Bobbi Holmes

When Danielle Boatman inherits Marlow House, she dreams of turning it into a seaside bed and breakfast. Since she's never visited the property, Danielle's not sure what awaits her in Oregon. She certainly doesn't expect to find one of the house's previous owners still in residence. After all, the man has been dead for almost ninety years-shouldn't he have moved on by now? Charming Walt Marlow convinces Danielle the only way he can move on is if she solves the mystery of his death. Danielle soon discovers her real problems may come from the living-those who have their sights on Marlow House's other secrets.

The Ghost of Marlow House

Colleen

2.5 Stars
 
*An easy to read paranormal cozy mystery novella that needed a bit more substance*


The Ghost of Marlow House popped up on my library app while I was looking for some Halloween reads. It seemed like a good bet. I like these types of Mysteries as light palette cleansers in between other reads. This one did end up fulfilling that criteria although it was admittedly on the underwhelming side.

Paranormal cozy mystery novella about a woman who inherits a house and plans to turn it into a Bed & Breakfast only to find out that the resident ghost plans to make things difficult unless she solves his murder.

It was a pretty typical mystery. The Ghost of Marlow House was engaging enough but nothing unexpected. There were certainly some overly convenient moments where everyone Danielle needed was always easily found and so willing to cooperate with her not so subtle investigation.

It did get frustrating how naive Danielle and her friend Lily were. They were way too trusting and forgiving. Neither of them had any bullshit meter. Mine would have been going off like a Geiger counter at Chernobyl if I'd been around such bald-faced liars.

Danielle’s powers to see and communicate with ghosts were never really explained, and her reactions to interacting with spirits seemed inconsistent. And speaking of the paranormal aspects, I know cozy mysteries are light, but I expected this to be at least a little spooky. There was zero spooky atmosphere and the only creepiness was what a sexist pervert the ghost, Walt was. He spent the whole book telling Danielle all the ways she was being unfeminine but also secretly watching her undress and sleep and stuff. EWWW. And Danielle’s reaction was always just to laugh it off as him being a harmless product of his time. 

Actually, writing all this out, I think I’m going to have to round my rating down rather than up. Sure, it was enough to divert my attention, but it seems like the only things that stuck with me were what annoyed me about this book.

I’m still debating whether or not to check out the next book in the series. At first, I was thinking that this series would still be fine as quick, in-between reads and that it was worth seeing if the series improved as it went on. But when I went to add the next book to my TBR list, I noticed that there are already TWENTY-SEVEN books in this series! They seem to have been published at a rate of three to four per year. Granted, they are novellas, but it really doesn’t bode well for my hopes of the series getting more meat on its bones when it seems like installments are being pumped out with the goal of quantity of quality. So I’m much more wary of continuing now… Maybe I’ll give it one more try. Maybe.

But if it turns out the ghost is the love interest (as was hinted at) then I’m definitely abandoning this series.


RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 4 Stars
Writing Style: 3 Stars
Characters and Character Development: 2 Stars
Plot Structure and Development: 3 Stars
Level of Captivation: 3 Stars
Originality: 2 Stars

The Ghost of Marlow House

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