by Teresa Watson
Release Date: February 1st 2016
Ebook Edition; 393 Pages
ASIN: B01BDX4UHQ
Genre: Fiction / Cozy / Mystery
Source: Review copy from Great Escapes Book Tours
4 / 5 Stars
Summary
Cam Shaw is hoping that her life will be ghost-free from now on. But that hope dies with the appearance of Mac “the Faker” Green, a wise-cracking ghost from Vegas who has followed her grandmother home. And during the opening night of Blithe Spirit, someone has sent Susan Ingram to her ghostly afterlife. What does her death have to do with the death of her mother-in-law fifty years ago? Who is trying to wipe out the Ingram family one person at a time? And when will that Vegas ghost stop sticking his nose into Cam’s business?
My Thoughts
Who Invited the Ghost to Dinner was a fun and relatively fast-paced cozy mystery that had an aspect of the paranormal to it. I really thought the main ghost, Mac Green, was a lot of fun and I enjoyed his character quite a bit, loving the way he just popped up at the most inappropriate times.
What I really liked the best about this novel was the characters and their quirkiness. First of all, I loved Mac, he was a lot of fun and I thought his sarcasm and quirkiness really added to the story. I found myself really looking forward to the scenes when he just popped up; I thought some of the scenes were quite funny, especially when he showed up in Cam's bedroom while she was getting dressed. I definitely look forward to seeing more of him in future novels, and learning more about his background; let's just say my interest has been piqued by him. I also really liked Cam's grandmother and newly acquired husband; they are just so quirky, and I really hope I have their energy when I am in my eighties. While I did enjoy Cam as a character, I did find her to be a bit annoying at times though. Her crankiness at not always being involved in the investigations or not being told police business did get on my nerves quite a bit as really, it was none of her business, despite her relationship with the chief. I do like the way Mike and Cam's relationship issues are dealt with however, as Mike's job does get in the way and I do think that Cam has to realize at some point that she will not be privy to police details on cases that Mike is following. Knowing a couple of police officers quite well, for her to be involved in some situations and to sit in on interviews actually comes across as fake.
I did enjoy the mystery however, even if I was disappointed that one 'mystery' was not resolved in this book. It does allow for future visits from this character and I do see some interesting times ahead for Mac and for Cam, and maybe a trip to Las Vegas? I enjoyed the twists and turns in the book even though I figured out who did it quite early on; it was still interesting to see how the author would get to the solution and how many scrapes the characters would get into before that happened. I personally like the paranormal aspect to this novel and really enjoyed the ghosts and their reactions to the events.
Verdict
Who Invited the Ghost to Dinner was an enjoyable cozy mystery and was quite fun to read for the most part. I liked most of the characters and thought they were quite quirky in their own right; Mac was an especial favourite of mine and I would love to see him in future novels. I could do without Cam's annoying behaviour when she isn't given information on murder cases that Mike is following, and some of her other behaviour was a bit juvenile, but overall I do like her and think there is a lot of room for development. Teresa Watson is also the author of the Lizzie Crenshaw mysteries, of which I am a fan. Knowing how enjoyable those books were, I am sure these ones will continue to grow and develop as well, and I am looking forward to the next book in this series when it is released.
That does sound like fun!
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