Be Our Ghost: A Merry Ghost Inn Mystery

Entrepreneur Jason Northwood has big plans to build an arcade in the center of Sully’s Landing, Ore., in Kingsbury’s slow-moving third mystery featuring Melanie West and her grandmother, Liza Harris, the owners of the Merry Ghost Inn (after 2017’s Doom with a View). Northwood’s meeting with the city council and the planning commission ends in arguments and threats, and he is stabbed to death later that night. All the meeting’s participants are declared to be suspects, including Doug Griffith, of whom Liza is particularly fond. The ladies have no choice but to investigate, with or without the help of Deputy Ben Carter, Melanie’s boyfriend. Meanwhile, Melanie takes time to research the whereabouts of her mother, who disappeared some 30 years ago, leaving Melanie in Liza’s care. Will the pair solve the mystery before the police? Will Melanie find her long-lost mother? Will Ben kiss Melanie? For some, the answers to these questions about these cardboard characters with their cardboard emotions won’t matter. Still, some cozy fans will be satisfied. Agent: Paige Wheeler, CMA Literary Agency. (Oct.)