Merry, Merry Ghost

I was wrong - by Book 3 she is oft quoting the OLD testament. Any more I could say about my thoughts on her frequent quoting and increasingly didactic views may offend. I have created a new shelf due to this series for christian-bible-thumping-righteous, wanted it to be christian-bible-thumping-only-we-are-right, but GR wouldn’t take that many words. <br /><br />

Did you know there are a Department of Good Intentions and a Rescue Express in Heaven? According to Ms. Hart, the author of this novel, both serve the same purpose: to facilitate dispatching of friendly ghosts to earth on temporarily assignments to right some wrongs.<br />Bailey Ruth works for the department, although she is not a model seraphic employee. She is too prone to breaching the heavenly rules. She repeatedly becomes visible to mortals (a decidedly ‘no-no’), meddles with a police investigation, breaks the speed limit while driving a purloined car, and plays pranks on unsuspecting bureaucrats. On the other hand, she gets things done, murderers exposed, and orphans protected, so the department head Wiggins might just overlook her infractions. She hopes. <br />Her current job is to watch over a four-year-old boy Keith and his grandmother, a super rich but very sick woman Susan. There is Susan’s will involved, a car chase (or two), a couple murders, and a bunch of Susan’s greedy relatives, but with Bailey Ruth on the case, justice will prevail. <br />Despite the heroine’s wit and common sense and her assorted otherworldly abilities – she can materialize at will or whiz through walls – the writer also makes her believable and vulnerable. Ghost on no ghost, while on earth, Bailey Ruth needs food, sleep, and warm clothing. She misses her children. She can be hungry, thirsty, upset. She doesn’t know what anyone is thinking; their minds are close to her. To investigate a murder, she has no other recourse but intense eavesdropping and lots of legwork, just like a living PI. Well, fly-work in her case – she doesn’t need to walk – but it comes to the same thing for a ghost. She wouldn’t give up until the murderer is caught and the innocents’ safety assured. She is a real guardian angel…with a sharp tongue and a wicked sense of the ridiculous. <br />Of course, the story of this ghostly PI was spiced with a healthy dose of humor. Some scenes are hysterical, for example, the episode of Bailey Ruth’s ghost vying for a phone directory with a cat and a cook. <br />The plot is well constructed, the writing clean and pithy, and the tension rises steadily. Overall, an enjoyable read. The only problem I had with this book concerned clothing. The author describes everything everyone is wearing in details and colors – in almost every scene. After a few scenes, it gets tedious and detracts from the quality of the novel. <br /><b>3.5 stars</b><br />

Book 2 did not disappoint me! It was every bit as good as the first in this series. I love Bailey Ruth's character!

Carolyn Hart’s Merry Merry Christmas (Bailey Ruth, #2) is fun. This is the second book by this author that I have read, but this is the first book in this series. I read this one first as I wished to read a Christmas story. Bailey Ruth is a member of the Department of Good Intentions, Heaven. Bailey Ruth is dead, but she loves Christmas. Thus, this holiday-loving ‘spirit’ is on her way to Adelaide, OK to assist the matriarch who has just discovered that she has a grandson, and she desires to change her will in order to leave the majority of her estate to this charming 4 year old, the son of her son who is deceased. Susan Flynn has another problem. She is ill, very ill. Living with Susan are relatives, but not blood relatives. She did not know about her grandson. Susan calls a family meeting, and she phones her lawyer. She wants to inform the rest of the family that she is changing her will in favor of her grandson, but she plans to be fair to everyone. Unfortunately, one of the heirs does not like Susan’s plan and makes sure Susan does not sign this new will.<br />Enter Bailey Ruth. Bailey Ruth Raeburn arrives to help Susan achieve her goal. How Bailey Ruth does this is the fun part! The reader also gets to meet Wiggins, her supervisor in the Dept. of Good Intentions,Heaven. These two characters, these spirits, will definitely make you laugh. A fun Christmas read. 4.25 stars.

This book was incredibly disappointing. I tend to think that, no matter the genre, any book can be rewarding to read as long as it is constructed well by the author, from Brideshead Revisited to Inspector Morse. Unfortunately, Carolyn Hart failed miserably in constructing this novel. I have a few major problems with this book. First, there is nothing "cozy" about a child as a potential murder victim. In the end, he was only marginally in danger but the main character is given the assignment to protect the little boy because "something might happen to him." Secondly, while I understand this kind of book is mostly whimsical, there are some things that go too far for my liking--such as the ghost faking a crime scene in order to see that the first death is investigated as a murder, or the same ghost going out for a midnight drive with the ghost of the first victim in order to get a holographic will signed. Thirdly, I did not care for Bailey Ruth Raeburn as a character. She was extremely irritating. Also concerning the characters, they are all massive cliches. <br /><br />I know, I know--it's a cozy mystery and not Shakespeare, but even this genre does not have to be earth-shatteringly poetic in order to be readable. Thankfully, this was my first Caroyln Hart novel, and it will be my last.

