Be Our Ghost (Merry Ghost Inn #3) by Kate Kingsbury @doreenhil @crookedlanebks #bookreview #mystery

Title: Be Our Ghost

Author: Kate Kingsbury

Publisher: Crooked Lane Books

Publication Date: October 9, 2018

Page Count: 278

My rating: 4 stars

About the book:

A delightful read for fans of Donna Andrews and Juliet Blackwell, national bestselling author Kate Kingsbury returns with a third installment of her Merry Ghost Inn mysteries.

If bed-and-breakfast owners Melanie and Liza, along with their laughing ghost tenant, can’t find a real estate developer’s killer, their own estate will end up with their next of kin.

The Merry Ghost Inn is well and truly open for business. Melanie West, her grandmother, Liza, and their beloved sheepdog/wolfhound mix, Max, are rapidly getting the hang of running their charming bed-and-breakfast inn on the rocky Oregon coast. Not that business goes without a hitch―when your hostelry boasts its own laughing resident ghost, you’d better be expect the out-of-the-ordinary. But Melanie and Liza take it all in stride…until a hotshot real estate developer arrives in Sully’s Landing, touting his plans to build a tacky amusement arcade smack dab in the middle of the tasteful cliff-side town.

No one in Sully’s Landing can stand the gaudy developer, but it’s still a shock when he ends up murdered. It’s even more shocking when Liza’s friend, Doug, emerges as the chief suspect. Melanie and Liza put on their sleuthing caps yet again and set out to clear Doug’s name. They nearly check into accommodations six feet under when, en route to the crime scene, their brakes give out and they narrowly miss plunging over the cliffs to the beach below. Meanwhile, the merry ghost who haunts the inn tries to help by dropping clues for Melanie to find, but her mind is otherwise preoccupied when the killer kidnaps Liza and holds her prisoner.

Now, it’s up to Melanie to piece together the ghost’s clues, save her mother, exonerate her friend, keep her guests happy, and make sure Max gets his walkies in Kate Kingsbury’s third mirthful Merry Ghost Inn mystery, Be Our Ghost.

Be Our Ghost by Kate Kingsbury is the third book of the cozy Merry Ghost Inn mystery series. Each book in the series contains it’s own mystery within so they can be read as a standalone if choosing to do so. However, there is some character building that goes on from book to book so reading in order would give the full story.

The Merry Ghost Inn centers around Melanie and Liza who have purchased the B&B that had it’s own little twist of being possibly haunted. Melanie and her grandmother, Liza,  have nicknamed their ghost Orville who has helped the pair along as they have already solved two murders since buying the B&B.

The ladies have been enjoying running their busy B&B in the small town of Sully’s Landing but become worried when a real estate developer shows up in town with plans to open an amusement arcade right in the middle of town they aren’t the only ones worried. What they never expected though was for the developer to be murdered and a good friend of theirs become the number one suspect leading them to interfere in yet another investigation in the small town.

Another great installment of this wonderful series full of fun and mystery. You just can’t top the quirkiness of having a laughing ghost that plays a small part in each read and just may help along the investigation. Of course Melanie and Liza are great character too along with the other side characters and there’s always plenty of suspects to look at to discover the murderer. Definitely recommend checking out this fun series.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Find this book online: 

Goodreads  /   Amazon

About the author:

Kate grew up in London, England, and at a very early age began telling stories to her school friends while huddling in bomb shelters during the Blitz of WW II. She moved to the U.S. in 1963 and published her first book in 1987. Since then she’s written over sixty romance and mystery novels. She lives in Oregon with her husband, Bill. Her “upstairs/downstairs” mysteries appeal to fans of Downton Abbey. The Pennyfoot books are set in Edwardian England, while the Manor House books take place in an English village during WW II. Kate’s brand new series, The Merry Ghost Inn Mysteries, debuted in January 2017, where murders abound at the bed and breakfast inn on the Oregon coast. You can find Kate’s website at http://www.katekingsbury.net