Southern Ghost

This was a re-read for me, but the last time I read it was before I kept track of dates or wrote any reviews, so long enough that it almost felt like a new read.

Carolyn Hart is probably the only author currently publishing that comes close to the Grande Dames of Mystery: Christie, Sayers, Mertz, Rinehart, etc. Her plots are always intricate, her writing excellent, if sometimes excessive, and her characters well developed and complex, with the possible exception of her two protagonists: Max and Annie are always happy and always in love. Perhaps Hart is too emotionally invested in the Darlings, or perhaps she chooses to retain that vintage-mystery formula of the perfect marriage as a contrast and balance to the dysfunction of all the show more suspects. Either way, the stories usually trump the irritation of perfection.

Southern Ghost feels like Hart's homage to the gothic mysteries of the early 20th century: old house, old family, deep secrets, and ghosts walking the bluffs. Dark and stormy nights, power outages, and old sins casting long shadows. In typical cozy fashion, justice prevails and there's a happy ending, but nobody comes out of this one (save Max and Annie, of course) unscathed; everybody loses as all the skeletons are flushed out of the closets and the bodies pile up. This is a cozy, but not the modern, saccharine interpretation.

This is the 8th in the series, but with the exception of references to off-stage recurring characters, there's no reason why this book could not be read as a stand-alone. To anyone considering giving cozies a try, I recommend trying Hart's Death on Demand series to see cozies at their best. show less

Its true that this particular book from the series doesn't follow her usual narrative, but that's okay. She still gives you a great mystery. Ms Hart is fabulous at throwing all of these "clues" to you, so that you can try to figure it out on your own- that's half the fun of reading mysteries! The red herrings, the important ones all a mishmash, and again that's what makes a really great author great... Some of the reviews discuss the family history, well, yea, there have been murders IN THE FAMILY and to find out any potential MOTIVE or possible perpetrators, you have to get to the history, the WHY of it all.

If she keeps writing, I'll be there reading!

Enjoyed reading this book, although it is shocking how even the deputy sheriff of the island of Chastain allows an old woman to call the shots in a murder investigation. It did have me guessing and I did not figure out the true killer.

A few weeks ago I was listening to "Book Club Girl's" BlogTalk Radio show and she was interviewing Emily Gray Tedrowe about her book "Commuters". I book I've read and reviewed earlier.

Well, in the course of the interview Emily mentioned how she found it odd more author's didn't write about their characters reading and I believe she also talked about how they didn't talk about other books or authors in their books. I had to agree with her. I always find it weird that characters don't read or talk about books and authors they like. Sometimes I think they may be afraid readers may think "Holy Cow, that sounds like a better book" and run back to the books store to exchange the book they're reading for the book mentioned in the novel. Now, show more I'm sure that is not really the case. (Well, maybe it is in some cases) But gosh, come on you're a writer shouldn't some of you characters read?

I think on of the things I like best about Carolyn Hart's Death on Demand series is not only does her main character read (after all she does run a mystery book store) she mentions authors, book titles, and even characters in the books. I will admit I'm caught off guard when she mentions herself but it does make sense since she's a pretty popular mystery author and she would be a big seller in a mystery book store.

Anyway "Southern Ghost" was one of her middling Annie and Max Darling mysteries. The set up of a missing girl didn't work for me. While the main mystery - a murder and suicide that occurred 20+ years earlier was a good one - the solution came together rather quickly and seemed a bit disconnected from the investigation they had done. Really it was solved by another character in the story which I didn't mind but you missed her investigation so the conclusion was a little forced. But I do really like these characters and the location of the story so I really did enjoy the book overall. show less

Two cases for Annie and Max to solve, in mainland Chastain, SC.

A beautiful blonde, last seen in the company of Max, has disappeared, and is presumed murdered. Max is in jail for the alleged crime, but Annie is certain he's innocent.

While Max and Annie are looking for the missing woman, they're also carrying out what she hired Max to do - find out what really happened 22 years ago when her father and grandfather died.

Did not hold my attention very well as it was too focussed on a detailed family history.

I give up on this one. The writing is just too awful and I don't care enough about what happened to keep torturing myself.