Title: Write Me a Ghost Story
Author: Philippa Wozniak
Date: 2023
Publisher: Neo Leaf Press / Kindle
Quote: "You're from the graveyard? I was up there earlier. There are no houses..."
Myrtle Glubber, the grumpy, food-loving middle-aged writer who's better at solving mysteries than at writing them, is at a writers' conference on Hawaii. Right away she meets a charming Hawaiian gentleman with an oldfashioned accent that might be British, or British-influenced. He's called Mac, short for Makani. When they meet, Myrtle asks him where he's from. He points in the direction of the local graveyard.
During the conference, two people die. Heart attacks or murder? It's murder, of course, and Myrtle will find out whodunnit and why. It seems that at least one of them saw legendary ghosts. Myrtle doesn't believe in ghosts but she does believe in the hallucinogenic properties of some native plants.
Everyone likes Mac. He doesn't seem to be pursuing Myrtle, though he's helpful to her. Because their goals for the rest of their lives lie in different directions? Because Myrtle is nobody's pin-up girl? Or did he really come from the graveyard? Wozniak leaves the question open, as Mac is seen walking away just before Myrtle sees the gravestone of a man called Makani who died at about the age Mac appears to be.
Myrtle's charmless personality may be meant as a warning to the kind of readers who most typically enjoy cozy murder mysteries, but her adventures are fun with a sort of dry ironic humor that sneaks up on the reader. I enjoy them. If you like cozy mysteries that don't involve slow-burn romances, psychic powers, or animals, you'll probably enjoy them too.
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