Haunt Couture & Ghosts Galore Book Review
Title: | Haunt Couture and Ghosts Galore | |
Author: | Rose Pressey | |
Published: | 2015, Kensington | |
No. of Pages: | 304 | |
Cover Price: | $7.99 Paperback, $5.84 Kindle |
Cozies are generally light reads sans violence, sex, and profanity. Some often do, however, keep up a fairly high level of suspense. That is true with Rose Pressey’s Haunted Vintage Mysteries. In the third book of the series, Haunt Couture and Ghosts Galore, protagonist Cookie Chanel, owner of a vintage clothing store called It's Vintage Y'all in the small town of Sugar Creek, Georgia, is helping with vintage accessories at a charity event featuring the designs of her friend, Melanie. Unfortunately, when Cookie is ready to leave and tries to find Melanie to say goodbye, she discovers that Melanie has been murdered – the weapon being the heel of a stiletto. Hannah, one of the models, has just discovered the body when Cookie comes around, and she is arrested for the murder.
Cookie has the ability to see ghosts, and has picked up one named Charlotte as a companion. Charlotte came around in a previous novel when she enlisted Cookie’s help in solving her own murder. Now Charlotte wants Cookie to solve this murder, since she is fairly certain that Hannah isn’t guilty. Cookie has additional help from another Ghost, Sam, a murder victim from the 40s whose hat was being used in the fashion event, and also Cookie’s cat, Wind Song, who has the uncanny ability to read tarot cards and the Ouija board.
Although the characters sound a little implausible, Pressey pulls it off; Cookie, Charlotte, Sam, a handsome policeman and a striking lawyer move the story along. The whole novel is a borderline farce on fantasy fiction, and there is humor along with lots of fun. Because Cookie is an expert on Vintage clothing, there are hints for purchasing and choosing vintage clothing at the start of most chapters. Sam, while alive, was a private detective, so there are sleuthing hints from him at the start of the other chapters.
Most of the suspense comes from the prodding of the ghosts to get Cookie to put herself in embarrassing situations interacting with the suspects, i.e., getting caught in their offices or homes snooping. Cookie is in danger at every turn, and while the ghosts can make suggestions and be very pushy with Cookie (nobody can see them, except her), they can’t actually save her when she gets into a tight situation.
Readers who like fast-moving reads that are light, humorous, and clean will especially enjoy this novel, and of course the series. The book will be a nice change from the heavy thrillers that keep readers on the edge of their seats, and will be an enjoyable read.
Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying an advance review copy of this book.
This book may be purchased at Amazon:
Haunt Couture and Ghosts Galore (A Haunted Vintage Mystery) Paperback
Haunt Couture and Ghosts Galore (A Haunted Vintage Mystery Book 3) Kindle
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