Tuesday, September 14, 2021

Review: The Ghost and The Haunted Portrait by: Cleo Coyle


Title: The Ghost and The Haunted Portrait
Author: Cleo Coyle
Publisher: Berkley 
Series: Haunted Bookshop Mystery #7
Format: Paperback ( 336 p.) Personal Purchase

Description:

Bookshop owner Penelope Thornton-McClure and her gumshoe ghost team up to solve the stunning mystery at the heart of a madwoman's self-portrait in this all new installment from New York Times bestselling author Cleo Coyle.

While gathering a collection of vintage book cover paintings for a special event in her quaint Rhode Island bookshop, Penelope discovers a spooky portrait of a beautiful woman, one who supposedly went mad, according to town gossip. Seymour, the local mailman, falls in love with the haunting image and buys the picture, refusing to part with it, even as fatal accidents befall those around it. Is the canvas cursed? Or is something more sinister at work?

For answers, Pen turns to an otherworldly source: Jack Shepard, PI. Back in the 1940s, Jack cracked a case of a killer cover artist, and (to Pen's relief) his spirit is willing to help her solve this mystery, even if he and his license did expire decades ago.

My Thoughts: 

This book follows Penelope Thornton-McClure and her friends who are traveling to someone selling alot of classic noir stuff.  Before you know it though the seller winds up dead, the pressure is on in Pen's case to figure out who killed the seller and why?  Seymour also finds himself in ownership of a classic painting of a past McClure.  Who killed and why?

This book has so much going on between traveling back and time with Jack to figure out more about the painting and why it's so mysterious.  Then there is the murder going on around town and whose to blame with it.  

It's a good read and keeps the reader well informed of the ins and outs of the mystery while adding history with Jack to the mix such a fantastic story!

0 shout outs: