Review: A solid addition to the series, but still left hanging
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 07 15, 2011
I really enjoy this series, with each installment being a fast, fun and mysterious read, but the short length of each book never bothered me so much as it did with this latest.  I think the reason for that is that there was simply too many threads to follow and the one I've most been looking forward to reading didn't develop at all and it appears that it may end up dragging along indefinitely. Having said that, if you haven't read any of the previous books, this is not the place to start, and if you're hoping to learn how Jeannine was killed after two books, you won't find out in this one.  If you go in accepting that, it's a solid addition to an excellent series.Mary O'Reilly can see and speak with the dead after a beyond near death experience.  Having to retire from police duty, she's now a private investigator specializing in paranormal cases and has dedicated her life to helping ghosts resolve their issues in this world to move on to the next. The book essentially starts with Mary in turmoil since she's promised Bradley's dead wife, Jeannine, that she won't tell Bradley she's seen and spoken with her and it's killing her to lie to him so she's been avoiding him.  When a prominent woman of Freeport is found murdered at the theatre, Bradley asks Mary to help him with the case forcing them to spend time together.  Mary decides to take matters into her own hand by hunting down Jeannine and insists they tell Bradley.  Jeannine agrees and when they do, Bradley feels betrayed and breaks things off with Mary.  It's a hard hit to take, but Mary continues to work on Jeannine's case, the new murder and the side story of a minister who recently died.  He doesn't believe in ghosts and doesn't understand why he's still here instead of heaven and Mary has to help him find out why.  With all of this going on as well as the Mary dealing with the breakup, you can imagine that some of the storylines are not fully developed.Stanley and Rosie are still a staple to the series but underutilized this go around.  There's wonderful development of Fireman Mike and Mary's relationship, but I wonder if we'll ever find out why he hasn't moved on.  Bradley's struggles with his feelings for Mary, hamper any focus on the investigation to find how Jeannine was actually killed and I was so disappointed with the lack of development there, that I didn't enjoy the other mystery storylines as much.  It's a great series, but each installment is so short that it barely has time to introduce a new aspect before the story is over.  This ending introduces a yummy new character that wil prove very entertaining in the next book and I'm looking forward to reading it, but overall the last two books just leave you feeling wanting.