Give Up the Ghost (Haunted Home Renovation, #6)

by Juliet Blackwell

Sands Xe (Narrator) and Xe Sands (Narrator)

From the New York Times bestselling author of Keeper of the Castle, San Francisco contractor and ghost whisperer Mel Turner must solve a murder mystery at a haunted mansion in the Pacific Heights...

San Francisco millionaire Andrew Flynt wants to sell his Victorian mansion, but ghostly music, the squeaking of a long-disappeared weathervane, and an angry ghost keep running off potential buyers. After a famous psychic is called in, she informs the Flynts that their multi-million-dollar renovations to “update” the home have left its resident ghost extremely agitated. So contractor Mel Turner is engaged to track down and replace some of the original features of the house. 

But when the beautiful psychic is found stabbed, it appears someone had a very human motive for murder. Now Mel must use her ghost whispering gift to uncover the secrets of the haunted house on the hill, and her sleuthing skills to catch a killer.

• ISBN10: 1494511126
• ISBN13: 9781494511128
• Publish Date: 1 December 2015
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 14 March 2021
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Tantor Media, Inc
• Edition: Unabridged edition
• Format: Audiobook (CD)
• Duration: 7 hours and 52 minutes
• Language: English

Reviews

[MurderByDeath]

I was a little worried after the last book in this series, because after a string of solidly entertaining and ghostly mysteries, it was lacking hugely in plotting.  Happily it was just a blip; Give Up the Ghost brings the series back onto solid footing.   

After spending an obscene amount of money destroying the historical integrity of a San Franciscan Victorian mansion, turning the inside into a soulless modern expanse of drywall and vinyl windows, the owners find the home haunted by a very pissed off ghost and impossible to sell.  After bringing in a psychic who tells them to restore the interiors as much as possible to appease the ghost, Mel is hired to do what restoration she can.  Almost immediately afterwards, the psychic is murdered.   

The pacing of the story was great and Blackwell introduced another ghost-story sub-plot which I thought kept things moving and interesting.  She's also introduced some personal upheaval that I'd normally find to be a deal-breaker, but oddly enough, I find it welcoming.  Maybe what she was doing before didn't work as well as I thought it did.   The murder plotting was great: a nice distribution of clues and information meant the ending was a surprise and I love that Mel gets her questions answered through research instead of ridiculous amateur sleuthing tactics.   

Looking forward to seeing where Blackwell takes these characters next.

[Silvara]

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I received this book for free from Obsidian in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.


I really liked the way ghosts were portrayed in the book. As well as the way Mel interacted with them. It was not only believable, but quite funny at times! There were a few different ghosts in the book besides the one in the main storyline that haunted Crosswinds. They each had their own distinct personalities and quirks.

As did the living characters in the book. I was totally surprised by who killed Chantelle, I had a few guesses, none of which turned out to be correct. But it made perfect sense once the killer was revealed.

I also liked the trivia Mel dug up about the houses previous inhabitants. The hidden passageway was also a huge plus. I liked that there were skeptics as to Mel's psychic ability to see ghosts, as well as those who believed she could do so.

My only irk was how stuck on Landon's good looks Mel was. For the first third or so at least of the book after he appeared, every time he was mentioned his stunning good looks were as well. I kept thinking "okay, moving along yet?" But other than that fairly minor irk, I really enjoyed the book!

This review was originally posted on Fantasy of the Silver Dragon