Smitten by Books

Just when she thought she’d seen everything…

Detective Lieutenant Anita McElone is one of Harbor Haven’s finest. She’s also a hard-boiled ghost skeptic. So when she shows up on the doorstep of Alison Kerby’s Haunted Guesthouse to ask for supernatural help in solving the murder of her former partner, it’s hard to tell which woman is more flabbergasted. But McElone is dead serious, so Alison promises to help in any way she can—even asking her resident ghosts, Paul and Maxie, for help with the case.

As Paul’s spirit source reveals some troubling information about the deceased detective, Alison wrestles with what to tell McElone. First, though, she has to find her…because the lieutenant has suddenly disappeared.

For fans of: Alice Kimberly

Alison Kerby makes no secret of the fact that her Jersey Shore guesthouse is haunted; the twice-daily spook shows put on by resident ghosts Paul and Maxie are actually a pretty big draw. The cooperation of her spectral housemates doesn’t come without a price, though – Maxie demands a say in the house’s decoration, and Paul insists that Alison help continue to run his private detective business. This deal doesn’t usually mean too much work for Alison, but it does mean she’s stuck turning the guesthouse’s game room into a home theater – and that she can’t say no when Detective Lieutenant Anita McElone shows up at her door seeking help in solving her former partner’s murder.

Inspector Specter is the sixth of E.J. Copperman’s Haunted Guesthouse Mysteries, and while it’s not the strongest entrant in the series, it’s still a worthwhile read.

Copperman’s setup is fun (Forcing the biggest skeptic in Alison’s life to ask her for ghostly assistance? Love it!), and he’s crafted a clever, multi-faceted mystery with a thrilling conclusion and some awesome third-act twists. I continue to love the series’ conceit; Paul and Maxie may be ghosts, but they’re wonderfully well realized characters, and Copperman does a marvelous job not only incorporating them into the plot of each book, but incorporating them into Alison’s life and family, as well. And the relationships Copperman’s created between his characters are nothing short of fabulous. Alison and her daughter, Alison’s daughter and Maxie, Alison’s mother and her father’s ghost, even Alison and Detective McElone – their interactions are realistic and nuanced and serve to both develop character and forward Copperman’s series’ arc.

That said, though, the first two-thirds of the book are largely lacking in tension, action, and drama, making it difficult to get caught up in the flow of the story. Further complicating matters is the extra-hammy narration. While Alison’s snarky, irreverent storytelling style is usually my favorite thing about the Haunted Guesthouse Mysteries, Copperman misses the mark this time around. I spent the bulk of Inspector Specter wondering why Alison was channeling the ghost of Norman Fell, and while I’ll admit to a certain fondness for Three’s Company, watching a book’s narrator pause for rim shots gets old pretty quickly.

Reviewed by Kat