A Ghostly Light

A Ghostly Light by Juliet Blackwell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Mel Turner specializes in renovating and restoring historic homes, particularly haunted ones. Her latest project is helping her friend Alicia turn an abandoned San Francisco Bay-area lighthouse into a B&B. It's going to take an enormous amount of money and logistical maneuvering, but things are right on schedule...until Alicia's abusive ex-husband appears on the island and is killed soon after. Since Alicia finds him at the top of the lighthouse with a knife in his chest and tries to help him just before he falls down the stairs and dies, she's Suspect #1. Mel knows Alicia is innocent and starts doing some investigating of her own to help the police uncover the real culprit.

Meanwhile, the ghost of a former lighthouse keeper, Ida Vigilance, is desperate to know what happened to her son over a century ago, and her grief is causing difficulty with the renovations, so Mel recruits her friends Luz and Trish to help her search for clues among historical records.

The latest installment in the Haunted Home Renovation Mystery series has it all: plot twists; characters you wish you knew in real life; funny, snappy dialogue; and a setting you can practically see and feel. Although you could read book #7 by itself, it's best read in order to fully appreciate the character development, particularly Mel & Landon's relationship and her recent-onset vertigo.

For readers' advisors: all four doorways are strong, particularly story and character. No sex or onscreen violence. Only an occasional mild swear word.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for letting me read an advance copy (ARC) in exchange for my honest review. This is probably my favorite book in the series so far. Looking forward to #8 now!

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