[Amazon] “*A ‘between the books’ holiday story you don’t want to miss!”
Book Blurb:
Southern girl Verity Long needs a Christmas miracle…
Verity is ready to deck the halls, jingle some bells, and maybe, just maybe have a merry Christmas with her boyfriend’s stuffy family. Truly, if she doesn’t extend the proverbial olive branch to the overbearing Wydells, she’s afraid she’ll hit them over the head with it.
But when her boyfriend’s mother pulls a shocking stunt, Verity finds herself with a big decision to make. And if that’s not enough, there’s an unexpected guest at her door. It’s the ghost of the woman who helped rescue Verity’s pet skunk three years ago that very night. And now she’s there to change Verity’s life as well.
Definitely wasn’t prepared for this one, borrowed heavily from one of our favorite Christmas classics. I was into the ghost of Christmas present before it hit my forehead with an ah ha moment. Oh, DUH! I get it!
Verity Long discovered she set off a force by accident that has introduced her to the shadow world through Frankie, now her resident ghost. She is getting pretty good with this ghost stuff, but can’t predict their visits or needs. This last one helped rescue an animal that Verity is still caring for and requests help with another animal in serious danger. She reluctantly agrees as she’s already had a day of it.
Getting ready for a Christmas party at her boyfriend’s house, Verity receives a rather shocking gift. The Wydell’s have been a long-established family in the area and she’s sweet on the middle child Ellis now but feels it’s time to draw a line with his mother. Hopefully, it’s not the equivalent of burning the bridge to her sweety, but that’s the rub, huh?
Perhaps having it out with Virginia Wydell was not the best way to handle the situation on Christmas Eve and she opts out of the party. She’ll go instead to rescue the endangered animal. It’s there she gets another shocker that’ll force her to rethink her handling of the former situation.
I really enjoyed the way in which the situation was handled, making for a sweet resolution. This is a shorty, meant to augment between full novels and is simple and easy enough to read as a standalone. Fast, fun delightful read for the season with the theme of friendship, family, reconciliation, and that touch of romance. Frankie, as a former ghost, is a great support character, and Virginia, the bitter, nasty, crotchety antagonist is appropriately hateful.
I was given this digital download by the publisher through NetGalley and appreciated the opportunity to read and review. Recommended to any who enjoys a modern take on a beloved classic.
Dickens meets the Ghost Whisperer in this Christmas frolic! Verity is a young lady saddled with the ability to communicate with the dead while having a potential future mother-in-law from hell. She is also an animal lover at heart and puts up with a spirit named Frankie who uses her for his own ends.
Add in a potential future husband who is totally controlled by a very vengeful mother and you have the basis of a story. Verity being able to communicate with the spirit world is called upon by many of the “disturbed or incomplete spirits” who want favors from her for their relatives.
A surprise gift from her potential mother-in-law adds fuel to the situation. I found the young lady both strong of spirit and short on will power. The combination makes for an entertaining short read that I could recommend to anyone who wants to retreat from reality. 
The book is easy to read and entertaining. I would suggest it for young ladies or brides to be. 4.5/5 stars CE Williams
Book Details:
Genre: Cozy Mystery, Paranormal, Ghost Stories
Publisher: Moose Island Books
- ISBN-10:1939661617
- ISBN-13:978-1939661616
- ASIN: B07XPGBZ1L
Print Length: 152 pages
Publication Date: November 29, 2019
Source: Publisher and NetGalley
Title Link: The Ghost of Christmas Past
The Author: New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Angie Fox writes sweet, fun, action-packed mysteries. Her characters are clever and fearless, but in real life, Angie is afraid of basements, bees, and going upstairs when it is dark behind her. Let’s face it. Angie wouldn’t last five minutes in one of her books.
Angie is best known for her SOUTHERN SPIRITS™ mysteries, and for her ACCIDENTAL DEMON SLAYER books. Visit her at http://www.angiefox.com.
©2019 V Williams 
This is one of those sweet cozy mystery series that grow on you. The characters, the locale, and the well-plotted mystery.
