Vrey good read with interesting characters. I really had a good time reading this book.

I love this series! I was iffy on the first book wondering just how the author was going to convince me that there was a palpable heat between a ghost and a very much alive young woman, but she did, and now I'm into this series for the long haul. The frequent glimpses into Jack's past were enjoyable and the construct of Penelope joining him is an interesting twist with room to grow. This entry was a great deal more enjoyable than the series entry, though the first wasn't bad, quite the contrary. The main characters, both living and dead, have become fleshed out and three-dimensional. The plotline involving a tell-all is relevant to today's unfortunate influx of people who are famous for simply being omnipresent, young, and wealthy and the ridiculous gossip they generate to keep themselves in the spotlight. I love the shots the book took at some of these celebutantes and their unnecessary and tiring antics. The secondary characters are also coming along nicely and the quaint setting is simply delicious. I highly recommend this series, especially if you love the movie, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, this is a must read for you, in fact it is just a must read.

Alice Kimberly has once again piqued the entertainment quotient of the reader. She has the ability to cause out-loud laughter, particularly in the dialogue between her central character, Penelope Thornton-McClure (bookstore owner) and her ghost PI, Jack Shepard, who mysteriously died in 1946. Although her romantic notions are a little bit of a stretch, you, as the reader, cannot help but read on....knowing the farce is provided as a "fun-filled scenario".

The quirky characters, written for background, includes help-mates for Penelope and suspects for the crime. Sometimes, the reader is not sure which is which and that provides the happiness is....... meter count for the reader.

If you have a rainy Saturday afternoon - or a quiet no-one-is-available-to-do-anything evening - pick up Alice Kimberly and I promise - the hours will go quickly because of a pleasurable book.

Angel Stark makes an appearance at Penelope Thornton McClure's bookstore to promote her true crime novel "All My Pretty Friends". Not everyone is happy about Angel's book, which is about the murder of a debutante, Bethany Banks, including the victim's sister who interrupts Angels' speech. Someone then tries to run Angel over and shortly after that she disappears. Pen, along with the ghost of Jack Shepard, a private eye who was murdered over fifty years ago, are investigating angel's disappearance when Pen stumbles over a body that turns out to be that of Bethany's sister. Is there a serial killer on the loose?

I love this mystery series. The relationship between Jack Shepard, the ghost of a hard-boiled detective and Penelope, a modern day widow, are what makes the book work. Alice Kimberly deftly weaves one of Jack's old cases with the modern one, writing Jack's case using the jargon of hard-boiled detective literature and Pen's case in modern day language. It's particularly amusing as Jack explains the jargon used in his time and Pen tells him about modern day conveniences such as cell phones and who people such as John F. Kennedy, Jr. were. Readers will chuckle, perhaps uneasily, as Jack wonders why anyone would buy bottled water. Not too many authors could write believably about the attraction between a live person and a ghost, but Kimberly does it beautifully.

The mystery itself is reminiscent of the Kennedy-Skakel case with plenty of suspects and twists and turns. The identity of the murderer will come as a surprise to many readers but is believable. Kimberly throws in a nice way of Jack being able to leave the bookstore to help solve the mystery, which is great, because it allows the characters to interact and sole mysteries in several locations rather than be confined to the bookstore.

I highly recommend this book and the entire series.

I loved this book! It continues the story from the first book
and even makes Jack appear more human than ghost. There's enough
of a mystery to keep you guessing and wishing Jack were more
than just a ghost. I can't wait until the next book comes out!

I have read both books in the series and liked them. I thought this one was a little better than the first. It has a very good twist involving the the deaths--not who, but when. Also, the flashbacks to the 40's via Pen's dreams (controlled by Jack) are interesting (but how could she recognize now-antique Packards and Fords but not "Moonlight Serenade?") Finding the buffalo nickel that enabled Jack to go outside the confines of the building was a logical and necessary progression.

Reason for only 4 stars: Pen now has Jack's case files but is not interested in Jack's own murder, even if it was 50 years ago. He pushes her to solve present day murders but she has never asked for the details of his own death. It is possible that the killer/s is still alive. There MANY questions she has not asked such as the obvious: what's it really like being dead and why is he still there? Does he know who killed him and why? She has accepted his presence but has not tried to find out the reason for it. Jack has given only hints of what it's like to be in his state, such as what it felt like when he tried to leave the bookstore after his death.

