Bea Reviews A Ghostly Murder by Tonya Kappes

Publisher: Witness
Series: Ghostly Southern Mystery #4
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: September 29, 2015
Challenges: Cruisin' Through the Cozies |
NetGalley and Edelweiss Reading Challenge
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Blurb from goodreads:

Emma Lee Raines knows there's only one cure for a bad case of murder!

I told you I was sick, reads the heastone abouve Mamie Sue Preston's grave. She was the richest woman in Sleepy Hollow, Kentucky, and also the biggest hypochondriac. Ironic, considering someone killed her-proprietor of the Eternal Slumber Funeral Home, know all this? Because Mamie Sue's ghost told her, that's how! And she's offering big bucks to find the perp.

The catch is, Mamie Sue was buried by the Raines family's archrival, Burns Funeral Home. Would the Burneses stoop to framing Emma Lee's granny? With an enterprising maid, a penny-pinching pastor, and a slimy Lexington lawyer all making a killing off Mamie Sue's estate, Emma Lee needs a teammate-like her dreamboat boyfriend, Sheriff Jack Henry Ross. Because ith millions at stake, snooping around is definitely bad for Emma Lee's health.

Bea's Thoughts:

This book starts right where the previous book, "A Ghostly Demise" ends off. "A Ghostly Murder" has a little less humor and a little more depth to it. There's still humor, but Kappes also touches on more serious matters. People still think Emma Lee is crazy and I couldn't help but think she really needs to step up her game and get better at hiding the fact that she talks to ghosts. Why doesn't she buy a Bluetooth device and stick the bud in her ear? Anyway, there are changes happening at the Eternal Slumber Funeral Home and it was nice to see Emma Lee rise to the challenge. In addition, Emma Lee has two ghosts to help to the other side, and there are pranks and minor thefts happening around town for which Granny Zula Fae is being blamed. With all of this going on, Emma Lee is busy. Her sleuthing skills are improving, if not her ability to hide the fact that she's talking to ghosts, and she and her boyfriend have a serious talk about their future.

As I was reading the story I kept wondering, how can there be so many killers in one small town? How is Kappes going to keep this at all believable? The only ghosts that Emma Lee sees are those of people who were murdered; four books in, occurring in less than a year, and about a dozen people have been murdered. I grew up in a small town and I can count on one hand with fingers left over how many murders we had. This is definitely going to be an issue the longer the series goes. There was also a continuity glitch. This book starts approximately a week after events of the last book but we're meant to believe that in that time, a family from the previous book has already received money from a loved one's death (estates are never processed that soon; it takes months) and a building that blew up was repaired and renovated and a newspaper moved in. That stretched credibility beyond the breaking point.

Despite those concerns, I enjoyed the story quite a bit. Mamie Lee, one of the ghosts, is a hoot and I did not see the twists in her story line coming. One of the story twists I saw coming but the others took me by surprise, and I was wrong about who the killer was. Although this was only my second book in the series, I can already see growth in Emma Lee. Granny Zula Fae is still annoying and grates on my nerves; I can handle her in small doses but Lordy, she's exhausting. Kappes has a knack for plotting, and the pace is brisk. Her style is breezy and casual and was like eating chips on a summer day. I will definitely continue with the series.