The Ghost and the Femme Fatale

This Haunted Bookshop series is a winner. This book is the fourth in the series, and I think that they are only getting better. I love the mix of cozy with noir detective story, and this one really plays on that as all the happenings occur around a "film noir festival" that is being held in Penelope's small town. And a lot of murder and mayhem is happening there too. As Penelope tries to make sense of it with the aid of her ghost companion Jack, she realizes that the motives for the murders may go back a long time (sixty years, and during the time when Jack was a practicing PI in New York City). We slip back and forth from one time to the next as the story progresses, and Ms. Kimberly keeps us interested and lots of stuff keeps show more happening. It's really unbelievable how really believable these stories are. The mix of paranormal with present day detection is a winning one, and it is highly addicting. show less

Jack and Penelope are back to find who is killing guests at the film noir presentation at the local movie theater. Are they connected to a case of Jack's back from the 1940's?

I enjoyed this story. I like these characters. The regulars are all back and sniping at each other. Seymour is more involved this time. He'd drive me crazy but he is fun to watch as he needles and harasses the others but helps Penelope with her store and investigation. I enjoy the trips back to the 40's and how Jack's cases are entwined with the murders that happen around Penelope. I like the glimpses we get of Jack's life before death.

I am a lousy detective. Jack would always be shaking his head at me. I did figure out the who but almost at the end. I did not show more figure out the reason and needed it explained to me. I am looking forward to reading more in the series. show less

A Film Noir Festival at a smalltown theater attracts some elderly film veterans and a mystery involving a mysterious ages-old death. Pen suspects a murder attempt that the dumb-as-a-box-of-rocks chief of police fobs off. Like others of this series, this is a great light novel that focuses on bookshop owner Penelope Thornton-McClure, aided by the ghost of PI Jack Shepard who was murdered in the shop 50 years before. The concept is amusing, the dialogue between the ghost that even Pen can't see and between Pen herself, the only one who can hear him, is humor-filled, helped along by Pen's education in 1940's slang. Bodies begin to appear...not too many, it isn't a gory story...so the stakes go higher. Lotta fun.

When her local movie theater holds a Film Noir Festival, Penelope Thornton-McClure agrees to hold several signings at her bookstore. While she is looking forward to the festival, Pen didn't think it would be quite as exciting as it turns out to be - legendary screen actress Hedda Geist is almost killed during a surprise appearance at the theater. The near miss is considered an accident, but Pen isn't sure and when others start to die, she is convinced that there is a murderer on the loose. The police don't believe Pen and she sets out to prove she's right. It won't be an easy task, but luckily she has the ghost of PI Jack Shepard to help her.

"The Ghost and the Femme Fatale" is the fourth book in Alice Kimberly's Haunted Bookshop Mystery show more series, a series that gets better with each book. I love the concept of a ghost helping to solve mysteries and Kimberly does a good job of pushing boundaries. At this point, Jack can not only "talk" to Pen when she's in the bookstore (where he was murdered), but with the help of a buffalo nickel, he can communicate with her anywhere as long as she carries the nickel. He also has the ability to have Pen dream of his past cases that relate to the current one. This is an intriguing, if at times odd premise - Pen is an active part of his past in the dreams and the romantic chemistry between the two during the dream sequences is sizzling. The Film Noir setting is perfect and sets up a great murder mystery plot line, in both the past and the present. There are a number of murders and a number of suspects and readers will have a hard time figuring out who the murderer is.

"The Ghost and The Femme Fatale" is a nicely done cozy mystery. show less

I’m not sure how many books are in the series but I’m still finding these extremely interesting. As the characters continue to grow, there continues to be murder in this little town and somehow it always involves the bookstore.
I am really enjoying learning more about Jack as we go back to his time period in his life through dreams. The only slight issue I may have with this series is that I am not quite sure about the whole ghostly romance thing. That just seems a bit wrong on a few different levels.

This was a delightful light read. Very atmospheric in its background of film noir and small-town life. It's not the first book in the series, but this mystery can be enjoyed as a stand-alone novel even if you haven't read the preceding books.

I really like this series and this one's mystery was really good. Penelope and her friends are hosting a film noir festival that will have a few mystery guests, a couple of authors of books on noir and a whole host of classic movies and book signings.

When one of the authors gets killed, Penelope and ghost Jack are on the case.

While I love the series, there were some parts of this that I wasn't comfortable with -- the relationship between Penelope and Jack got a little weird, and there wasn't nearly enough of Penelope's son, Spencer.

I'll read the next in the series because the books are really well written.