Synopsis

But not just any business. It’s the Golden Girls meet the Ghostbusters when four women find themselves in an unlikely career: Southeastern Paranormal Investigations. Ree Lane, a stylish widow, is more cynic than true believer, while her childhood chum, Elle Harper, has a knack for getting sensitive info with the help of her homemade pies. The preacher’s wife, Betsy Jones, can’t be seen with SPI unless she’s in her disguise as Nora, a psychic-in-training with a gift for Tarot. And the recently-returned-home Gillian Buchanan is a whiz at technology, especially of the supernatural sort.

Their first case lands on the doorstep when neighbor Doris Tucker is sure her prized vintage dolls are haunted. But there’s hardly time for ghost-hunting when the bank director’s wife mistakes SPI for a private eye venture. Now, they’re also hot on the trail of a misbehaving husband. It’s a wild ride as the sixty-something sleuths start digging into the past. But have the Ladies of SPI gone too far? And how far will Sutter go to keep its secrets dead and buried?

Amazon

Review

This was a delightful book! It is a mystery, but it is a soft mystery, maybe even a cozy. But the book is not short on action, friendship, and pie.

In this small southern town in Georgia, there is a band of women who come together to create SPI – Southern Paranormal Investigations. In doing so, they also happen to create a bond of friendship that they didn’t know that they needed. I don’t know if I have a favorite character because they all have a role to play in this novel. It might be Elle because she makes pies…and who doesn’t love a good pie? But then there is Betsy, who is trying to break out of the preacher’s wife role and dons a disguise to become Nora. Ree is the cautious one, or at least that is how I interpret her actions. She has to rope Elle in quite often since Elle is prone to go off script. But everyone needs a wacky friend like that. Last is Gillian. She is the serious one and very much into the paranormal and finding proof of their existence. She takes care of her mother, and I have to admit there are some funny scenes/conversations with her mom.

The mystery was intriguing. Actually, maybe I should say mysteries. There is their first paranormal case with the Tuckers. Is someone haunting their house, or is it something else? There is also a non-paranormal case that Elle gets them involved with regarding a potential cheating husband. There are many pieces that I figured out ahead of time for both of these cases, but there were a few that eluded me until the end. There are characters who make a change to their behavior that is very much needed. There are some high-tension moments near the end, but you will have to read the book to learn what those are.

I think the one thing that the men in this book need to learn is that they don’t hide their secrets very well.

There is a little bit of romance in the book, but not a lot. Several of the ladies are married, but Ree has a secret admirer in Ty. He is a friend and her lawyer, so I will be interested to see what happens with their relationship in future books.

And if you love dogs, there are a couple in the book. I hope we see many more in future installments.

This book was such an easy read. I flew through the pages and was sad when the book ended. But it looks like this is going to be a series, so I am very excited for future novels.

We give this book 5 paws up.

About the Author

There’s a great song, “I’ve Been Everywhere,” made popular by Johnny Cash (and a couple commercials). If you put the song in Georgia, it would be about Catherine C. Hall, starting when she moved to the Peach State at eight years old.

She grew up in Savannah, Georgia, where you can’t throw a stick without hitting a ghost. Even when she was a little girl, Savannah was known for its haunted history and she was hooked!

Broadcast Journalism hooked her as well, so she studied at Valdosta State University, way down in South Georgia, where it is the heat and the humidity. She worked in a few radio stations, but it was WNEX Radio in Macon that turned out to be life-changing. She met a cute deejay from Sandersville, Georgia, and married him a year later.

They moved above the Gnat Line (Oh, it’s real) to the Atlanta area, where they grew their family to two boys and a girl, and she took a turn in the teaching world. And then, whoosh! She met the half-century mark, wondering what to do. Maybe it was the merlot talking, but after years of reading mysteries, Catherine thought it was high time she wrote one. And she did; it was awful. (And way too short. Who knew readers expected 70,000 words?)

So she learned her craft, starting with flash fiction and then moving on to short fiction, where she won a few awards. She wrote essays that ended up in books like Chicken Soup for the Soul. She penned assorted humor columns and continued to freelance. And then, one day, she wrote another story that wasn’t exactly novel-length, but it wasn’t a short story, either. It was a children’s book.

She joined SCBWI, the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, and had a wonderful career in children’s writing, including publishing six books. But in the midst of her last two book contracts, life changed unexpectedly when Catherine’s favorite deejay up and died.

When at last she wanted to write again, she heard four women of a certain age, each seeking purpose and joy in where they found themselves, which for them was a small town in Georgia called Sutter. For Catherine, it was at home, still in the Atlanta suburbs, revisiting the ghost stories of her youth and finally getting that mystery written. All 70,000 words of it!

Facebook * LinkedIn * Pinterest

Website (Psst! Sign up for Cathy’s Spirited Newsletter and get in on secret giveaways!)