Ghost – Carol's Notebook

Fatality in F by Alexia Gordon

March 18, 2026March 18, 2026 by CarolNo Comments

I liked Fatality in F a little more than the previous one in the series. It's back to more solid ground, or at least as solid as it can be when a ghost is around. Gethsemane is one of those amateur sleuths who has a knack of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and usually discovering a dead body in the process. This time around a rose show has come to Dunmullach and one of the competitors, who is also Gethsemane's friend Frankie's main rival, is found dead with a pair of garden shears sticking out of his back. In the meantime, Frankie is receiving bouquets reminiscent of the Flower Shop Killer of decades ago. The plot moves along at a nice pace. We had several suspects, clues, red herrings, and several secret agendas. We also learn a bit about the language of flowers and plant-based pharmaceuticals. I like Gethsemane. She a brilliant musician. She's strong and independent....

Killing in C Sharp by Alexia Gordon

April 11, 2025May 9, 2025 by CarolNo Comments

I read the first Gethsemane Brown mystery back in 2016 when it came out, but never got back to the series. Last year I watched the show on Hallmark mysteries, which was fun. Killing in C Sharp has been sitting on my to-read list for probably years now, but the audio was available from the library and I was in the mood for something light. (I'm always in the mood for something light.) There is a lot going on in this one. Ghost hunters have come to Gethsemane's cottage to prove her friend and resident ghost, Eamon, exists. A true crime writer is in town working on an updated version of the book she wrote on Eamon and his wife. Aed, a once-famous composer, is premiering his new opera at the opera house and giving a couple guest lectures at the school. He is followed by the reviewer who nearly killed his career with a bad review. And the opera manages...

The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St. James

April 18, 2022April 21, 2022 by Carol4 Comments

The Book of Cold Cases is atmospheric, suspenseful, and a bit spooky. Shea Collins works as a receptionist in a medical office, but her true passion is her website, the Book of Cold Cases. She writes about unsolved murders, a project inspired by her own abduction as a child. Divorced and alone, she has few friends aside from her sister, Esther, and an ex-cop, Michael, who helps her with research. Then a client comes into the office: Beth Greer, who was charged and acquitted for the murders of two men in 1977. When Shea asks rich and aloof Beth for an interview, Beth surprisingly agrees. Shea gets sucked into the case, talking to Beth, Beth's lawyer, the police officer who was assigned to the case back then, anyone she can find with a connection. But the closer Shea gets to the truth, the more troubling and threatening the past becomes. We've got two timelines, 2017 when the book is set and forty...