ROSEMARY: A Sudden Light
by Garth Stein
The story is set in 1990 and told by 14
year old Trevor who is trying to save his parent's marriage. He and his father
move into the old family home Riddell House. It is the ghosts who also occupy
the house who reveal many family secrets.
Rosemary commented that there was not too
much ghostly activity and would describe it more as a family saga. There were
enough twists and turns and a satisfying ending; an enjoyable read.
ED: Ghosts a la Mode (Ghosts
of Granny Apples Mystery 1) Sue Jaffarian
Granny is noted for her apple pies and had
wrongly been accused of the murder of her husband.
When her great great grand daughter Emma
Whitecastle joins in a séance, she teams up with her to prove her innocence and
solve other murders. The story involves gold, land grabs, family rivalry and
characters alive and dead.
Ed
described it as an easy read it was “all right”.
PAULINE: The Small Hand
by Susan Hill
Published in 2010 and narrated by Adam Snow
a dealer in old books who stumbles across an abandoned house. It is in
disrepair with an overgrown garden and while inside he feels the presence of a
small child’s hand with his own.
This leads to other incidents, nightmares
and panic attacks as he tries to unravel the mystery. Pauline described it as
easy and fun to read.
KRIS: Mozart’s Ghost by
Julie Cameron
Anna is 30+ and lives in New York. She is a
median that reunites loved one but keeps this a secret. Edward is a classical
pianist who moves into the building and eventually they fall in love.
The ghost who comes into her life is
Mozart.
Kris described it as a light book, a lovely
easy read.
PAMELA: The Turn of the
Screw by Henry James
Although only 120 pages this is certainly
not a ‘quick read’.
A young governess is employed to look after
2 small children and is given absolute control of them. The ghost of a former
valet (a rather unsavoury character) and a former governess haunt the place.
Both had had a lot to do with the children and not always in their best
interests. A creepy setting with creepier children.
The story was originally published in 12
weekly episodes with a hook at the end of each one.
Pamela described it as a creepy story with
many ambiguous twists and turns and critics still argue who is responsible,
what happens and why!
SHEILA: The Beginner’s
Goodbye by Anne Tyler
When a tree falling on their house kills
Dorothy, her husband Aaron is distraught. They are fairly ordinary people
living ordinary lives. Aaron who was born with a crippled arm and leg only
finds some peace when Dorothy comes back from the dead and appears to him and
they engage in short conversations.
Sheila was not particularly impressed with
the book but thought little gems of insight into the subject saved it.
JUDY De La TORRE:
Longest Ride by Nicholas Spark
The story involves the love affair of a
mismatched couple, Luke a former champion bull rider and Sophie an art student
heading for New York. When they meet Ira an old man reflecting on his life and
loves it has an impact on their relationship.
Judy thought the solution was a bit
contrived.
MEL: The Waiting Room by
F J Cotton
Mel admitted to reading only up to Chapter
3, being too scared to continue!
A haunted railway station is on a rock
star’s property. The psychic he hires to get rid of the ghosts is a fake but
too scared to say so. The ghosts are soldiers from the war. The descriptions of
their death were very difficult to read.
Mel described the characters as being
corny, cliqued and didn’t feel anything for them. The only thing going for the
story was that it was so scary!
DENISE: An Aunty Dimity
Mystery by Nancy Atherton
This is a series of books featuring Aunty
Dimity who is a romantic ghost in England
involved in romantic mysteries.
In this story the ghost corresponds
with a couple through the journal while the archeologists are on a dig in a
picturesque village. It is a lighthearted story , one of 20 in the series.
JULIA: Ghost Walk by Heather
Graham
Julia only managed to get half way
through this book finding it very disjointed as well not liking the paranormal
aspects in the story.
CLAURENCE: The Cat Who
Talked to Ghosts by Lillian Jackson Braun
This is the 10th novel in this
series about the life of James Qwilleran and his 2 Siamese cats Koko and Yum
Yum who help solve mysteries. They all live in Pickax in Moose County.
The stories are light hearted, amusing
and easy to read.
In this one,
Qwilleran gets a call in the dead of night from a terrified Iris Cobb. By the
time Qwill arrives to help her, he finds her dead and suspects foul play with
good reason.
Each of the books
covers some part of his life and often with quirky characters from other
stories.
WENDY:
Playing Beattie Bow by Ruth Park
Wendy described it as
a beautiful book about a 14 year old girl who, while playing in the park sees a
little girl, an apparition, and follows her, time travelling back into the
1880s.
It is a coming of age
novel, engaging, well paced and balanced. The characters both historical and
current are well drawn. Historically it is accurate in the description of the
Rocks now and then.
Going to the other
world gives Abigail a chance to deal with the problems she is going through.
JO: Maybe
this Time by Jennifer Cruise
Jo described this as
fantastic, a really good read and some of the scenes were just hilarious.
Two orphaned children
are on their own in this creepy house with 2 ghosts. Andie has been asked by
her ex-husband North to look after them for a month and get them ready to leave
the house. While wanting to move on with her new relationship, Andie now finds
herself being drawn closer to her ex-husband as she learns to love these
children.
