Review: Keeper of the Castle (A Haunted Home Renovation Mystery #5) by Juliet Blackwell

Keeper of the Castle (A Haunted Home Renovation Mystery #5) by Juliet Blackwell

Published December 2nd 2014 by Signet

Paperback, 336 pages

Series: A Haunted Home Renovation Mystery

Genre: Cozy Mystery

Source:  I got a copy of this book from the publisher  in exchange of an honest review.
Amazon | Goodreads

Summary from Goodreads

In the latest Haunted Home Renovation mystery from New York Times bestselling author Juliet Blackwell, San Francisco contractor—and reluctant ghostbuster—Mel Turner gets hired for a job that's to die for.

Lately, Mel has been worried about finding enough historic renovation work to pay the bills. But while Turner Construction is in need of a project, Mel’s boyfriend, Graham, has his hands full managing the reconstruction of an ancient building shipped over from Scotland.

With the job plagued by rumors that the stones are cursed, Graham brings in Mel to look for paranormal activity. And while the ghost of a charming Scottish clansman does seem to be hanging around the site, the real shock comes when they stumble upon a body.

When the original construction crew starts running scared, Mel brings in her team to finish the job. Now all she has to do is nail down the killer, and put the spirits to rest, before anyone else winds up heading for the highlands…

When Mel of Turner Construction has a difficult time finding jobs in order to pay her workers, the offer made by Ellis Elrich to take over the project of managing a reconstruction of an ancient building that was bought in from Scotland, couldn't have come in a better time. Too bad that the building also comes with possible hostile ghosts, and a murder. When the wrong man is accused of killing the building inspector on site, Mel and Graham seem to find themselves in danger. Now not only must Mel manage a construction of an ancient building, she must also put the ghosts to rest and find the killer before someone else ends up their victim.

Great story! I really enjoyed the writing. I thought it was fun, creative and flowed very easily. Mel and Graham were a joy and very easy to like. I enjoyed their characters and all their knowledge about constructions. I liked how Mel can see ghosts and somehow finds herself in situations where she tries to get to the bottom of the mystery of what is bothering them so they can cross over in peace. I love that she has a dog named Dog and a sarcastic type personality.

There story was fun. There was a lot of talk about construction and how things go, but that did not seem to pull away from the story over all. The mystery behind the ghosts was fun to follow and left me wanting to get to the bottom of what was going on. The murder mystery was interesting as well. Overall, Keeper of the Castle was a great read for me and I really enjoyed Mel and Graham.

KEEPER OF THE CASTLE

Guest Post by Juliet Blackwell

In Search of Ghosts:

To me, one of the best things about being an author is research. In the course of writing my two series, the Witchcraft Mysteries and the Haunted Home Renovation series, I get to do things like shop in vintage clothing stores, hang out in Haight Street cafes, and tour historic buildings.

But one of my favorite parts of research is trailing around after paranormal investigators, peppering them with questions:

Can ghosts reach out and “touch” a person?

Can they become violent?

What if you had different ghosts or entities in a building?

From different times, “haunting” the place for different reasons?

How would they interact?

Why are animals sensitive to spirits, and how might they react?

Actually, I try to reserve these questions for either before or after walking through an allegedly haunted house. While on site, I mostly keep my mouth shut, trying not even to breathe loudly for fear of mucking things up…or possibly attracting unwanted attention!

Unfortunately, I have found that there’s a lot of “grey area” in the paranormal realm – which, I suppose, is fitting – so not all experts agree on the rules of the afterworld. Some think we bring our own ghosts with us, for example, while others believe in “residual” energies, and still others think sentient beings sometimes roam the earth.

But here are the “Top Five” things I’ve learned from my recent encounters with “ghost professionals”:

1. Bring extra batteries (some spirits “borrow” energy by siphoning off battery power)
2. Don’t wear perfume or scented lotions. Ghosts have a profound sense of smell, and whether they like or dislike what you’re wearing, it might not be a good thing
3. Animals and children are considered more “sensitive” (and attractive to) spirits. But since they can’t give consent, it’s unethical to take them along on a ghosthunt, darn the luck.
4. Wear quiet shoes that are easy to run in (self-explanatory)
5. Don’t make jokes about the size of the ghostbuster’s equipment (also self-explanatory)

So…how about you? Have you ever encountered something that felt otherworldly? Do you believe in ghosts at all?

Juliet Blackwell is the New York Times bestselling author of the Witchcraft Mystery series, featuring a powerful witch with a vintage clothes store in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury. She also writes the Haunted Home Renovation Mystery series, about a failed anthropologist who reluctantly takes over her father’s high-end construction company…and finds ghosts behind the walls. As Hailey Lind, Blackwell wrote the Agatha-nominated Art Lover’s Mystery series, in which an ex-art forger attempts to go straight as a faux finisher. She is currently working on a novel about a woman who takes over her uncle’s locksmith shop in Paris, entitled The Paris Key. A former anthropologist and social worker, Juliet has worked in Mexico, Spain, Cuba, Italy, the Philippines, and France.

Visit her at www.julietblackwell.net, join her on Facebook (JulietBlackwellAuthor) and on Twitter @JulietBlackwell

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