So the mystery part of the book was o.k. It was quite interesting to see what someone not acquainted with the biblical description of angels thought of them. Humans can become angels. Not according to the Bible. Angels can be ghosts. Wrong again. I also did not like the in dept descriptions of what was to be eaten or worn by the angel who came to save the day. Who cares if she wore Prada?

Book #3 for 2018<br />Better World Books:<br />- A book set in the current season (winter)<br />- A book involving magic<br />The Legendary Book Club of Habitica's Ultimate Reading Challenge: A book featuring a profession you are unfamiliar with<br />Books Inter Alia: A book picked up on a whim and without prior knowledge<br />Full House Bingo Square: Holiday season<br />Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge: A book with a female protagonist over the age of 60<br />PopSugar's Ultimate Reading Challenge: Your favorite prompt from the 2016 PopSugar reading challenge (A murder mystery)<br />50 States Challenge: Oklahoma<br />Book Bingo Square: Free Space!<br /><br />This was a free audio download from the publisher back in December. They were pushing their audiobook app, but it was available only for iOS, so I had to listen to it on my laptop's DVD player, which provided no progress bar, chapter info, or speed control. That sucked.<br /><br />So did the book. I was giving Hart one last chance, despite my better judgment, because hey, free book. When will I learn? Hart gets no more chances from me, though. I have already gone through my shelves and located the one book I'd been hanging onto as Hart's last chance, and it gets the heave-ho.<br /><br />This book was ridiculously cheesy and I hated pretty much all of the characters, but especially the protagonist, Bailey Ruth. So, so vain and full of herself and obsessed with designer clothes and furs, and just plain, flat-out annoying. It didn't even seem to me that she had good taste in expensive clothes.<br /><br />The whole set-up was just as tacky and vulgar. Human ghost-angels (um, hello, ever cracked open your Bible?) and fluffy clouds and heavenly express trains and curmudgeonly bureaucrats and whatever her stupid "job" title was -- UGH! Even as an atheist, I can appreciate stories about ghosts returning to Earth to solve mysteries or right wrongs -- but only if they are done with wit, intelligence, and style. This story had NONE of those. There was nothing compelling or engaging about it, not even the murder mystery. I got so bored that I didn't even really pay attention to the solution of the mystery. And I don't care. I was just praying for the thing to be over.<br /><br />However, if you are/were a fan of <b>Touched by an Angel</b>, well, you will probably love this.

I do like Bailey Ruth and her ghostly adventures. I enjoyed this mystery and it kept me guessing.

Bailey Ruth Raeburn, a ghost, is on assignment from Wiggins and Heaven's Department of Good Intentions. Her mission is to keep the people who murdered four-year old Keith’s grandmother, Susan, from murdering him. Keith, with both parents dead, was sent to live with his grandmother, a grandmother he never knew he had. <br /><br />Susan lost her daughter Ellen in an automobile accident that both Ellen and Mitch, Susan’s son, were involved in. Thomas Flynn, Mitch and Ellen’s father and Susan’s husband, blamed Mitch for Ellen’s death. Mitch left after Ellen’s funeral. Susan and Thomas hired private investigators to look for Mitch but he’d disappeared without a trace! Susan and Thomas learned of Mitch’s whereabouts the day the military arrived to tell them that their son had died a hero in Iraq.<br /><br />Keith’s dad Mitch met Marlana, Keith’s mother, while stationed in Germany where they married. After Marlana died from pneumonia, Keith lived with his mother’s friend, Lou and her husband but when Lou’s husband received orders to deplore, she thought the best thing to do was to drop Keith off on the doorstep of his grandmother. A few of the in-laws who lived with Susan and who depended upon her financing their lifestyles were not happy about Keith’s arrival because they knew Susan would change her Will leaving the bulk of her estate to Keith. <br /><br />There was a lot going on in Merry, Merry Ghost but it’s so well written that you never get lost in the story. Ann Marie Lee is the voice of all the characters.<br />

Right off the bat I had two problems with this book. First, I hate Christmas and the main character (angel/ghost) absolutely loves it. And second, it's very religious in nature - God and angels. Having said that I did enjoy the book but it took a long time (almost halfway) to get to the meat of the story. Angel/ghost Bailey Ruth Raeburn is dispatched from Heaven to ensure that Keith isn't murdered. Susan Flynn was sickly and didn't have long to live. She unexpectedly finds her grandson (Keith) on her front porch. A grandson she didn't know she had since her son disappeared years ago and was later killed in the war. Her entire estate ($12 million) was to be divided between her husbands family since she had none of her own until Keith arrived. The very evening that Susan told her "family" she was going to change her will so that Keith inherited most of it, she was murdered. <br /><br />Unfortunately, there really isn't a single family member that is nice, they are all greedy, money hungry creatures who are certainly capable of murder. The hunt is on for her murderer and it is a round-robin was suspects and motives. Here is where Bailey Ruth makes her mark. She helps with the investigation, behind the scenes for the most part.<br />