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Arts & Entertainment

Boo! Dakota County Libraries Scare Up Some Halloween Reading

Pick up a spooky tale from the library.

A bevy of mild-mannered ghosts for your Halloween reading pleasure, courtesy of staff member Chris Larson:

"Ghost a la Mode" by Sue Ann Jaffarian 

What would you do if the ghost of your great-great-great grandmother came to you, demanding that you find out who killed her more than a hundred years ago? Ish Reynolds, known as Granny Apples because of her award-winning pies, was lynched after being accused of her husband’s murder. The newly divorced Emma Whitecastle, a modern-day descendant of Granny’s, agrees to investigate as she comes to terms with her newfound ability to see ghosts.

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Emma visits what was once the Reynolds farm in Julian, CA, where she clashes with Phil Bowers, the current owner of the land. He suspects she is in league with Ian Reynolds, a developer who claims to be another descendant of Granny’s and who has been trying to reclaim the property.

With the help of Granny and her friends Tracy and Milo, Emma successfully untangles the story of what happened to Granny and her husband in the past while facing danger in the present. Improbabilities in the plot are easily forgiven because the book is so fresh and interesting.

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"Ghost at Work" by Carolyn Hart  

Bailey Ruth Raeburn is enjoying a heavenly afterlife with her husband Bobby Mac after they drowned together in a boating accident. Several years after her death, she decides to offer her services at the Department of Good Intentions and is sent to help the pastor’s wife in her old hometown of Adelaide, OK, despite the misgivings of her new supervisor, Wiggins. 

When Bailey Ruth arrives, Kathleen Abbott has just found a dead body on her back porch, the body of a man who had taken photos of her in an apparently compromising situation. And the Thursday night Bible study group is due any minute! 

Forced to act quickly, the impulsive Bailey Ruth violates several of the Precepts for Earthly Visitation by appearing to Kathleen and helping her hide the body before the police arrive. Can Bailey Ruth solve the mystery before the Rescue Express comes to whisk her back to heaven? Veteran mystery writer Carolyn Hart draws the reader along in this unusual and enjoyable series debut. 

"Don of the Dead" by Casey Daniels

Pepper Martin’s comfortable life is upended when her plastic surgeon father is jailed for Medicare fraud, her fiancé jilts her, her mother moves to Florida to escape the disgrace, and she is stuck taking a job as a cemetery tour guide in Cleveland. Pepper, a tall, stylish redhead with lots of attitude, is none too happy when the ghost of mobster Gus Scarpetti starts appearing to her after she hits her head on his mausoleum. 

Gus is not resting in peace, and he won’t leave Pepper alone until she agrees to help him find out who ordered the hit that left him dead in the street in front of his favorite restaurant. Even after 30 years, Pepper’s inquiries stir up danger from those still protecting old secrets. Along the way she meets a handsome doctor who wants to study her brain and a handsome police detective who wants to study her body. 

This combination of mystery, ghost story and chick lit is a real page turner.

"Night of the Living Deed" by E.J. Copperman 

Strange things keep happening as Alison Kerby works to renovate an old Victorian house on the Jersey Shore. Tools are mysteriously thrown around the kitchen.  A gaping hole appears in a plaster wall. A bucket full of joint compound falls on Alison’s head, after which she begins seeing ghosts.

It turns out the house is haunted by the ghosts of Maxie Malone, the resentful previous owner, and Paul Harrison, the private detective who was working for her when both were murdered there. Trapped in the house, Maxie and Paul believe that they will only be able to move on if Alison can find out who killed them and why.

The task becomes more urgent when Alison begins receiving the same kind of threats that Maxie got before she was killed. Could it have something to do with a rumor that George Washington once signed a deed to purchase the property? Climaxing in a cemetery on Halloween, this humorous mystery is just the thing to read on a dark and stormy night.

"The Ghost and Mrs. McClure" by Alice Kimberly 

After her husband’s suicide, Penelope Thornton-McClure returns to her hometown in Rhode Island with her young son, planning to help her Aunt Sadie run a bookstore. After sinking her husband’s life insurance money into renovating the place, Penelope hosts a book signing with famous mystery author Timothy Brennan, who then drops dead from poison in the middle of his talk. Little does Penelope know that he isn’t the first man to die in the building. 

Jack Shepard, a hard-boiled New York P.I. in the Sam Spade/Philip Marlowe mold, died there in 1949 while investigating a case and his ghost has been stuck there ever since. He discovers he can make himself known to Penelope as a voice in her head, much to her initial dismay. The police suspect Penelope in Brennan’s murder, so she and Jack team up to clear her name.  

A very satisfying read, even if the idea of a ghost being able to read your mind is kind of creepy.

Children's Book: "Ghost Soldier" by Elaine Marie Alphin

Desperate to protect his family from General Sherman’s March to the Sea, 15-year-old Rich Chamblee joins the Confederate army during the Civil War, but dies just a few months later at the battle of Fort Stedman. When his restless spirit returns to his home, he finds it in ruins and his family gone.

More than a hundred years later, thirteen-year-old Alexander Raskin visits the battlefield and has a vision of ghostly soldiers reliving the battle. One of them is Rich, who, delighted to realize that Alexander can see him, enlists the reluctant Alexander’s help. He needs to know that his family survived the war in order to feel that his sacrifice was worthwhile.

But Alexander has his own problems—his mother left him and his father, and now his father is planning to marry another woman with two children. Alexander must adjust to his new family situation as he strives to help his otherworldly friend. For upper elementary age readers.

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