Séances are for Suckers
An Eleanor Wilde Mystery #1
Tamara Berry
Kensington Books, November 2018
ISBN 978-1496719621
Hardcover
Ellie Wilde doesn’t believe in ghosts. But as her alter ego, Madame Eleanor, she hunts ghosts for a living. Ellie is a triplet, she has a brother William, an elementary school teacher, and a sister Winnie, who suffered a traumatic brain injury in an accident that killed their mother. The money Ellie makes pays for her sister’s nursing home care.
Ellie’s not a con artist. The ghosts she investigates usually turn out to be mice in the walls or resentful teenagers hiding objects from their new stepparents. Her clients are satisfied and the “ghosts” disappear.
When the rich and handsome Nicolas Hartford III flies her to his ancestral estate in England, he tells her that he does not believe in ghosts, or her ghost hunting skills. But his grandmother believes that a ghost named Xavier is haunting the place, and he wants Ellie to put on a show to convince his grandmother that the ghost is gone.
The food and accommodations at the estate are less than what Ellie expected, in fact, they are disappointing, but she is enjoying her adventure with the family and the folks in the village. But an actual dead body appears, and then disappears from Castle Hartford, and Ellie discovers there is a sinister plot unfolding.
A cozy mystery, with dashes of romance and paranormal, this will appeal to readers of Kyra Davis and Victoria Laurie.
Reviewed by Susan Belsky, September 2021.
Buried Under Books 