Title: The Lingering Dead (formerly Souls of the South)
Author: Philippa Wozniak (formerly Louise Philips)
Date: 2026
Quote: "Sometimes...a house chooses its owner."
Although it's a reissue, what I received was an advance reader's copy of a shiny new edition of this book.
This is a ghost story. The humans who are alive in the 1930s, when the story takes place, are being moved around by the humans who died during or after the Civil War. If that kind of stories completely destroy your suspension of disbelief, read something else. That's what's not to like about this book
Otherwise it's a classic Southern Gothic story with a sweet, sassy heroine who's in danger of various kinds, sometimes rescuing herself, sometimes being rescued by a handsome hero, and a present-time Miss Louisa who is benign and a ghost Miss Louisa who the present-time Miss Louisa insists is up to no good, and a tangled line of inheritance. Is Ted a Yankee with more money than good sense, who might buy the cotton mill but won't be able to run it, or is he the long-lost rightful heir? The living characters don't know. The ghosts do. And what about the woman who may or may not have been killed before she was placed on the bed beside Ted in the hotel room?
You'll laugh at the cliches. You'll like Savannah and, as it becomes clear that she's not who she seems to be, enjoy her quest to find out who she really is. You might even manage to like Ted, who seems less conceited than many heroes of romance. If you're not put off by the active ghosts, you'll probably enjoy this book.
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