law-enforcement, cozy-mystery, murder-investigation, private-investigators, snark-fest, friendship, family

The guesthouse is finally renovated and it's time for the first guests, senior citizens who want a ghostly experience. But innkeeper Alison and family also are bombarded by the cast and crew of a so-called TV reality show. But then comes the murder. Lots of twists and red herrings, characters who are only too believable, and a real snarkfest. Enjoy!
Amanda Ronconi really nails the narration once again! ( )

Loved this one! Second in the Haunted Guesthouse series and it starts out with a bang. We meet a new ghost in this one, Scott McFarlane, when he comes to Alison Kerby's house looking for help. He was hired to play a prank on a woman in exchange for passage to "the other side" and has a problem. He's afraid that his prank might have been a murder and has no idea who hired him. Alison will need the help of her own resident ghosts, Paul and Maxie, and their connection to the "Ghosternet" to figure out what happened. To make life more complicated, she has a house full of people to entertain, and they want the full supernatural experience. They get more than they bargained for when someone ends up murdered at the seance Alison decides to host. If only she hadn't taken that reality TV crew up on their offer to film at her house. There is never a dull moment in this book and plenty of suspects. Good, cozy fun! ( )

I really did like the story, but there was such an improbable ending and such a an unfathomable & unexplained occurrence (which I will explain in the 3rd paragraph) than I had to knock off 2 stars.

Alison runs a guesthouse on the South New Jersey Shore... The Victorian beachfront property that she has restored is now filled with senior guests on a ghost-tour.

Both of the ghosts, Paul & Maxie are in residence, but a new ghost, Scott (who is blind: ok watch for it [pun intended]) has asked Paul & Alison to help him investigate the outcome of a prank that he was asked to play on someone who might have died, however, Scott could not be certain of the outcome as he was unable to see what happened. Paul was contacted via those children's plastic magnetic letters by a person unknown and continued to communicate in said manner until the prank was completed.

So: What I want to know is: If Scott was BLIND, How Could he Possibly See & Read Messages Spelled Out in Plastic-Magnetic Letters? HUH? (Minus 1 Star)

So going smoothly along, Alison's guests are treated to two spook hauntings each day, obliged by Paul & Maxie. When Alison begins to investigate for Scott, she meets the recipient of the "prank" (a spry old woman who loves ghosts) and invites her to the seance that will take place as a part of the "ghost tour".

During the seance, the old woman is murdered, and Alison, Scott, Paul, & Maxie investigate.

Also in the story is the aside of a "Reality Show" being filmed at the same time as the Ghost T our.

I'm not going to "spoil" this review and tell you why the ending was improbable, but once you read it, it will be glaringly obvious, for which I deducted a 2nd Star. ( )

Who goes to a dead private eye? Answer: Other ghosts. Alison thought she was safe when she told her resident dead private eye that she would help him with his cases. She soon found out that she was so wrong. The first of this series was rather soft and this one is just like it. The story was entertaining but it lacked the excitement that makes you want to read through the night. ( )

Well, they say never judge a book by its cover. Thats so very true. I was convinced that i wouldn't like this book. The cover didn't look very interesting and I had already had an idea it wouldn't be my thing. How wrong I was! This was a great little book.

This is the second book in the Haunted Guesthouse Mystery series. I've not read the first and found that this didn't matter in anyway athough I now may read the first. The book is based around Alison Kerby who runs a guesthouse and she promises that ghosts will appear twice daily. She does make this happen as she has two resident ghosts at the house that only certain people can see.These people include her young daughter and her mother. One of the resident ghosts used to be a detective and convinces Alison to get her private detective license. Pretty soon she has to use it as a guest is murdered in her house. Not only that, she is murdered when Alison has a reality TV crew and cast in the house and she is conducting a 'seance'. There is filming happening in the room at the time but is doesn't catch anything. Between the senior guests and the TV crew from the down the shore, thats several people who it could be.

The characters were great. Alison's character was well written and she was quite humourous. Her daughter Melissa enhanced the story as well as the ghosts Paul and Maxie. I also particularly like the reality TV show characters like H-Bomb even though they didn't play particularly big parts in the book. The story was well written and went along at a nice pace.

All in all, a great book in my opinion. I will continue to read them and see how it all develops. ( )