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.
