Ghost of a Chance by Kate Marsh is not your normal mystery. Written by one of todays more prolific paranormal writers, Katie MacAlister, her trademark humor and paranormal settings abound. Not all worlds are seen or understood, and people aren’t always what they seem. That is the basis for this paranormal mystery.
Karma Marx is an exorcist, one who is weregeld, meaning she is bound as punishment to work for the Otherworld. As she is also married to Spider, a sleazy real-estate agent, she is feeling burdened and over-whelmed. As part of a Divorce agreement to Spider, Karma will expunge his current real-estate purchase of all it’s Ghosties. But, this will be a serious problem for Karma because the houses occupants are not normal, nor are they willing to go, and their care-taker Adam is the least of her worries when the house becomes sealed and Spider turns up dead. Add in a Foster-teen who is not what she seems, her late husbands underhanded partner and his flaky wife, her well-meaning but sneaky father, and Adam who is a cop in BOTH worlds and Karma has her work cut out for her in solving this murder mystery.
Many different elements are introduced within this book that are hard to pigeon-hole into one genre; paranormal, mystery, and a bit of romance. But, it works. The characters that are introduced and their motives are weaved into layers that make this an engrossing book. The lead character, Karma, has many character traits that a reader may sense within themselves. The mystery was easy to solve but isn’t the largest portion of this book; the characters are. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and can not wait for another in what I hope turns out to be a LONG series. Seriously, one for my keeper shelf.
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February 22, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Heather (errantdreams)
Sounds like a complex and fascinating mix of elements!
February 22, 2008 at 1:23 pm
bookmom
Heather, it was actually fasinating how Katie Mac managed to create the Otherworld without too many outrageous moments. I enjoyed it.
March 7, 2008 at 10:57 am
Tina
I thought this book was very entertaining, too. It’s definitely in the style of Agatha Christie, who I believe Marsh/MacAlister references a couple of times. I agree that the mystery wasn’t that difficult, but it irritated me that she tried to obscure “who-dun-it” by blatantly lying and/or giving the investigators clues that the readers don’t have. Of course, Christie did the same thing and it irritated me with her, too. But that and the villains being so scenery-chewing, no-redeeming-qualities-whatsoever evil made this book more of a B- for me. I did really like that she brought in paranormal elements that you don’t usually see in this type of book, though. I’ve never been a big Katie MacAlister fan, but I wouldn’t mind reading another Kate Marsh so I might just give the MacAlister oeuvre another try, too.
March 7, 2008 at 1:25 pm
bookmom
Tina, there were few instances of out-right lying and the MANY clues thrown in through-out the book alerts the reader to the fact that the heroine, did indeed, kill the “villian”. I, too, enjoyed the paranormal elements in a genre that you don’t normally see them. I have read many of Katie MacAlister’s books and have found that out of all of them, I think this is my favorite by far. I can recommend her Teen “Dark Ones” books, they seem to have alot of the same type of writing as this book. And this book is on my keeper shelf for the fact that I enjoyed it, laughed and wanted to hold onto a while.
Thank you for commenting! And enjoy your reading!
May 19, 2008 at 11:42 am
Heather (errantdreams)
Well it turns out penguin sent me a review copy. Looking forward to it!
May 19, 2008 at 10:42 pm
bookmom
I hope you enjoy it. It was a nice read. Did you hear that Kate MacAlister’s YA series characters will now be written into her adult series?