Ghost Wanted by Carolyn Hart

Where are my cozy lovers? I have a fabulous book to tell you about today. Ghost Wanted by Carolyn Hart is the fifth part in the Bailey Ruth Ghost Novel series and is really something unique and special.

From the back of the book:

Ghostly gumshoe Bailey Ruth Raeburn of Heaven’s Department of Good Intentions is checking out a troubling disturbance in Adelaide, Oklahoma. But what seems at first like simple vandalism won’t be an open-and-shut case…

Bailey Ruth’s supervisor, Wiggins, is worried about a dear old friend. The ghost of elegant Lorraine Marlow haunts Adelaide’s college library. Known as the Lady of the Roses, she plays matchmaker, using the fragrant flowers to pair up students. But someone’s making mischief after hours, leaving roses strewn about the library, destroying a gargoyle, and stealing a valuable book. Concerned with Lorraine’s reputation among the living, Wiggins dispatches the irrepressible redhead Bailey Ruth to investigate.

Soon after her arrival, trouble begins to stack up. A campus security guard is shot by an intruder, and Bailey Ruth uncovers a catalog of evidence blaming a student for the crimes. As a ghost, she may not be all there, but even Bailey Ruth can decipher that something isn’t adding up. So with police preparing to make an arrest, the spirited detective must race against the clock to find the real culprit, because when justice is overdue, it takes more than death to stop Bailey Ruth Raeburn…

My thoughts:

First, I want to mention that I was so tickled when I realized the sleuth was the ghost!! I have read, and loved, a lot of cozies where the a ghost helps, or is friendly with the main character but it was a first for me to read one where they are actually a ghost!

While being a ghost does inherently have it's advantages for solving mysteries, it isn't written as a simple open and shut. I really thought the writing was clever and sharp. The characters are well crafted and easy to like. Of course, I liked the setting; books, libraries, colleges are all places I have fabulous memories of and a haunted library, well, that is just perfect.

I was able to solve this one, which is always fun. I have read Carolyn Hart before and, as always, it was such a joy to read her work. You don't need to read the other parts to follow along but you should because, seriously, a ghost for a protagonist is just too much fun.

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Disclosure: I may receive products in exchange for an honest review. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I personally believe will be good for my readers.