How could it happen in such a tranquil environment? The victim is found with a paper in his hand with two names! Mom and Auntie, how could that be? This well-plotted narrative leads you into the high desert of Southern Arizona north of Sun City West. The bookkeeper of a local investigation agency slips from gossip to intrigue and is a complicated plot that will lead you to a surprising finish. This page-turner left me guessing at every turn. I suspected some of the culprits at the end, but certainly was surprised how diabolical the ending was! A finely developed fun read. C E Williams
Belinda Blake is an exotic pet-sitter. And a gamer. Not your average gamer either–a video game reviewer working on a Twitch stream. (Yes, I googled it–it’s a live streaming platform for gamers worldwide.) Although off page, she’s had extensive experience caring for unusual pets (Book 1 involved a snake), her father is a vet and she got the best kind of first hand knowledge. That said–this is her first gig with wolves.
Heather Day Gilbert, an ECPA Christy award finalist and Grace award winner, writes contemporary mysteries and Viking historicals. Her novels feature small towns, family relationships, and women who aren’t afraid to protect those they love. Like Belinda Blake, Heather plays video games, although so far she hasn’t done any exotic pet-sitting or hunted any murderers.
Far from a domestic goddess, Sarah Blair would rather catch bad guys than slave over a hot stove. But when a dangerous murder boils over in Wheaton, Alabama, catching the killer means leaving her comfort zone . . .
Judge Debra H. Goldstein is the author of Two Bites Too Many, as well as One Taste Too Many, the first of Kensington’s new Sarah Blair cozy mystery series. She also wrote Should Have Played Poker and IPPY Award-winning Maze in Blue. Her short stories, including Anthony and Agatha nominated “The Night They Burned Ms. Dixie’s Place,” have appeared in numerous periodicals and anthologies including Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Black Cat Mystery Magazine, and Mystery Weekly. Debra serves on the national boards of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America and is president of the Southeast Chapter of MWA and past president of SinC’s Guppy Chapter.
The Narrator: Grover Gardner’s narration career spans twenty-five years and over 550 audiobook titles. AudioFile Magazine has called him one of the “Best Voices of the Century” and features him in their annual “Golden Voices” update. Publishers Weekly named him Audiobook Narrator of the Year for 2005. His recordings have garnered 18 “Golden Earphones” awards from AudioFile and an Audie Award from the Audio Publishers’ Association.
The fifth installment in the Kelly Jackson mystery series brings back Kelly Jackson, new manager and new to the area in Redwood Cove at her bed and breakfast. (Isn’t that a gorgeous Victorian on the cover?) Returning secondary characters include the Silver Sentinels, who have become instrumental in providing support for Kelly in her sleuthing missions in the remote northern California area. She and Helen, her main staff member providing meals and snacks, are preparing for the Russian Heritage Festival. Ivan and Rudy, two of her Silver Sentinels, are part of the local Russian community. They have been trying to get Kelly down to the marina to see their fishing vessel but when she arrives before they do, she notices something inside the galley that appears to be a bloodied jewel-encrusted dagger.
Janet Finsilver is the USA TODAY bestselling author of the Kelly Jackson mystery series. She worked in education for many years as a teacher, a program administrator, and a workshop presenter. Janet majored in English and earned a Master’s Degree in Education. She loves animals and has two dogs–Kylie and Ellie. Janet has ridden western style since she was a child and was a member of the National Ski Patrol. One of the highlights of her life was touching whales in the San Ignacio Lagoon. 
Italian by birth, Jersey by upbringing, J. D. Griffo is an award-winning playwright and author who has written ten novels, over twenty plays, and a handful of screenplays that have yet to see the light of day.
Struggling with technology is one of the running jokes foisted on seniors and it would appear, based on some truth. Change is not easy for us! Just beginning to get fairly capable with the “classic” format on WordPress, accidentally bumbled into the new and (ahem!!) improved “block” style format. It looks like a blank page and for the life of me could not figure out where my usual toolbar options were now located. Trying to beat a deadline for a blog tour, I was stuck, messing with blocks and no clue how to proceed.
I added to my 
A garage sale mystery! That is definitely something new for me in the cozy genre, and is there any better premise for a bunch of bibliophiles than a storyline about books? Rare books, exceedingly rare books. One of which is by famous author Hemingway no less. This book spelled fun from the beginning! I really enjoyed the author’s writing style–just enough snark to keep it kicky but respectable.
