cover image How to Marry a Ghost

How to Marry a Ghost

Hope McIntyre, . . Mysterious, $24.99 (354pp) ISBN 978-0-89296-014-9

Ghostwriter Lee Bartholomew leaves London for Long Island to attend her mother's barefoot commitment ceremony in McIntyre's second engaging romp to feature the self-proclaimed neurotic (after 2005's How to Seduce a Ghost ). Lee also hopes to snag a memoir gig from reclusive rock legend Shotgun Marriot, but faces competition from fellow scribe Bettina Pleshette. When the body of Marriot's son washes up on the beach, and then Pleshette's corpse is discovered on Marriot's East Hampton estate, the suspects include not only Marriot but also Lee's stepbrother's girlfriend, Frannie, whose fibs and shady past put her in the spotlight, as well as Frannie's son, caretaker of the Marriot estate, who's burdened by his own bumpy history. A strange Miss Havisham–like seamstress, who happens to have a riveting and dangerously familiar manuscript for Lee to critique, complicates Lee's hunt for the killer. This funny, complicated and wise mystery is sure to gain the author new fans. (Jan.)