Dead and Breakfast

The solid first entry in Giarratano’s Cayo Hueso series combines supernatural encounters, first loves, and murder. After her parents’ divorce, Autumn Abernathy is whisked from New Jersey to Key West by her mother, where they will help Autumn’s Aunt Glenda run Cayo Hueso, a purportedly haunted bed and breakfast. Autumn has always been able to see spirits, and after a nasty ghost appears at Caya Hueso, she learns that a murder occurred on the grounds. Along with Liam Breyer, a new Cayo Hueso employee who is attacked by the same ghost, Autumn attempts to solve a decades-old murder before the ghost kills Liam. Writing in third person, Giarratano (Grunge Gods and Graveyards) provides intimate glimpses of Autumn and Liam’s thoughts and emotions as both teenagers struggle to figure out what they want from their futures and from their relationship, which gradually turns romantic. Although not much is made of the few ghostly encounters Autumn has, beyond the killer ghost she is attempting to put to rest, Giarratano lays intriguing groundwork for future books. Ages 12–up. (BookLife)