Merry, Merry Ghost

Carolyn Hart's second book to feature Bailey Ruth Raeburn is a charming variation on the "cozy" -- with quirky characters and most of the violence happening off-screen. Bailey Ruth is a departed spirit, who's on her second mission to her own hometown of Adelaide, OK as a Heavenly agent from the Department of Good Intentions. Always a lover of Christmas, Bailey Ruth is overjoyed to find herself in the physical world, assigned to protect Keith -- a small boy being reunited with his wealthy but ailing grandmother, Susan. Susan announces her intention to rewrite her will, in order to leave her estate to her only blood relative, Keith. Bailey Ruth has her hands full trying to find out who then spiked Susan's nightly hot chocolate with an show more overdose of her heart medication, since all of the in-laws who stand to inherit Susan's millions all have motive to want to see her pass before her will is changed. Hart manages to inject a lot of humor into Bailey Ruth's antics, as she struggles to follow the "precepts" that forbid her to make her presence known to the mortals around her. I enjoyed this one far more than the introductory volume, and particularly liked the narration of the Book-on-CD version by Ann Marie Lee. A pleasant, light holiday mystery read!

Originally reviewed for the staff recommendations page of my libraries' website: http://www.lincolnlibraries.org/depts/bookguide/srec/staffrec11-02.htm show less

Bailey Ruth Raeburn may have died and gone to Heaven after a boating accident, but her time on earth isn't quite done. She takes an assignment from the Department of Good Intentions and returns to her hometown of Adelaide, Oklahoma to help Susan Pritchard. It is Christmas time and Susan has received an unbelievable present - a young grandson she never knew existed. This changes everything in her life, including her will, which upsets the other members of her extended family. Someone is willing to go to any length, including murder, to stop young Keith from inheriting the Pritchard fortune. It's up to Bailey Ruth to save the day - and Christmas.

"Merry, Merry Ghost" by Carolyn Hart is the second book featuring Bailey Ruth and it is even show more more delightful than the first Ghost at Work (Bailey Ruth Mysteries, No. 1). Bailey Ruth is a wonderful character who doesn't let being dead get in the way of her fashion sense as she takes great pride in her clothes (which she can change just by thinking of them). She also has a hard time following the precepts - the rules of helping out on earth - especially the one where she's not supposed to show herself while on earth - much to the dismay of her "boss" Wiggins. At times Hart walks a very fine line with Bailey Ruth's appearances, most notably a prolonged encounter between Bailey Ruth and Susan, but she manages to credibly pull it off. There is a wonderful sense of humor throughout the book, mostly from Bailey Ruth's inability to follow the precepts which not only frustrates Wiggins but confuses the people on earth who hear a voice from someone that isn't there, see inanimate objects seemingly move on their own, or bump into something that isn't there. The cops are especially baffled at the mysterious redhead who appears out of nowhere to help them and disappears just as quickly. The mystery aspects are well done and reminded me of an Agatha Christie mystery - a family full of suspects all of whom have a motive for murder. The characters are all well done with perhaps the exception of Peg who seems a little too good to be true. Having the mystery set at Christmas time makes the mystery even cozier.

"Merry, Merry Ghost" is a delightful book in a cozy mystery series that gets better with each book. show less

Opening Sentence: ‘…Bailey Ruth, honey, always wait to be invited…’

Merry, Merry Ghost is the second book of a fun series – and my first Christmas book of 2010.

If you enjoy dark murder mysteries that drip with gore on every page and more often than not stars a detective who is so depressed, demoralised that you are left wondering how they function, then this book is not for you. In fact Merry, Merry Ghost is the antithesis of noir mysteries; it is light and fluffy, humorous, and full of good cheer while one of the quirkiest amateur detectives goes about her business.

Bailey Ruth Raeburn, is quirky because she is dead. In heaven she joins the Department of Good Intentions whose sole role is to rescue humans in jeopardy. Bailey is show more sent to watch over a little boy called Keith who has been dropped off at Christmas at his grandmother’s house who had no idea he existed. Susan Flynn is dying from congestive heart failure, and she finally regains happiness when discovers she has a grandson. Susan’s decision to change her will to leave her whole estate to little Keith causes one of her many greedy relatives to ignore the message of the Christmas season and murder her before the new will can be signed.

Bailey’s supervisor instructs her to avoid being seen or noticed and to protect the child without seeming to be a ghost. Bailey, of course, is destined to be noticed and must do things her way. In fact she feels that rules are to be broken in order to get the job done.

There are a few twists and turns while Bailey tries to assist the police in their inquiries to discover which relative is not full of Christmas spirit. The villain’s identity remains a secret until the very end, and as the entire cast of heir’s have reason to murder, the reader has to keep guessing as to who it is.

Carolyn Hart’s book is an easy read with wonderful characters and interesting plot twists, many of these twists are a direct result of the interference of Bailey Ruth – not all go according to plan. Merry, Merry Ghost is a good mystery with frequent humour, no foul language and no romance. show less

My first holiday read of the month and it was a humdinger. Highly enjoyable with engaging characters, especially Bailey Ruth Raeburn, the spirit on a mission from Heaven. She breaks rules, called Precepts, on a regular basis, but doing so with good intentions to help her charges.
Kids and animals can see her and Bailey Ruth lets herself be seen when she thinks it's needed and it's needed quite a bit in this story. She needs to look out for the little boy, Keith, as well as solve the murder of Keith's grandmother.
And Bailey Ruth does it all in style. I love the attention to detail when she "dons her gay apparel". Tip of her toes to the top of her lovely red hair, she is a fashion statement. And a sweetheart of a spirit show more representative.
Five splendid heavenly beans..... show less

Too many books written about and during the holiday season of Christmas leave me blah and unfulfilled. Merry, Merry Ghost provides a solid mystery wrapped up in the gold ribbon of Christmas.

So the mystery part of the book was o.k. It was quite interesting to see what someone not acquainted with the biblical description of angels thought of them. Humans can become angels. Not according to the Bible. Angels can be ghosts. Wrong again. I also did not like the in dept descriptions of what was to be eaten or worn by the angel who came to save the day. Who cares if she wore Prada?

Merry, Merry Ghost by Carolyn Hart

When the intrepid “Heavenly Emissary”(or Ghost ) Bailey Ruth, from previous book “Ghost at Work”, is sent back to Earth on the Rescue Express, little did she know that she was going to be watching over the wrong person. Bailey is thrilled to be back at Christmas time and is soon at work busily trying to prove in her ghostly way that the wealthy woman, Susan Flynn did not die of natural causes, but was murdered.

This wonderful Christmas Cozy mystery has enough twists and turns to keep you happily occupied for quite a while. There are plenty of characters to suspect and numerous red herrings to plague and enthrall you. Although this book is the second installment in this new series, it certainly show more may be read as a ‘stand alone’ book. You will have no trouble at all following what is going on. This is a very sweet series, with no foul language or earthy romance to fill the pages. Bailey is the epitome of the 1940’s or 50’s zany wacky heroine who can get herself into a tight jam; but she has the intelligence and determination of a heroine from 2010 to get herself out of the jams without masculine help. This series is sure to appeal to both young and old, cozy mystery lovers, alternative fiction lovers and just plain old mystery lovers!!

Merry Christmas! show less