Review and Giveaway: Home for the Haunting

Home for the Haunting (Haunted Home Renovation Mystery - Book 4) by Juliet Blackwell

Publication Date: 12/03/2013
Publisher: Penguin Group
Imprint: Obsidian Mystery
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Pages: 336
ISBN-10: 0451240707
ISBN-13: 978-0451240705

(Received for an honest review from Obsidian Mystery)

Purchase: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, IndieBound

Juliet Blackwell on the WEB: Website, Blog, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads

Books in the series:

If Walls Could Talk (2010), Dead Bolt (2011), Murder on the House (2012), Home for the Haunting (2013)

Coverart: Click the image for a larger, clearer view of the covers in this series.

Excerpt from Home for the Haunting, courtesy of the author's website

Synopsis:

No good deed goes unpunished.
 
San Francisco contractor Mel Turner is leading a volunteer home renovation project, and while she expects lots of questions from her inexperienced crew, she can’t help asking a few of her own—especially about the haunted house next door…the place local kids call the Murder House.
 
But when volunteers discover a body while cleaning out a shed, questions pile up faster than discarded lumber. Mel notices signs of ghostly activity next door and she wonders: Are the Murder House ghosts reaching out to her for help, or has the house claimed another victim?
 
Now, surprised to find herself as the SFPD’s unofficial “ghost consultant,” Mel must investigate murders both past and present before a spooky killer finishes another job.

Thoughts:

Juliet Blackwell's fourth book in the Haunted Home Renovation series, Home for the Haunting is a great example of blending a mystery with the paranormal. Main character Mel Turner is fixing up a house for a disabled man, when the ghosts next door start trying to get her attention. When a murder victim ends up in an outdoor shed, Mel wonders if the ghosts have the answers. Readers who enjoy a good spooky story will enjoy this book to it's fullest. With an opening line like, "You know your job is tough, when you find yourself escaping into a Port o' Potty for a minute alone." what's not to like!

What I liked:

I enjoyed the little competition going on between Mel and her dad over the tv remote. Whoever finished their renovation project first got the remote for a week. It just kind of added a very normal thing to a very un-normal book. I liked all of the interactions between Mel and her family and with the group of volunteers who are helping her renovate the home of disabled man. I thought Blackwell did an excellent job making this story plausible even though there were ghosts involved.

I don't believe in ghosts, at least not the kind portrayed in this novel, so it's interesting that Blackwell could so easily convince me that the ghosts next door had something on their minds. I enjoy the paranormal elements that Blackwell adds to each of the books in this series to elevate the theme and engage the reader even when it seems she making the impossible seem possible.

I liked the overall theme of this one, from the past murders to the present one and how they were tied together. I thought Blackwell did a great job of keeping the reader in the dark about what was really going on. The murder victim in the shed was unexpected in a sense and there was certainly a lot of mystery surrounding the murder house and how it all fit together.

What I didn't like:

I don't have any complaints about this one. Mel can sometimes come off as a bit self-serving, but those attitudes were on the back burner in this and I liked it much better. I would like to learn more about Mel's gift and how it manifests itself in future books though.

Bottom Line:

If you like mysteries, ghosts and the combination of the two, this is a book you'll enjoy. I liked the home renovation aspects of the book as well, but felt the emphasis was squarely on the mystery in this one!

Home for the Haunting is available NOW from your favorite bookseller.

I'm giving this one 5 out of 5 apples from my book bag!

About the Author:

Juliet Blackwell is the pseudonym for a national bestselling mystery author who also writes the Witchcraft Mystery series and, along with her sister, wrote the Art Lover’s Mystery series as Hailey Lind. The first in that series, Feint of Art, was nominated for an Agatha Award for Best First Novel. As owner of her own faux-finish and design studio, the author has spent many days and nights on construction sites renovating beautiful historic homes throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. She currently resides in a happily haunted house in Oakland, California.

Giveaway Details:

The publisher is sponsoring a giveaway for one copy of Home for the Haunting by Juliet Blackwell.

~ You must be an email subscriber to participate.
~ US Addresses only.
~ The deadline to enter this giveaway is Midnight EST, December 25th.

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