Ghost on the Case

At the start of MWA Grand Master Hart’s breezy, feather-light eighth novel featuring ghost Bailey Ruth Raeburn (after 2016’s Ghost Times Two), Bailey Ruth is sitting on a beach in heaven, surrounded by all the domestic pets from her life on earth and contentedly reading a mystery novel, when she receives a summons from Paul Wiggins, the head of heaven’s Department of Good Intentions. Wiggins dispatches Bailey Ruth back to her hometown of Adelaide, Okla., to help Susan Gilbert, a desperate young woman who seems to be on the verge of robbing her employer, millionaire Wilbur Fitch. When Fitch is found murdered and Susan looks like she could be incriminated, Bailey Ruth shimmers in to investigate. The always snappily dressed ghost has several heavenly skills that help her in her mission, including the ability to make herself invisible. That she’s also a longtime acquaintance of Adelaide police chief Sam Cobb, whom she has helped with past cases, is in her favor. Cozy fans in search of otherworldly escape need look no further. Agent: Deborah Schneider, Gelfman Schneider Literary. (Oct.)