the literal sense) in Dead Deb and using his decades-old case to punctuate Pen’s investigation is a wonderful device to do that. The role of Pen’s Aunt Sadie, Buy the Book’s co-owner, is also expanded and she’s another great character. A cosmic rule that confined Jack to Buy the Book’s building in the first book seemed to have been loosened up for Dead Deb … and that opens up all kinds of possibilities for future adventures for Penelope and Jack.

By Diana. First published in the Cozy Library. June 20, 2006.

(2004) The Ghost and Mrs. McClure

A Haunted Bookshop Mystery. What more could an avid reader of cozy mysteries ask for? The Ghost and Mrs. McClure has everything: a plucky widow with a precocious seven-year-old son; Buy the Book, a mystery bookstore in Quindicott, Rhode Island that's ready to go belly up; the resident ghost of a private investigator murdered in 1949 in the building that houses the bookshop; a curmudgeonly best- selling mystery author murdered on the first stop of his book tour -- at Buy the Book.

I'm a huge fan of Nancy Atherton's Aunt Dimity series, but Jack Shepard is no Aunt Dimity. She's mild-mannered and retiring, he's hard-boiled and in-your-face. But Jack Shepard has a soft spot for (and possibly romantic intentions toward) Penelope Thornton-McClure, said plucky widow and co-owner with her Aunt Sadie of Buy the Book. And Jack's not afraid of intruding on her life -- as long as she's within the building. Seems he’s confined by some cosmic law to 122 Cranberry Street, where he was killed.

When mystery author Timothy Brennan is murdered at his book signing -- and Pen becomes a suspect -- Jack Shepard decides to coach her in investigative ways so she can get herself off the suspect list. Jack is particularly interested in Brennan because his series character, Jack Shield, is based on the real-life Jack Shepard.

The one facet of the story that was quite jarring was Pen's cavalier, almost comical, attitude about the suicide death of her late husband, Calvin. It just didn't ring true in this lighthearted story. Other than that, I really enjoyed The Ghost and Mrs. McClure. I smell a long-lived series!

By Diana. First published in Mystery News, February/March, 2004 edition.

To learn more about Alice Kimberly, click here.