Elinor Chalamet’s talent to speak with the dead may have landed her in the soup.

Witty and clever, Elinor uses her mediumship skills to hunt for her father’s killer. So when a body in the canal brings her to the morgue, she’s happy to help until Tristan Fontaine, the Duke de Archambeau, takes over the case and places her under house arrest.

Between possessions and poltergeists, she’ll solve the case even if it means putting the duke in his place. Actually, that part of the investigation may be a pleasure!

Welcome to Alenbonné, a coastal city with picturesque promenades along the canals and where the ghosts never sleep. A country where spirits and murder are just a breath away.

The first of a six-part Gaslamp fantasy ghost mystery series featuring a strong-minded female Sherlock Holmes-like character in a slow burn romance.

Elinor Chalamet is a Ghost Talker, a person who can communicate with the dead. Called to the morgue to speak to a drowned stranger she runs into the skeptic Duke de Archambeau who first exposes another Ghost Talker as a charlatan and then is shocked when Elinor proves to be the real thing. The dead man is involved with the King and an upcoming treaty so his death and the circumstances surrounding it must be kept secret leading the Duke to place Elinor under house arrest at his mansion.  With only a short amount of time to find the missing tiara the dead man stole, Elinor and the Duke investigate while also dealing with ghosts and poltergeists in the Duke’s mansion, rumors of the Duke’s wife being murdered,  and the Duke being possessed by a lovelorn ghost as well as the tiara being cursed when they do find it. 

Set in a clearly fictional alternate reality that is similar to early 20^th century Europe, albeit a world of ghosts and dragons and curses, the world building is both familiar and just enough fantasy to be intriguing. The characters are well-defined and interesting. While the mystery was not too difficult to decipher, the fun was the trip to the conclusion and the questions left unanswered that leads me to go look for book two right now. Recommended ~~ Stephanie L Bannon

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