Review: To be, or not to be - seen....
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 11, 2014
Author Audrey Claire doesn't like to talk about herself so background information, other than the fact that she has two sons and lives in the South, loves to travel would love to live `overseas', is rather sparse. But then, too, this is her debut novel so perhaps she is waiting for a bit of public opinion before opening up about her resume. She has a heady start with her Libby Grace Mystery Series - if this opener HOW TO BE A GHOST is any indication.Claire ventures into tenuous territory - ghost stories. For a history of this choice of fiction the following information is pertinent: `A ghost story may be any piece of fiction, or drama, that includes a ghost, or simply takes as a premise the possibility of ghosts or characters' belief in them. The "ghost" may appear of its own accord or be summoned by magic. Linked to the ghost is the idea of "hauntings", where a supernatural entity is tied to a place, object or person. Colloquially, the term "ghost story" can refer to any kind of scary story. In a narrower sense, the ghost story has been developed as a short story format, within genre fiction. It is a form of supernatural fiction and specifically of weird fiction, and is often a horror story. While ghost stories are often explicitly meant to be scary, they have been written to serve all sorts of purposes, from comedy to morality tales. Ghosts often appear in the narrative as sentinels or prophets of things to come. Belief in ghosts is found in all cultures around the world, and thus ghost stories may be passed down orally or in written form.'Audrey Claire takes this notion into a new realm. She has created Liberty Grace (best known as Libby), a plain Jane kindergarten teacher from Summit's Edge, North Carolina, divorced from Mason, a verbally abusive husband who has moved to Raleigh, NC for a better job in the health care industry and is usually tardy in his child support payments for their single child Jake. So far, so real, however Libby is a ghost - a transparent person who has lost her corporal self and wonders why she is a ghost (reasons unknown). Her neighbor, reclusive Ian McClain (who has existence problems of his own), sees right through her, makes unwanted suggestions on where to find her body - you get the picture. The book travels through her journey to find why she is a ghost and in the course of events she discovers `another corpse'. So we have an investigator ghost and how the altered state of visibility works out makes for an entertaining spin.Audrey Claire's fresh take on ghost stories is a bit of fresh air, and whether or not we will see further books in the Libby Grace Mystery will likely depend on public response. This is a fine fresh start for some light and warm entertainment. Grady Harp, April 14