Ghost Times Two: A Bailey Ruth Ghost Novel
Bailey Ruth, Book #7
By Carolyn Hart
ISBN: 9780425283738
Author Website: carolynhart.com
Brought to you by OBS reviewer Jeani
Synopsis:
Carolyn Hart—New York Times bestselling author of Ghost to the Rescue—returns with a new Bailey Ruth Ghost Novel in which one woman shatters the glass ceiling…with a little help from beyond.
Bailey Ruth Raeburn’s latest mission is to guide the happy-go-lucky spirit of a deceased young man named Jimmy to the next life. But Jimmy is determined to watch over his still-living girlfriend Megan, whom he wants to be happy even without him—which is easier said than done.
As if being haunted by her late boyfriend wasn’t enough, Megan is dealing with an arrogant, manipulative senior partner who threatens to fire Megan’s vulnerable secretary if Megan accepts a partnership at another law firm. She’s in an impossible bind.
Since Jimmy refuses to move on while Megan is being blackmailed, Bailey Ruth agrees to help him. But after the partner turns up dead and Megan is found at the crime scene, Bailey Ruth and Jimmy have to find a way to uncover a killer before the love of Jimmy’s life is ordered to spend a lifetime behind bars…(Goodreads)
Review:
Ghost Times Two is the first Bailey Ruth Ghost Mystery I have read and fourth so far in the series. Carolyn Hart’s writing skill is demonstrated not only in the fine plot execution but also in her descriptions, dialog, and even the conflicts between characters. In some ways it reminds me of Debbie Macomber’s Christmas novels, except for the little fact of a murder or two.
Bailey Ruth is sent to earth to strongly encourage Jimmy on his way skyward. He didn’t want to leave, though, as he loved his girlfriend and didn’t want to leave her. A journalist and excellent at research, he died too young and wasn’t ready to relinquish his hopes for himself and Megan on earth. He even visited her frequently (although she couldn’t see him); he would leave her favorite candy at work or at her apartment but she was freaked rather than happy.
Megan is a young, up-and-coming attorney at a local, respected law firm whose job (and those of several in the office) is made less tolerable because of the middle-aged, arrogant senior partner who treats her as if she were his personal step-and-fetchit. She was offered a partnership at a new firm being set up by her friend Blaine, and all was going well until she gave notice and the senior partner threatened to terminate her admin if she left. Her admin assistant has worked there for years, and now is in a position to desperately need health benefits that would cover special treatments to save her daughter’s life. Megan knows it will be a long time until she and Blaine would be able to hire anyone. Megan chose to remain there and tell Blaine she couldn’t be his partner rather than cost her loyal admin assistant everything.
That night, the senior attorney was murdered. His killer texted Megan from his phone to go to his home to review their discussion from earlier that day. The killer also called 911 before leaving, so the police roll up moments after her. Now she is the main suspect, and things only escalate from there. Jimmy refuses to leave Megan while she is in hot water, so Bailey Ruth enlists Jimmy’s help to find the bad guy…among a sparkling array of potential bad guys! Speaking of sparkling, there’s also the matter of the missing $100,000 engagement ring that everyone in the law office saw that day, the one the senior attorney was going to give to a very wealthy widow lady/ girlfriend.
The characters were delightful! I really enjoyed Bailey Ruth and Jimmy; both are very intelligent, fun loving and loyal. Megan is very intelligent and loyal, also, to stay on with a bad boss just to help her admin assistant have insurance to save her daughter. I especially enjoyed the police chief Sam Cobb – it takes one special kind of guy to be used to seeing the chalk writing by an unseen hand on the board without heading to the bar…to follow Bailey Ruth’s line of thinking as she works overtime to get information…to even share those precious M & M’s! I felt as if I knew Bailey Ruth and Jimmy by the time the novel closed, as well as Sam Cobb, at least as well as necessary to fully appreciate the story.
The story itself was suspenseful, frustrating at times, LOL funny at other times. Even though I have missed the earlier mysteries in the series, this has been written well enough to be a stand-alone. Each character has their place, and the story flows perfectly – drew me in from the beginning and kept my attention through the end. While I confess to watching the drama so closely that I didn’t think as much about the real whodunit(s), I was stumped until – well, just until, then I still wasn’t sure. OK, I was surprised at the full reasons behind all that happened. The highly intriguing novel raced to a very satisfactory ending, and I highly recommend it to fans of the author, the series, and well-written cozy mysteries.
