Dead and Breakfast: A Merry Ghost Inn Mystery

After an ugly divorce, Melanie accepts her recently widowed grandmother’s offer to go into business together. Together they buy an old, supposedly haunted house to start up a bed and breakfast. While her grandma, Liza, enthusiastically embraces the idea of the laughing ghost—naming their B&B the Merry Ghost Inn—Melanie refuses to believe. But she definitely thinks something creepy is going on when Liza uncovers a real skeleton in a closet. The grand opening of the Merry Ghost Inn is put on indefinite hold while the police investigate. Since the small town force seems unwilling to make an old case a priority, the women decide to speed things up and take matters into their own hands. After all, reading mystery novels pretty well makes you an expert, right?

This book is a fun, quick read. There were a few areas where my inner editor wanted to come out—a couple of key conversations where Melanie and Liza seem to have switched positions by the end or side-plots that seem unnecessary. Overall, however, if you enjoy a cozy mystery with a tiny taste of the paranormal, and you don’t really want to analyze the storyline, this could be an engaging afternoon read.