Many of life’s
lessons are covered in this book.
JOAN:
Ghosting by David Poyer
Dr Jack Scales is a
very successful neurosurgeon at the height of his career. But his very busy
lifestyle has taken a toll on his family. His wife is having an affair, his son
hears voices to self mutilate and murder and his teenage daughter is
rebellious. His solution is to take a
family cruise to Bermuda, where he is not really prepared for the challenges of
the sea.
Joan described it as
a very gripping story having read it in one sitting! It was gruesome and an
unexpectedly good read.
CONNIE:
Woman in Black by Susan Hill
A young solicitor
goes to an old house to make an inventory of the deceased estate. But he sees
and hears strange things, a cart and a child’s cry. He can’t leave because the
tide had come in and the marsh is underwater.
Connie thought the
writing was excellent and she likes to read about the environment and the
countryside, which was so well described. The situations were believable, the
characters were interesting and nice and the ending was fantastic. It almost
converted her to reading ghost stories.
BETH: Lovely
Bones by Alice Sebold
A 14 year old girl
was raped and murdered. The book is her story after she died, her heaven and
what happened to the rest of the people in her life. The characters are gentle
and sweet. She watches over them and how their lives have turned out.
PRUE:
Breathe by Cliff McNish
This is a Junior
Adult Book but very easy to read. Sarah takes her son Jack to live in an old
farmhouse to get over the loss of his father. He loves old things. In the house
he finds 4 ghost children and Isabella a ghost who has passed over 150 years
ago. He also finds a ghost mother, Abigail’s
mother. She looks after ghost children and breathes in the souls of the
children.
Prue found it quite
creepy, a good yarn for teenagers. It’s a book about obsessive love, the ghost
mother versus the real mother.
BEV: Ghouls
Gone Wild- A Ghost Hunter Mystery #4
M J Holliday is a
psychic who forms a company to help people out. They travel to Edinburgh, Scotland, to film the first installment of their
new cable TV show Ghoul Getters. They
find that centuries ago a plague had killed many villagers. The rich blamed the
poor and so burnt many of them. Each year 7 ghosts come back and murder 7
people. It is the Ghoul Getters job to solve the problem.
JUDY J: Black Dog Summer by
Miranda Sherry
The recently dead
Sally, murdered on a farm in South Africa, narrates the story. Her 14 year old
daughter Gigi is found cradling her mother’s body.
When Gigi goes to
live with her mother’s sister, Sally, who is not really a ghost, but stuck
between the here and now and the after life, watches over her daughter. She is
able to see story threads and has to communicate with the next-door neighbor (a
witch doctor) to see that the truth of the murder comes out!
Judy described it as
an easy read, a story about murder but not crime, with black magic but no
horror and narrated by a dead woman who is not a ghost.
ANNE: The
Shepherd by Frederick Forsyth
This novella was
published in 1975 and tells the story of a young pilot flying home from Germany
to spend Christmas with his family. Part way through the flight, a fog rolls
in, radio contact is lost and his compass goes haywire. After several desperate
moments a World war 11 bomber appears below him and guides him to a safe
landing. But where has he landed and who was this ‘shepherd’?
Anne found the story
to be well written, and technically very interesting.
JAYNE: The Life and Many Deaths of Harry Houdini by
Ruth Brandon
Harry Houdini was an
escapologist who created defying stunts
that not only captivated the public but also subdued his own raging
psychological demons. In later life he had become interested in the
supernatural.
When his mother died, he tried through
a séance to get in touch with her. This was unsuccessful so he tried to expose
those involved. His fascination with death even led him to selecting a code of
10 words for people to contact him after his death!
MARIE: The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
Marie was hooked after 2 pages!
The story is set in post war Britain as
the way of life of the ‘upper class’ is crumbling. The doctor, whose mother had
worked at the mansion when he was young, is the narrator. When he is called to
treat a patient in the Hundred Halls Mansion, he finds not only the house in
ruins, the gardens overgrown, clocks permanently stopped at twenty to nine but
the family struggling to cope with the current times.
Marie described it as a slow but
satisfying build up in the story; what is haunting the house is revealed to be
closely entwined with the doctor’s own life.
DIANN: The Uninvited by Cath Winters
The story is set in 1918 and revolves
around the effect the war had on a small rural USA town.
Ivy has the ‘gift’ that has been passed
on from her grandmother and some of the men have just killed a German in town.
Diann gave up at page 156…. A ghost had
finally appeared, the story didn’t flow, the characters lacked depth and the
ghosts weren’t frightening.
TAM: The Uninvited Guests by
Sadie Jones
While a household is preparing for a 20th
birthday party, a dreadful accident occurs nearby. Following this, a group of
mysterious and rather unsavory characters take shelter in the large ramshackle
mansion. But they are ghosts!
As the party continues into the night,
games are played which begin to expose secrets from the past.
Tam described it as a good holiday
read, even though some of the characters were a little corny.
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