April MysteryKIT: Paranormal Mysteries

This month, we're seeking out the spooky side of the genre. Paranormal mysteries include ghosts, spectral sightings that may kick off an investigation, or hinder it.
It may sound like this month would be be very scary, but there's a scare level to fit any taste, including not scary at all. And if you've ever wanted to read an author like Simone St. James, Darynda Jones or John Connolly, this is a good month for these authors who have many paranormal mysteries.

A few options in the "scary" column:
Murder Road
The Sun Down Motel
The Broken Girls
The Book of Cold Cases
Home Before Dark
Rebecca



The Silent Companions
The Woman in Black
The Little Stranger
City of Masks
Jackaby

Less scary mysteries:
Rivers of London
Soulless
The Ghost and Mrs. McClure
The Aunt Dimity series by Nancy Atherton


Be sure to let us know what you're reading. Let's have a spooky month of ghostly mysteries!

Unless something turns up that I haven't read, I'm planning to re-read Dead until Dark, the first Sookie Stackhouse book.

I have a few that could fit this plus AlphaKIT (though I'm not sure how scary any of them are):

Emerald Green / Kerstin Gier
The Winter Sea / Susanna Kearsley
Code / Kathy Reichs

Planning to read The Quests of Simon Ark, a collection of stories by Edward D. Hoch. Ark is one of his many series characters, a man who (it is strongly implied) is virtually immortal, cursed by God to roam the planet forever; Ark mystery stories usually have some element of the supernatural.

There are also the Vampire Knitting Club and Great Witches Baking Show series, plus other cozies.

I may read An Easy Death by Charlaine Harris. It's tagged mystery but is not included in the mystery genre, so I'm not sure if it will fit. Alternatively, I may try 14 by Peter Clines, which is also tagged for supernatural and mystery.

I haven't decided yet, but there are already a lot of good suggestions here and there is still some time left...

Yes, lots of good reads being listed!
>7 SirThomas: Plenty of time to come up with a good one!

I believe I'm going to read The Book of Cold Cases first, but I also have some spooky ones on my Kindle, so I'll likely read two for this month's challenge.

I will be reading Aunt Dimity and the Duke by Nancy Atherton, book 2 in the series. This will also allow me to decide if I am continuing the series since I was unsure after reading the first one.

I'll read the next in the Pebble Cove Teahouse series by Eryn Scott, a cosy mystery series featuring ghosts. A Score To Kettle, book 3, is the next one for me.

62. Aunt Dimity and the Duke by Nancy Atherton ★★½

Emma Porter is forty, fat, frumpy, and a passionate amateur gardener. When her longtime lover dumps her for a younger woman, Emma escapes the cloying sympathy of family and friends by setting out on a summer-long driving tour of England's glorious gardens. A Dimity-contrived coincidence brings her to Penford Hall, a sprawling Gothic mansion in Cornwall, where she finds a duke searching for a missing lantern with extraordinary powers. Suspecting there's more than one mystery to be solved at Penford Hall, Emma accepts the duke's invitation to stay on and restore the once glorious chapel garden to its former beauty. The dark rumors surrounding a rock star and the near-death of the duke's beautiful cousin confirm Emma's suspicions and set her--with Aunt Dimity's ghostly guidance--on the path to Penford Hall's secrets and the pleasure of unexpected love. (description from Amazon)

Besides a few mentions and implied appearances, this book does not have much Aunt Dimity. The mystery is almost non-existent and the story is mostly a poorly written romance. I will not be continuing with the series.

Sorry that one didn't thrill you. I've read one Aunt Dimity and wasn't interested, but the series has been so popular that I had to include it in the list of options.
If you haven't read The Ghost and Mrs. McClure I can recommend it as a cozy paranormal that definitely has a mystery.

>13 mstrust: I will take a BB for that and add it to the ever-growing list. This was my second Aunt Dimity book and the series is just not enough mystery for me.

>14 LibraryCin: I didn't know Reichs wrote YA, so thanks for the review.

>15 lowelibrary: I hope you like The Ghost...if you get to it. I know, I don't think I'll ever get halfway through my TBR piles.

I'm halfway through The Book of Cold Cases and so far, I highly recommend.

>15 lowelibrary: I am sorry you did not like Aunt Dimity. I have read several of the novels and they are fun and light reading, but as you said, not for everyone. I recently read Mrs. Morris and the Ghost of Christmas Past which was part of a new series for me and part of Kindle Unlimited. This is another series you might try.

>17 LadyoftheLodge: I will take a BB for the first book in the series, Mrs. Morris and the Ghost.

>18 lowelibrary: I would be interested in how you like the book, since I read them out of order.

I read The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James.
Ghosts, haunting, horror - I should know better, and reject any book or movie with these tags. I just find them silly and usually dull, not creepy as promised. No exception here. What made this even worse was that the main character is searching for her aunt Vivian who disappeared years ago. The only occasions I’ve come across my name in fiction or movies, the character is always strange. Again, no exception here.

The May thread is at https://www.librarything.com/topic/370083#

>20 VivienneR: Dang, that was one of my best reads last year and made the author a favorite for me, but this is exactly why hosts give a whole list of suggestions each month, because nothing works for everybody. Thanks for your review, it's good to see different opinions.

>22 mstrust: I wasn't surprised, Jennifer. Spooky, scary, creepy or anything of that nature rarely works for me - unless it's funny. I had hoped to read The Skeleton Takes a Bow by Leigh Perry but couldn't get it from the library in time.

I read The Quests of Simon Ark, stories by Edward D. Hoch in which the series detective is an apparently immortal man cursed by God to roam the earth in search of evil, and ultimately, of Satan himself.

I read 2 books that could fit:
The Keep by F. Paul Wilson and Sträters Gutenachtgeschichten by Torsten Sträter, the latter is not very common. Both were very worth reading for me.

>23 VivienneR: Thanks for joining in even though it isn't your favorite genre.
>24 KeithChaffee: > 25 Great recs, thanks!

Belatedly reporting that I read the sixth Sookie Stackhouse, Definitely Dead.

This is the story of Shea, a woman who barely speaks to anyone and spends her nights working on her true crime blog, The Book of Cold Cases.
It's also the story of Beth, a wealthy woman who stood trial for the murder of two strangers 40 years before. She still lives in the mansion her father built, which is where he died and his spirit remains. Beth's mother also died decades ago, and still roams the mansions halls. But there's another spirit too, and Beth is too conniving to have not known that inviting Shea over would bring out her investigative skills.
Oooh, this is a good one!

The Skeptic's Guide to the Paranormal

Okay, I kind of cheated. I don't think MysteryKIT is really supposed to be non-fiction, but I needed more non-fiction reads for this month, so I sought out a non-fiction paranormal mystery. This book addressed many, from seances to UFOs to Nessie. Full review on my thread.

Not cheating! You found a non-fiction that fits the theme, and it looks interesting.

>30 mstrust: Agree, you picked a book that fits. We are rather easy going and flexible here.

Thank you! That makes me feel much better. It was very interesting, and I would highly recommend it, even if you're only interested in a chapter or two.

I read another paranormal in April, All Together Dead by Charlaine Harris.

I managed to squeeze one in by the end of the month, The Devil You Know by Mike Carey. This series features exorcist Felix Castor who has taken on what was supposed to be a simple ghost removal job but turns into a much bigger mystery.

It was a fun month, thanks to everyone who took part!