Merry, Merry Ghost (Bailey Ruth Mysteries, No. 2)

“If I were teaching a course on how to write a mystery, I’d make Carolyn Hart required reading.”—Los Angeles Times Merry, Merry Ghost by Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity Award winner Carolyn Hart, is the spirited second appearance of spectral sleuth, Bailey Ruth Raeburn, who would never let a little thing like being dead keep her from enjoying the Yuletide holiday or solving a dastardly crime. The light and funny follow up to Hart’s critically acclaimed Ghost At Work—which Publishers Weekly named One of the Best Books of 2008—Merry, Merry Ghost is a  true Christmas treat, and Bailey Ruth is a most welcome addition to Carolyn Hart’s coterie of beloved series protagonists, joining septuagenarian sleuth “Henrie O” Collins and the Darlings of “Death on Demand” fame.

From Publishers Weekly

Introduced in Agatha-winner Hart's Ghost at Work (2008), the late Bailey Ruth Raeburn returns to earth on a heavenly mission to help a four-year-old orphan in this delightful sequel. Susan Flynn, the matriarch of one of the leading families of Adelaide, Okla., who's dying from congestive heart failure, discovers she has a grandson after Keith, the child of Susan's soldier son killed in Iraq, shows up at her door one day not long before Christmas. Susan's decision to change her will to leave her estate to Keith causes one of her many greedy relatives to ignore the message of the Christmas season. When murder and mayhem ensue, Hart's ghostly detective gets on the track of a clever killer. Bailey Ruth's pleasure in her earthly wardrobe, her keen observations of the other characters and her unorthodox but expert sleuthing will engage readers from start to finish. Hart is also the author of the Death on Demand series (Dare to Die, etc.). (Nov.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Library Journal

A cute and cozy mystery

Publishers Weekly

“Delightful . . . Bailey Ruth’s pleasure in her earthly wardrobe, her keen observations of the other characters and her unorthodox but expert sleuthing will engage readers from start to finish.”

From the Back Cover

Being dead can't put a damper on spirited, holiday-loving Bailey Ruth Raeburn. Christmas is a time for family and giving, and a wealthy woman in Adelaide, Oklahoma, is about to embrace both. Discovering that she has a young grandson, the dowager decides to change her will to leave the bulk of her fortune to the young boy—an alteration that stuns the rest of her family. But a scrooge of a determined heir makes sure she never signs the new document. When she is found dead, it's up to that irrepressible spirit Bailey Ruth, on assignment from Wiggins and Heaven's Department of Good Intentions, to protect a little boy, foil a murderer, and save Christmas.There's only one teeny hitch: how can Bailey Ruth figure out which family member was desperate enough to kill when everyone has a motive?

About the Author

An accomplished master of mystery, Carolyn Hart is the author of twenty previous Death on Demand novels. Her books have won multiple Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity Awards. She is also the creator of the Henrie O series, featuring a retired reporter, and the Bailey Ruth series, starring an impetuous, redheaded ghost. One of the founders of Sisters in Crime, Hart lives in Oklahoma City.

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