Haunted Bookshop Mystery #4: The Ghost and the Femme Fatale

A brief description from Alice Kimberly's Webpage...

The Movie Town Theater is holding its first ever Film Noir Festival, with Penelope Thornton-McClure handling book sales for the guest speakers, including screen actress Hedda Geist. The legendary femme fatale has been out of the spotlight for decades. Unfortunately, the moment she steps back into it, she's nearly killed. Then other guests start to die, and Penelope wants to know why her little town's film noir weekend has taken a truly dark turn.
With local police on the wrong track, Penelope enlists the help of Jack Shepard, PI. Okay, so Jack hasn't had a heartbeat since 1949, when he was gunned down in what is now Pen's store. But the hard-boiled ghost actually remembers Hedda's dark past and Penelope is sure he can help solve this case--even if he and his license did expire more than fifty years ago...

My Favorite Excerpt from the book:

Jack and Pen are in 1948 trailing one of his cases and they go to a bar to order a drink…

“Tell the man what you’re drinking, baby.”

I tapped my chin in thought. I wasn’t a drinker per se, but we did ask to sit at the bar so a soft drink would look conspicuous. “I know,” I finally said, “the perfect drink for the occasion would be a Vesper.”

The bartender’s brow wrinkled. “A what-sper?”

“A Vesper,” I said, incredulous the bartender at such an upscale restaurant wasn’t familiar with the most famous cocktail recipe in the English-speaking world.

“What’s in it?” he asked

“It’s a martini,” I told him, “made with three parts gin, one park vodka, and one-half part Lillet.”

“Lillet?” The bartender frowned “Not vermouth?”

“The Lillet adds more sweetness and tropical aromas than dry vermouth,” I informed the man. “Or at least that’s what I remember from Casino Royale. And of course, it should be shaken, not stirred, served in a wineglass, and garnished with a lemon twist.”

“We stir martinis here, ma’am. Nobody shakes them.”

I threw up my hands. “James Bond does!”

The bartender glanced at Jack. “Is that you?”

“Of course he’s not James Bond. Bond’s the most famous Cold War spy in the world.” I glanced around. “What year is this anyways?”

Jack visibly stiffened.

“It’s 1948, ma’am,” the bartender relied, eyeing me a little closer. “You that blotto?”

“Uh-oh,” I said, realizing I’d been off a few years. The first Ian Fleming Bond novel wouldn’t appear until 1953. “I believe I’ve made a mistake –“

“Listen, buddy,” Jack quickly told the bartender, “just give the doll a martini. A gin martini, stirred, and put the damn thing in a martini glass. Thanks.”

The bartender walked away, shaking his head, and Jack glared at me.

“What?” I asked

“Don’t you know the meaning of cover? You’re supposed to blend in, keep a low profile, be a fly on the wall – not order a drink from another century!”

My Thoughts on the Book

Out of the four books in the series so far this was by far my favorite of them. I loved the mystery story line along with the continued romance between Pen and Jack (the ghost). My favorite scenes always are when Pen goes back in the past with Jack to attempt to break a crime. His case always has to do with her case. I find in general it is the characters that make these stories enjoyable, more so than just the story itself.

Book Rating:

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click on the book cover to go to the Amazon.com page about the book to read more about it or to order it...

Haunted Bookshop Mystery #3: The Ghost and the Dead Man's Library - Alice Kimberly

A Brief Description from the Web Page:
Jack Shepard didn’t have much use for books when he was alive. Now that he's dead, he has even less interest in the crate of dusty old tomes that arrive at the bookshop he’s been haunting. Penelope, on the other hand, is thrilled with the delivery. The rare old Poe library was willed to her shop by an elderly admirer of her aunt Sadie’s. The dead man’s library is so valuable that Pen is inundated with astronomical offers for every volume in the set. Everything appears rosy, until Pen begins to sell the books, one by one…and one by one each buyer dies. The police don’t believe Pen’s theory—that these deaths are linked to the rare book purchases. In fact, the police don’t believe these deaths are murders at all. Pen, of course, knows differently, which means it’s time to persuade her hard-boiled haunter to stop resting in peace, start cracking some clues, and make sure this twisted Poe freak kills...nevermore.

My Thoughts on the Book:
The third book in the Haunted Bookshop Mysteries was a real great read. Not only was it a murder mystery but it had the characters trying to figure out the Edgar Allen Poe mystery as well. Again the "Quibble Over Everything" Gang were involved with trying to figure out who was behind all the murder before anyone else was murdered. Although my favorite aspect of the whole book was when Pen goes back in time Jack to learn about his case, than they go out for a nice evening of drinks. After that Jack is always telling Pen he could take her out for a nice night on the town in her dreams. Pen and Jack's relationship has gone even further in this book, it seems as though they are almost falling in love. Although Jack is dead, I would think they would make a great couple. Since Jack died back in the 1940's that might be a little bit hard/weird.

Book Rating

Haunted Bookshop Mystery #2: The Ghost and the Dead Deb - Alice Kimberly

A Brief Description from the Web Page:
This was the only rule bookshop owner had given her resident ghost, hard-boiled private eye Jack Shepard. But when the hot young author Angel Stark arrives at the store to promote her latest—a book of true crime—Jack can hardly contain himself. After all, crime is his specialty. Angel's books is an unsolved mystery about a debutante found strangled to death. And it's filled with juicy details that point a finger at a number of people in the deb's high society circle. But when the author winds up dead too—in precisely the same way—Pen is fast on the case...which means Jack is too. After all, a ghost detective never rests in peace.
- Cleo's Haunted Bookshop

My Thoughts on The Book:
This book brought another aspect to the Pen and Jack relationship, mainly that when she dreams at night she goes into Jack's life before he died. It really makes for a interesting break in the murder mystery they are currently working on, but also gives Pen some tips on how to be a Private Investigator. This book also introduces some more characters that we only briefly met in the first book. The "Quibble About Everything Group" as Pen's Aunt Sadie calls them are made up of Pen, Aunt Sadie and the other business owners of Quindicott. Together they ban together to solve the mystery of Angel Stark's death, along with another murder victim.

Book Rating

"Haunted Bookshop Mystery #1: The Ghost and Mrs. McClure" - Alice Kimberly

A Brief Description from the Web Page:
Young widow Penelope and her Aunt Sadie are making ends met by running their newly remodeled mystery bookshop, a quaint New England landmark, rumored to be haunted. Pen may not believe in ghosts, but she does believe in good publicity—like nabbing Timothy Brennan for a book signing. But soon after the bestselling thriller writer reveals a secret about the store's link to a 1940's murder, he keels over dead, right in the middle of the store's new Community Events space. Who gives Mrs. McClure the first clue that it was murder? The bookstore's full-time ghost, a PI who was murdered on the very spot more than fifty years before. Is he a figment of Pen's overactive imagination? Or is the oddly likable fedora-wearing specter the only hope Pen has to solve the crime? You can bet your everlasting life on it.
- Cleo's Haunted Bookshop

My Thoughts On The Book:
I really enjoyed the book! I love how Jack (the ghost of a PI that was killed in Penelope's book store) and Penelope interact with each other. Together these two characters really draw you into the story of the murder of the author Timothy Brennan. Although Penelope (Pen for short) comes across as a shy woman who is not out for an adventure she really brings the drama to the book. I also found that I was left guessing until almost the very end as to who the killer actually was. Pen and Jack had come up with a fairly long list of suspects along with the ones that the cops were eying (one being Pen herself).

Book Rating