Ghost of a Chance

Karma Marx cleans houses - just not in the traditional sense. Karma is a transmortis anomaly exterminator who removes unwanted spirits from people's homes (though usually by relocating them to her own) to work off her wergeld with the Akashic League. So when her sleazy husband Spider tells her he'll grant her a divorce if she cleans one last house, Karma thinks it will be a great way to see the last of the slimeball forever.

And it is - while everyone is sealed into the house by the former owner/poltergeist Adam Dirgesinger, Spider turns up dead. Now it's up to Karma to reveal the truth about the inhabitants (a motley group of Otherworldly and human beings) of the house and ensure that justice is done.

This book is published under a show more pseudonym to distinguish it from Katie MacAlister's paranormal romance novels, but it's largely set in the same world (with Dark Ones and Guardians thrown in). There are some truly funny parts, like the dada in the vegetable drawer that likes arugula or the bickering culinary ghosts, but on the whole it's missing a lot of the humor that I associate with Katie MacAlister's books. The tone here is a lot darker and Spider at least is more sinister than any of the other characters I remember.

The locked-house mystery is a difficult plot to pull off, and I'm not sure it succeeds here. Yes, everyone has secrets, but a lot of the clues that seemed fairly obvious to me were ignored or just not picked up on by the main characters. Given the resolution, this was necessary, but at the end of the book I felt cheated by the narrator and the author.

I'll be reading the others in the series (for the squabbling ghosts' comments at least) as they come out, but I don't think Karma Marx is endearing enough for a place on the keeper shelf. show less

Karma Marx is a transmortis anomaly exterminator (ghost-buster) with a problem -- she doesn't actually like her job. She's also young, pretty, married to a louse who cheats on her, and oh, yes -- she's half-poltergeist. Because she owes wergeld to the Akashic League, Karma is obligated to remove spirits, or "clean" houses on request. In actuality, she tends to fudge the "removal" technicalities, which is why she has a houseful of Australian imps, a vegetable spirit in her crisper, and an agoraphobic demi-goddess in her pantry. And she's just been saddled with a rebellious teen foster kid whose penchant for changing her name in almost as irritating as her obnoxious attitude. Add in one hyperactive polter parent, and Karma has her hands show more full on a daily basis.

Unfortunately for Karma, her husband's murder is going to complicate things just a bit more. It's a real who-dun-it, with no butler to take the blame and only 12 hours to solve the mystery and identify the killer. Was it the foster-polter? The somewhat stoic Federal Marshal? Karma's father? The ditsy psychic with the hidden agenda? The conniving banker? The unicorn? Or someone else entirely?

Katie MacAlister (writing as Kate Marsh) uses the same world setting here as she does in her Aisling Grey novels, so the Akashic League, Abbadon, the Court of the Blood, etc. are familiar if you've read one those. The initial set-up is great. Karma is, if a bit put-upon, a strong, funny, engaging heroine, and the minor characters are well-developed and amusing. I'm guessing this is going to be an ongoing series. Unfortunately, for a (possible) series opener, the conclusion was fairly abrupt and somewhat disappointing, but perhaps future installments will smooth out the rough edges and wrap up some loose ends. show less

Karma Marx is a woman who exorcises haunted houses, sending troublesome spirits and entites to the ever after (only if they want, she does have a soft spot for them, so a few have ended up at home). Her cheating husband, Spider, has agreed to a divorce, only if she exorcises one last house for him.

Adam Diresinger, the houses previous owner, is quite unhappy with all this, using his poltergeist powers he seals the house trapping all the people inside it. When Spider turns up dead she's faced with a locked-house mystery, and a lot of suspects, including herself!

It's light fun. I enjoyed it. There were moments that jarred but overall it was quite a fun read.

Karma is a 1/2 polter(geist) who somehow ended up married to a major sleazebag named Spider. Karma has the ability to "clean" houses of unwanted entities and Spider has used to for just that in conjunction with his real estate business. Finally sick of his evil ways, Karma makes a deal to clean one more house in exchange for a divorce. But Adam, the powerful polter who claims to still own the house, has other ideas and seals the house with Karma and an aray of interesting characters inside. When Spider ends up dead we find ourselves in the ultimate locked room, er house, mystery.

I like this much more than I thought I would. I found the world she created to be quite good. The characters were fun and interesting. The writing keeps you show more going and gets you past the few bumps in the story. I am looking forward to future adventures with Karma and Co. show less

It was hard to get a handle on the world the author created. I never had a true sense of whether or not the greater population knew about the supernatural--and I got the sense the author herself didn't know either.

However, the mystery was mysterious and the characters were relateable (even if they had four arms). Not laugh out loud funny, but good light entertainment.

I'm generally not a fan of mystery novels, so that may be the reason why I found this book only so-so. The story was, overall, fun and original; however, it was also disjointed, distant, and somewhat bland. Parts of it were entertain and promising. The characters were colorful, the paranormal aspect was fresh and different from most other novels. Unfortunately, the story did not always move smoothly or sensibly from one scene to the next. Nor did I develop more than a superficial interest in any of the characters. And the mystery element just didn't work for me. In my opinion, trying to keep things mysterious created distance between me, the reader, and the characters and action. I would happily have traded the big reveal at the end of show more the story for more connection along the way.

On a neutral note, the author doesn't really lay out this crazy world she's created in a clear manner. She just dives right in with strange beings, special abilities, and "oh, by the way, that person isn't human." On the whole, I didn't mind -- I'd rather charge forward and risk some confusion than suffer through tedious exposition. Fair warning, though, to readers who prefer a more clearly set stage. There were times when I was very confused and wasn't liking it.

I'd like to add that Kate Marsh/Katie MacAlister's work tends to be a hit-or-miss thing for me. Some of her books I've enjoyed a lot; some I've not cared for at all. Then there are books like this -- liked parts of it, and disliked other parts. show less

This book is setup a bit like one of those murder mystery dinners, where a group of people is closed in a house and someone dies.
Only in this book the victim actually dies and pretty much every suspect is a Otherworld being with and hidden agenda.
This book reminds me a lot of Agatha Christie's books, specially murder on the orient express.