Maybe the author is saving these answers for a future book. The series is, in a way, the story of Jack's life through his case files. The victim in the first book actually knew Jack and stole his files after his murder.

Since Jack can influence Pen's dreams and has kissed her in one of them, it's just a matter of time before he completes the seduction. He may be dead, but he is still oversexed and a little rough around the edges. Hopefully he can help Pen develop the backbone to stand up to her rich, useless and spiteful inlaws and to lose some of her own prissiness.

I look forward to the next book but sincerely hope that Penelope develops some curiosity about Jack's situation. I also hope the author explores the hint she gave that Pen detected the presence of a female ghost in another building.

First off I should say that I'm not a frequent reader of any mysteries--particularly not of the contemporary series that are so ubiquitous now: mysteries for foodies, coffee drinkers, pet lovers, garderners, piano tuners, lion tamers--you name it--it's been done. I've dipped into several of them, and usually I'm disppointed by generically "quirky" characters and, especially, contrived dialogue and/or predictable situations. Still, I'm a lover of classic films and ghost stories, as well as getting into the mystery mood by a recent re-discovery of the exceptional "Mr. and Mrs. North" series of the 1940s. How gratified I was to find that after impulsively buying "The Ghost and the Dead Deb" at my local mystery bookshop it's just as worthy an effort as the better books written some 60 years ago.
The author manages to create believable characters--both living and dead, and even work in a frisson of romance--just enough to be wonderfully satisfying. It's been a long time since I've found a lead female character who doesn't irritate the heck out of me by her shallowness or unreal behaviour. This one is carefully drawn. The mystery itself is tops, but most importantly you just plain care about these people. Here's a real writer! Looking forward to more.

The Buy the Book Bookstore in Rhode Island, co-owned by genteel widow woman Penelope Thornton McClure and her Aunt Sadie, is haunted by the spirit of Jack Shepard, a private eye who was killed there fifty years ago while working a case. Pen is the only one who can communicate telepathically with the ghost in her dreams.

She is excited that true crime writer Angel Stark is giving a reading at her store from a book she wrote about the death of her friend Bethany . At the reading, Bethany's sister Vicky makes a scene before being escorted out by friends and Angel flirts with Sadie's friend's nephew Johnny. The next day Angel's body is found in the water a rope around her neck. Pieces of the same rope were found in Johnny's truck. During the same time period Vicky goes missing. Johnny is the number one suspect especially since he disappeared but Pen doesn't believe he is a killer and with help from Jack, she sets out to prove it.

Although it sounds paradoxical this is a hard boiled cozy; Jack is a Philip Marlow type while Pen is like Miss Marple. This is a beguiling and bewitching mystery that will enchant readers as an old fashioned protagonist partners with a gruff ghost amusingly trying to blunt his sharp opinions in order not to offend Penelope's sensibilities. Alice Kimberly is a talented storyteller who allows the reader the fantasy of believing a ghost can be confined to a bookstore and fall for the present owner. There are plenty of separate twists and turns and red herrings that will maintain reader interest in the who-done-it, but it is the ghost and the bookstore owner who make the tale.

Harriet Klausner

i enjoyed the first book in this series a lot, and was a bit worried about the second, since so many second books don't match the first. but this one is as enjoyable as the first.

the plot is pleasantly twisty, and the denoument is handled not only dramatically, but also sensibly and effectively--our heroine does not place herself in unnecessary danger, uses her wits, and is finding more strength of character in this outing. the byplay between her and jack, the ghost of a private investigator, is amusing. both of them are believable personalities, and most of the supporting cast is also well drawn.

there are a couple of spots in the supernatural part of the story that are farfetched, even for the supernatural, but that's a minor problem.

this is an enjoyable cozy, with more depth than most of the genre, and the characters' identities and relationship are evolving nicely.

i certainly hope there's less time between this book and the next than there was between the first and this. and i hope the publisher puts more effort into promoting this series than the paltry synopsis suggests.