It takes more than a lurid legend to scare off the League of Literary Ladies…
For Halloween, the Literary Ladies have chosen to read Washington Irving’s spooky classic, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, with its infamous headless horseman. But South Bass Island has its own headless legend—of a Prohibition bootlegger named Charlie “Sleepy” Harlow. Decapitated by rival rumrunners, Harlow appears once a year in spectral form to search for his noggin.
This October, the Elkhart Ghost Getters (EGG) have returned to the island. The group claims that they have film footage of Harlow’s ghost, and are determined to get more. They’re staying at Bea Cartwright’s B and B, but it’s Kate Wilder who isn’t happy to see them after they trashed her winery last year. When the EGG leader turns up dead, Kate becomes the prime suspect, and the other League members need to scramble to crack the case.
Since it’s almost Halloween, Bea Cartwright, Kate Wilder, and the rest of the Literary Ladies have decided to read The Legend of Sleepy Hollow for their next book club meeting. Bea enjoys the book, but being new to Lake Erie’s South Bass Island, she’s surprised to learn the area has its own legend about a headless ghost named Charlie “Sleepy” Harlow. In fact, the group staying at Bea’s Bed and Breakfast will do whatever it takes, even trespassing, to get evidence of the ghost on film. Things really start to get scary when it looks like one of the ghost hunters may have resorted to murder to get what they want. Unfortunately, instead of the newcomers getting the blame, one of the Literary Ladies becomes the prime suspect. Now it’s up to Bea to prove her friend’s innocence. She begins questioning her guests, but also starts doing a little digging to learn more about the island’s resident ghost.
The Legend of Sleepy Harlow is a good book and is a great way to start getting in the mood for Halloween. I enjoyed this book but it is my least favorite of the three books in the League of Literary Ladies mysteries. The author cleverly relates the town’s local legend to Washington Irving’s classic story, but it doesn’t have the same excitement level as the prior two books which were tied to favorites by Agatha Christie and Charles Dickens. It’s hard to beat those authors, so that may be why this installment was a bit of a letdown. I do like the ghost hunting angle of the story, which also fits in well with the book club’s selection for discussion. There are a few different suspects for the murder, but it wasn’t too hard to guess the identity of the murderer. However, I wasn’t able to figure out all of the details of the motive, although the author played fair and clues were given throughout the story.
Readers who are new to this series will not have a problem keeping up with the plot or the important facts about the main characters, but will miss out on details about their relationships. For example, the book touches on how the Literary Ladies became friends, but doesn’t go into depth about how the former enemies were ordered by a judge to participate in the book club. Part of the original issue between the women was due to damage caused by Chandra’s cat, and although the women are now the best of friends, the feline Jerry Garcia is still wreaking havoc on the neighborhood. The out of control cat is responsible for a ridiculous storyline in which Bea tries to reconstruct librarian Marianne’s damaged book manuscript without telling the hopeful author what happened. Bea’s secret project of fixing the manuscripts gives her the idea to start researching Sleepy Harlow, even before the murderer strikes, so the silly sub-plot does serve a purpose even if it is unrealistic.
Those who have read the prior books in the series won’t be surprised to see Bea is still hiding a secret from her friends and still fighting her attraction to bar owner Levi Kozlov. I’m rooting for them to become a couple, so I am glad the investigation led to the two spending more time together. Readers who enjoy the author’s other books or who like Victoria Laurie’s Ghost Hunter series will enjoy this treat by Kylie Logan.
Reviewed by Christine