Agatha Award-nominated author, Sherry Harris, started bargain hunting in second grade at her best friend’s yard sale. She honed her bartering skills as she moved around the country while her husband served in the Air Force. Sherry uses her love of garage sales, her life as a military spouse, and her time living in Massachusetts as inspiration for the Sarah Winston Garage Sale series.
Ah, I love actually getting in on Book 1 of a new series and one that promises a hint of paranormal with the cozy, girly stuff, even better. Kelly Quinn has been drummed out of her high-fashion, up and coming position in New York in humiliating circumstances about the time her grandmother passes away and leaves her the decades old and established resale/consignment shop in Lucky Cove.
Debra Sennefelder and is an avid reader who reads across a range of genres, but mystery fiction is her obsession. Her interest in people and relationships is channeled into her novels against a backdrop of crime and mystery. When she’s not reading, she enjoys cooking and baking and as a former food blogger, she is constantly taking photographs of her food. Yeah, she’s that person.
Yes! A cozy with a NYC literary agent as the protagonist, groomed as a solid book lover promoter by her beloved father! Her father, a literary agent and her mentor with a large contingent of strong clients, has passed away without Allie Cobb being able to return to Rushing Creek, Indiana prior to his passing. She is overwhelmed with emotion, fighting guilt at not being home in time, and nauseated at the thought of facing her siblings and mother who was in attendance those last painful months.
J.C. Kenney grew up in a household filled with books by legends Agatha Christie and Lilian Jackson Braun, among many others, so it was no surprise when he found himself writing mystery stories. When he’s not writing, you can find him following IndyCar racing or listening to music. He lives in Indianapolis with his wife, two sons, and a cat who is the inspiration for Ursula in the 
Cute cozy with a curious concept! Yay, another cozy with an atypical plot! Betsy Livingston, the local paper’s “Happy Hinter” of rural, small-town Pecan Bayou, Texas is preparing for Christmas with her blended family. (Another plus, unusual family setting, low-key on the romance angle and sexual tension.) Part of her extended family also includes a neurologically handicapped family member, everyone is preparing for Christmas, contending with an off-key, ear-splitting soloist in the choir, and confronting a Christmas Creeper.
The Author: 
Portland, Oregon is a beautiful city and certainly well known for its profuse blooms, wild vegetation, and trees, and cities coupled with big events like the Rose Festival definitely draw a crowd. Here is a marvelous opportunity to get inside a float creation and enjoy descriptions of flowers, flower pairing, their deeper meanings, and the proper fluids to prolong a cutting’s life.
Kate Dyer-Seeley aka Ellie Alexander writes multiple mystery series, all with a Pacific Northwest touch. She lives in the PNW with her husband and son, where you can find her hitting the trail, at an artisan coffee shop, or at her favorite pub. Better yet—at all three.
It’s Christmas time in beautiful Sylvan Creek, Pennsylvania and pet sitter Daphne Templeton is gearing up by providing lots and lots of treats for the community yearly event Bark the Halls Ball. She will be taking her basset hound Socrates and accompanied by BFF Moxie and possible romantic interest Detective Jonathan Black. It is a very pet-friendly town and she is a proud owner of storefront Lucky Paws Pet Sitting Service and Flour Power. She also has a surly black Persian named Tinkleston, whom she calls Tink.
Bethany Blake lives in a small, quaint town in Pennsylvania with her husband and three daughters. When she’s not writing or riding horses, she’s wrangling a menagerie of furry family members that includes a nervous pit bull, a fearsome feline, a blind goldfish, and an attack cardinal named Robert. Like Daphne Templeton, the heroine of her Lucky Paws Mysteries, Bethany holds a Ph.D. and operates a pet sitting business called Barkley’s Premium Pet Care.
What a delightfully different premise for a cozy mystery! A house flipper–and a female at that–and I can testify to having been involved in that activity and confronted just exactly the scenario described in walking through the house shortly after closing the auction. It has “good bones” and they will be only be doing cosmetic work. This is the home of the former fiancé of her Aunt Lynda, who disappeared before she and Cal married, never to be heard from again. Devastated, he never married.
Judi Lynn received a Master’s Degree from Indiana University as an elementary school teacher after attending the IPFW campus. She taught 1st, 2nd, and 4th grades for six years before having her two daughters. She loves gardening, cooking and trying new recipes.
