K. E. O'Connor

cosy-mystery, family-dynamics, friendship, security-staff, murder-investigation, amateur-sleuth, dessert-chef, situational-humor, verbal-humor, England

What a hoot! Instead of Audley castle, it's more like Oddly castle! Everybody is a real character, the security chief needs to get a grip, the family members are terribly interesting, the murdered man is a real bozo with only one small brain, and even Holly the sleuth has a grandma who isn't wrapped too tight. Great sleuthing with plenty of show more plot twists, red herrings, and laughyourselfsilly situations. Enjoy!

*Did she want to be part of this? Live in a place that was possibly haunted, had a psychic granny locked in a turret, and a castle run by a family of eccentrics? Bring on the weird. * show less

To me, a book is always more enjoyable when the characters are interesting to read about. This was definitely the case with Ghostly Fright, which was a solid cozy mystery with great sleuthing and a lovely cast of characters.

Sometimes, I find that cozy mysteries really like to play up the immoral or bad sides of their suspects to show how suspicious they are. I really liked how no one in this book fit that bill. Everyone had positive and negative sides to them, even the suspects, which made show more the mystery and the interactions between the characters more suspenseful and realistic.

Everyone's motives for killing, or not killing the victim were all plausible, making the mystery difficult to solve - but in a good way! I liked the challenge.

The thing that kind of bugged me about this book was the involvement - or lack thereof - of the local police. Lorna, the protagonist, and her friend Helen, are kind of going it alone, with the local police not seeming to be that involved in this case at all. Helen is also able to get information out of her husband Gunnar, who is in a different police force, which I found a bit unrealistic. But that's par for the course with most cozy mysteries, and more of a pet peeve than a real issue with this book.

I read most cozy mysteries as standalones, flipping between through series to find books I'm interested in. This one does mostly work as a standalone. The reader isn't explicitly updated on Lorna's gift and on the broad aspects of her and Helen's lives, but you can quickly figure what's going on.

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This book was addicting. I didn't want to put it down. Ruby is seeing ghosts and really has no clue what to do about it. This is when her adoptive parents give her the manual. She finds out why she can see ghosts and what is expected of her. She is whisked away to a new school to learn about her powers and her destiny.

I loved this book! It has ghosts, senders (AKA exorcists) and oh so much magic! The book is very fast paced and my only complaint is that it is so short. There is a book 2 and show more it happens to be free so I will be reading it as well. I can't wait to see what happens next for Ruby & Andreas. show less

I am finally finished with this series and it is bittersweet. I loved these characters and I am sad to see it all end. This final book was intense with a lot going on. I think I would definitely read other books by this author.