Summer

03 November 2011

GHOST SHIP: A Port Chatham Mystery - P J Alderman

From the back of the book: RITA-nominated author P J Alderman's delightful new mystery series blends haunting ghosts with hunting criminals as therapist Jordan Marsh dives deep into the past to solve a modern murder.


A recent transplant to Washington State's charming seaside town of Port Chatham, Jordan is still getting used to sharing her slightly run-down but historic lodging with ghosts. As if living with the long-deceased isn't enough of a challenge, she's just found a corpse: The town's notorious womanizer Holt Stillwell is lying on the beach with a bullet in his head.


Before Jordan can reel in a suspect, another victim surfaces. And this one isn't taking murder lying down. Holt's ancestor Michael Seavey, the Pacific Northwest's most infamous shanghaier, has materialized in Jordan's house, seeking to solve his own death in a suspicious shipwreck in 1893. With two murders to solve and a killer on the loose, Jordan faces yet another equally terrifying prospect: her growing attraction to the very alive and criminally attractive pub owner Jase Cunningham.

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Port Chatham is one of those towns so well-drawn in a book that I want to move there immediately. I want to live in Jordan's neighborhood. Heck, I want to live her ghosted-up house.

GHOST SHIP is the second in the Port Chatham Mystery series and set more in the present day than the first, HAUNTING JORDAN http://iyamvixenbooks.blogspot.com/2011/05/haunting-jordan-port-chatham-mystery-p.html. There are two mysteries going on, one in the past and one in the present, but the one set in the present seemed more predominant. Which meant more time with ghost whispererJordan, hottie pub owner/lawyerJase, police chief Darcy and the ghosts of sisters Hattie and Charlotte.


I like how the townspeople of Port Chatham accept Jordan's newfound ability to see and talk to ghosts. They all wish they could do the same. Jordan only has to accept it herself and not live in denial or try to hide her ability. She does feel compelled to solve the past and present murders or she'll have problems with the extra ghosts who keep appearing in her life.


The books in the series are thicker than your average paranormal amateur sleuth/cozy mystery. That's not a bad thing, by any means. It's that much more to enjoy of this superb series.


Five superb bigger than normal beans....





3 comments:

Aurian said...

Ooo a thick cozy? Sold! I always want to read on when it is a good one.

Sherri said...

Sounds like one I would like to read and glad that it is a thick one-don't see that too much in cozies!

Have a great weekend!

WonderBunny said...

You are right about the author doing a great job with the setting. I loved the way Port Chatham feels. I liked this one at a lot too.