Book Review: Biggie and the Quincy Ghost

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Biggie and the Quincy Ghost     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Nancy Bell
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Amateur Sleuth
Series: Biggie # 5
St. Martin’s, Sept 2001, $22.95, 224 pp.

Biggie Weatherford is famous in Job’s Crossing, Texas because her family founded the town and she is the richest person in it. Her notoriety has spread to East Texas because of her work in the DAR and her knack for solving various homicides. Her twelve-year-old grandson lives with her and adores his grandmother because life with her is anything but dull.

Biggie’s latest project is starting up a historical society in Job’s Crossing. She, her grandson, and a few townsfolk travel to Quincy (near the Louisiana border) because their historical society is giving a four-day workshop on how to preserve the local history. The hotel Biggie and company are staying at is supposedly haunted but it isn’t a ghost they see from their windows. It’s the body of the waitress who served them the night before, a butcher knife in her chest. When the sheriff is suddenly hospitalized, he asks Biggie to help him in his investigation, a job she eagerly accepts.

This story is written in the first person narrative through the viewpoint of a twelve-year-old boy who has seen more tragedy and evil in his life than most adults ever do. Although BIGGIE AND THE QUINCY GHOST has a dark side to it at times, this cozy is full of homilies and charming stories about small town living both past and present. Nancy Bell knows how to tell a good story with characters that represent the spectrum of the human race.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner