Book Review: The Ghost and the Dead Man's Library

Reviewed By: Dawn Dowdle

The Ghost and the Dead Man's Library     Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
Alice Kimberly
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Supernatural
Series: Haunted Bookshop # 3
Berkley, Paperback, 9/06, 258 pages, $6.99

Penelope Thornton-McClure and her aunt Sadie own the Buy The Book bookstore. They head out on a stormy night to look at some old books of Peter Chesley, an old friend of Sadie’s. Turns out to be an extremely rare collection of Edgar Allan Poe’s complete works.

There is a rumor that there is a secret code hidden within the books’ leather-bound pages, and that it leads to buried treasure. Bad thing is that as Pen sells off various valuable volumes, everyone who has bought one is murdered.

PI Jack Shepard, the resident ghost of the bookstore that only Pen can hear helps her work on solving the case. The police believe most of the deaths were accidents, but Pen and Jack are certain that isn’t the case. Can they discover the identity of the killer without putting Pen in harm’s way? Plus what about the secret code and buried treasure. Is there anything to the rumor?

I love this series. Pen and Jack are such likeable characters. Usually I have trouble with mysteries with a ghost, but this series is so well written that it doesn’t bother me in the least. The bookstore setting is so natural and so is the fact that Pen gets involved in unraveling the mystery. The additional people in the story are well written and add to the story.

I highly recommend this book and the complete series.

Dawn Dowdle

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Dawn Dowdle

Please visit Dawns website at www.mysteryloverscorner.com