Review
SEANCES ARE FOR SUCKERS by Tamara Berry
The First Eleanor Wilde Mystery
After realizing that being a regular ghost hunter can't pay the bills
Eleanor Wilde changes tactics. Now she's Madame Eleanor of Eleanor's
Cleansing Service. While her brother considers her a con artist, Ellie
believes being a fake medium is the only way to earn enough money to pay
for their sister's care. Intrigued by the cynical Nicholas Hartford
III, and knowing she'll be paid a tidy sum, Eleanor agrees to go to
England to "get rid" of Xavier, a ghost his mother believes is haunting
their ancestral home. What she finds is more challenging than a
dysfunctional family with rats in the attic. She finds real human
remains and hears a voice that isn't there. Will she find a human
culprit behind the haunting, or is there something truly paranormal
going on? Perhaps Madame Eleanor is not as fake a medium as she thinks!
Interesting characters inhabit the first book in the Eleanor Wilde Mystery series. Eleanor herself is certainly a flawed protagonist, but one who is smart with good intentions. The Hartford family and its hangers on are also a unique bunch. From a precocious teenager sequestered away, a spry matriarch who does her best to make staying at the ancestral home uncomfortable, to the enigmatic Nicholas, all bring family secrets and suspicion to the table, not to mention the casual butler and real estate tycoon boyfriend. While the characters were flushed out, the same can not be said of the
setting. I would have liked more description. We don't even know where
in England the story takes place.
I enjoyed the story, but I found the author's use of the present tense to be disconcerting. Using this tense made the words seem stilted at times and preempted the flow of the narrative. The mystery itself was intriguing and I found myself suspicious of everybody, questioning all of their motives, and still being surprised by the ending.
SEANCES ARE FOR SUCKERS is a unique mystery with a paranormal twist.
SEANCES ARE FOR SUCKERS is a unique mystery with a paranormal twist.
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