Blurb
How do you solve a murder when the ghost of a 17-year-old keeps telling you you’re doing it wrong?
Claire Hendricks is a hapless 30-something true
crime fan treading water in the gig economy working as a medium. When she is
invited to an old university friend’s country pile to provide entertainment for
a family party, her best friend Sophie tags along. In fact, Sophie rarely
leaves Claire’s side, because she’s been haunting her ever since she was
murdered at the age of 17.
When the pair arrive at The Cloisters, they find
themselves drawn to a tragic and unrecognizable ghost, clearly an unquiet
spirit who met an untimely end. Teaming up with the least unbearable members of
the Wellington-Forge family – depressive ex-cop Basher and teenage reactionary
Alex – Claire and Sophie determine to figure out not just whodunnit, but who
they killed, why and when.
Together they must race against incompetence to
find the murderer before the murderer finds them, in this funny, modern,
media-literate debut mystery for the My Favourite Murder generation.
Review
And now for something a little different. 😊
Yes, this is a mystery, but a rather unconventional one.
For starters, most detectives don’t come with a sidekick in the form of a teenage female ghost named Sophie, but Claire does.
What’s more, for most of the book, to quote Basher, one of the characters: “This isn’t a whodunnit, it’s a whodeadit. And a howdeadit. And a whendeadit.”
Before I confuse you completely, a quick recap of the story. Claire’s life has been strange, to put it mildly, ever since her best friend Sophie disappeared when they were both seventeen. Fifteen-odd years later, the rest of the world still considers Sophie a missing person. Claire knows better. Claire knows Sophie is dead because Sophie’s ghost has attached herself to Claire. Claire can see and communicate with Sophie, but the rest of the world can’t which makes life awkward at times. Turning her misfortune into an advantage, Claire has taken up doing seances for a living and when a former college friend invites her to a family gathering to perform her ‘act’, Claire, always in dire need of money, agrees.
The séance should have been the highlight of a weekend celebrating the matriarch of the family’s birthday but gets overshadowed by the death of the woman, followed by the appearance of a clearly very distraught ghost. When the ghost of her hostess asks Claire to look into the desperate ghost and its reasons for being there, Claire can’t make herself refuse. And thus commences a rather unorthodox investigation.
Obviously, none of the other people present actually believe Claire can see and talk to ghosts. Nobody has any idea who the desperate ghost might be, why they might be there, and what caused their demise. Or so they say.
I won’t go into the investigation and how Claire eventually gets to the solution; you’ll have far more fun reading that for yourself. I will say however that this is a solid mystery, with proper clues, and plausible explanations. What’s more, this story also did a good job illustrating how isolating Claire’s supernatural ability is. As a result, this book was as much about Claire finding courage, determination, and ultimately friends, as it was about solving the mystery/mysteries this story contained.
I can’t help wondering if naming one of the characters Tuppence, is a small nod to Agatha Christie and I find myself hoping it is, although, at first glance, this Tuppence is rather meek and therefore the exact opposite of Christie’s creation. Then again, still waters run deep, and Tuppence may yet surprise us.
All in all, this was an original and wonderful story filled with surprises, vivid characters (both alive and dead), and, most importantly, a well-plotted murder mystery. I hope this is a first in series. I wouldn’t mind spending more time with Claire and Sophie (and maybe one or two other characters) while they solve crimes.
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