Book Log #23: Ghost Ship, by P.J. Alderman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I read Ghost Ship, Book 2 of P.J. Alderman’s Port Chatham series, right on the heels of Book 1. And was delighted that I did, because while both are standalone stories, the continuation of the relationship between lead characters Jordan and Jase flows beautifully right out of Book 1. It is, hands down, my favorite thing about the second book.

But that said, everything else about Ghost Ship is also a fun followup to Haunting Jordan. Jordan is once again called upon by Port Chatham’s deceased residents to investigate one of their own murders, setting up another dual plotline that bounces back and forth between the past and the current timelines. This time the ghostly victim is Michael, the former rival for the affections of Jordan’s ghostly roommate Hattie–and Michael’s much more aggressive about having been killed. The modern murder is of Michael’s own descendant. Naturally, Jordan has to solve both at once!

We get some fun development of what all Jordan’s capable of seeing in this book, as well as some further explanation of what the ghosts of Port Chatham are themselves able to do. There’s advancement of Jordan’s friendship with Darcy, the (refreshingly) female sheriff of the town, as well as the aforementioned romantic advancement. On the strength of the image in my reader’s eye given me by the very last page alone, I almost liked this one even more than the first, and am greatly looking forward to what Alderman will be writing next. Five stars.

Mirrored from annathepiper.org.

Book Log #24: A Spider on the Stairs, by Cassandra Chan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If you would like to get into the Bethancourt-Gibbons mysteries by Cassandra Chan–an activity I’d highly recommend–then Book 4, A Spider on the Stairs, is probably not the place to do it. On the one hand, Chan does a good job of making each story self-contained, and it’s not a huge detriment if you come in at this point of the series. But on the other hand, events in the earlier books do influence the ones in this one, and I certainly found my ability to enjoy this story enhanced by knowing what had come before.

In this particular installment of the series, “what had come before” is Jack Gibbons’ getting shot in Book 3. A Spider on the Stairs is the first we see of him after he’s returned to active duty, trying to nail down whether a particular recent murder is the work of a serial killer at large. Meanwhile, Bethancourt has to deal with a trial of his own: his family over the Christmas holidays. Fortunately for these lucky boys, a new case quickly distracts them both: whether a bookshop employee found strangled on Christmas morning is the work of that same killer.

Overall I liked this one quite a bit. The bookshop murder is (for reasons that ought to be obvious) strongly Relevant to My Interests, but just as fun is getting to see Bethancourt having to deal with his family. On a somewhat more serious note, it’s also good strong character development to see both Bethancourt and Gibbons needing to regain their footing now that the latter is back on active duty. As with previous books in the series, there are several nicely portrayed side characters to populate the list of suspects–and of course, this being a mystery novel, the employees of the bookshop have far more drama in their backstories than meets the immediate eye. So yeah, good fun. Four stars.

Mirrored from annathepiper.org.