High Spirits

In Perry’s charming sequel to 2021’s Be My Ghost, Maureen Doherty decides to promote Haven House, the hundred-year-old inn she has inexplicably inherited in Haven, Fla., by creating a themed event to tie in with the town’s Christmas holiday film festival at the Paramount Theater. During the opening night’s screening, a guest at the inn, projectionist Decklin Monroe, “who knows how to show the old two-reel movies,” is shot dead. Local law enforcement suspects that Decklin’s death is related to the unsolved murder of Buddy Putnam, an old pal of Decklin’s who was shot at the Paramount 50 years earlier. Maureen along with Lorna Dubois, “a long-deceased movie starlet” who haunts the inn and remembers that Buddy was a small-time crook who used to hang around Haven, try to put the pieces together to see whether the murders are connected. Digging deeper, Maureen finds out more of the history of Haven House and the mysterious benefactor who left her the inn. Ted Carr, Maureen’s live-in executive chef, lends some welcome romantic interest. Paranormal cozy fans will get their money’s worth. (Nov.)