I have had this cozy on my TBR list for a long time now, so I was really happy when it was selected as one of this month’s read over at Goodreads in the Cozy Mystery Corner Group.

First, let me admit that I live in New Jersey and this book is set at the Jersey Shore.  Now, I will admit something that will probably get me chased out of New Jersey by an angry mob, so I will just say it once and then pretend it didn’t happen…I don’t like the Jersey shore.    Anyway, I am familiar with some of the locales discussed in the book, let’s just leave it at that.

I think because I had been waiting to read this one for so long, I was really expecting a great cozy and then I had a hard time getting into this book.  I will say that it picked up in the second half.  The red herrings in the form of Ned and Tony’s behaviors are really heavy handed.  The villain was sort of an unbelievable character.  In fact, most of the characterizations felt flat or like stereotypes (the overachieving PTSO mom) or odd to me, not odd in the cozy quirky character kind of way , just odd as in not right.  A couple of the plot twists made no sense to me.

I did love one scene at the end involving Paul and the guest house, just because of a personal connection.  My daughter’s grandfather, who has since passed, was an ornamental plasterer and there is a reference to a crew of old school plasterers coming and working on the guesthouse and that made me smile.

I am glad that I read it because it was on my TBR list, but if I want to read a ghost related cozy, I’ll stick with The Ghost and Mrs. McClure by Alice Kimberly.