Fiction, Paranormal Cozy Mystery

4****

Blurb: Paranormal and perimenopausal? Amelia’s got double trouble. When hot flash–prone cookie shop owner Amelia inherits a spooky Florida inn, she plans to sell it fast. But the place is haunted by an unsolved murder, and her dead aunt tasks her with using her newfound psychic powers to crack the case. Armed with nothing but a cat named Freddie Purrcury and a posse of supernaturally-gifted locals, Amelia taps into the spirit world to unravel clues about the decades-old crime. She expected creaky floorboards, not messages from the other side. Between misbehaving ghosts, a slow-burn attraction to her ghost hunting guide, and her deepening connection to her estranged aunt, this midlife paranormal adventure isn’t what Amelia bargained for. But if she can’t embrace her emerging psychic gifts and solve the mystery, the spirits may sink her hotel sale for good.

Thoughts: I enjoyed this story. Amelia is the perfect main character. Older (47), divorced, displaced… She travels from California to Florida when she inherits her aunt’s old hotel. But she’s inherited a lot more—like a restless ghost. Billy was killed in the hotel decades ago, and he’s usually been a “nice” ghost, but lately, he’s been causing a lot of problems and it’s up to Amelia to find out who killed him and find his lost love.

While there, she finds good friends who are so much better than the acquaintances she had in California and discovers her latent abilities as a psychic, like many of the other residents of the small town. But the best part for me was when her new best friend took her to the special cemetery where every tombstone has a recipe carved into the back of it! I loved that. Add in the hot college professor and her huge cat and you have all the makings of a great series.

Recommended.