A nice series start…
A year or so ago, I had a review copy of Olivia Blacke’s A Fatal Groove, which is the first in her Record Shop mystery series. I liked that book, which is practically the epitome of a cozy. So when I was offered a review copy of A New Lease on Death, which is the first in Blacke’s Supernatural mystery series, I grabbed it. And I enjoyed A New Lease even a bit more than A Fatal Groove.
To start with, in spite of its cute cover, it’s not really a cozy. (And although I like cozies, a few can go a long way.) Instead, A New Lease is a little grittier, dealing thoughtfully with some difficult situations – which would, however, be spoilers if I provided details here. You’ll recognize them when you see them. And the paranormal elements also make you think a bit. What would you do if you ended up as a ghost, unable to communicate with those who are still alive, and not knowing anything at all about how the ghost thing works? Which sounds like a few living people I know. Which may be the point.
Luckily though, for our resident ghost, Cordelia Graves, who apparently committed suicide in her apartment’s bathtub in a rather bleak part of town, the next inhabitant of the apartment is Ruby Young. Ruby’s an almost terminally cheerful 20-something, who has dealt with a nasty breakup with her cheating ex, “Jerky McJerkface”, by leaving the comfort of her large family in Baltimore to make her way on her own in Boston. In cold cold Boston! It’s wintertime, and Ruby doesn’t have much money – for food, or heat, or warm clothes.
Shortly after Ruby moves in, however, Cordelia-the-ghost somewhat ironically discovers a dead body. Her former neighbor from across the hall, Jake Macintyre, has been shot in the head, not far from the entrance to their apartment building. And although Cordelia tries to pass along some of her hard-learned lessons on how to be a ghost, Jake vanishes shortly after he dies. The overworked police assume it is just a mugging, but Cordelia doesn’t think so, and neither does Ruby. The two form an unlikely alliance to investigate, and as they do, they form an equally improbable friendship.
As I was reading the first few chapters, I struggled a bit with A New Lease on Death. Cordelia seemed stiff (pun intended 😊) and unlikeable, Ruby’s situation was dire, and I’ve never been a big fan of cold winters, even just in books. But as Cordelia and Ruby figured out how to communicate (at least some of the time), as their investigations started to dig up clues, and as they started to care about each other – well, I got hooked. And by the end of the book, I felt quite sad that it was ending.
I want to thank Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the review copy. I also note that there are a few unresolved bits-and-pieces towards the end that bolster my hopes for another book to come. And finally, BTW – even though the book is grittier than the cover, I still like the cover a lot!
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