This Lestat is Better than Tom Cruise - The Skeletons of Scarborough House Review

TITLE: The Skeletons of Scarborough House (The Chapelwick Mysteries #1)
AUTHOR: Kitty French
PUBLISHER: Bookouture
PUBLISHING DATE: July 14, 2016

FROM GOODREADS: Life’s tough for Melody Bittersweet.

She’s single, addicted to sugar and super heroes, her family are officially bonkers, and she sees dead people. Is it any wonder no-one’s swiping right on Tinder?
Waking up lonely on her twenty seventh birthday, Melody finally snaps. She can’t carry on basing all of her life decisions on the advice of her magic 8 ball; things have got to change.

Fast forward two months, and she’s now the proud proprietor of her very own ghostbusting agency - kind of like in the movies but without the dodgy white jumpsuits. She’s also flirting with her ex Leo Dark, fraternising with her enemy in alleyways, and she’s somehow ended up with a pug called Lestat.

Life just went from dull to dynamite and it’s showing no sign of slowing up anytime soon. Melody’s been hired to clear Scarborough House of its incumbent ghosts, there’s the small matter of a murder to solve, and then there’s the two very handsome, totally inappropriate men hoping to distract her from the job…

Welcome to Chapelwick, home of the brand new and hilarious Girls Ghostbusting Agency series, where things really do go bump in the night.

MY THOUGHTS: "The Skeletons of Scarborough House" is a wonderful start to a new cozy mystery series by Kitty French. My friend Stormi recommended I pick it up and I couldn't wait to start it once I learned of the cute pug named Lestat. Melody Bittersweet, her mother and her grandmother can all see and communicate with ghosts. Melody does not want to follow in the Bittersweet family business and pass on ghostly messages to those left behind so she decides to start a ghostbusting agency. She hires her best friend Marina and a newcomer, Artie, to be her assistants and the fun ensues.

Melody is snarky and quirky and funny - all the things I was desperately in need of at the time of reading. She is hired to get rid of the ghosts at Scarborough House, a local historical home, so the owner has hopes of selling it. However, the owner has also hired Melody's ex, Leo Dark, who can also communicate with ghosts, to do the same thing and the winner gets all the payout. There are three brothers currently haunting Scarborough house and Melody must uncover what is keeping these astral beings tied to the family homestead.

French weaves a very interesting mystery tale effortlessly with a wonderful cast of zany characters. Melody is 95% over Leo Dark, especially when she realizes she has "the hots" for Fletch, the skeptical journalist, who has spent his entire career trying to prove the Bittersweets are frauds. In fact, Lestat, the adorable yet obnoxious pug, enters the scene because in a fit of anger with Fletch, Melody tells him she has a dog, when she doesn't. Therefore, she rescues Lestat from a local shelter and is soon convinced he is the embodiment of an old gangster out to get her and further complicate her life. All this being said, my favorite character hands down, besides Lestat, has to be Artie. Melody is convinced to hire Artie after a visit from Artie's deceased father asking that she help provide his son with a purpose in life. Artie starts the book with low self esteem but through the course of the book, grows and evolves into a lovable character who is best compared to Shaggy from Scooby-Doo.

If you haven't already figured it out, there is a whole cast of nutty and offbeat characters in "The Skeletons of Scarborough House." The mystery is exciting and I was pleased with the ending of the book. If you don't like love triangles or romantic interests in books, then this one might annoy you somewhat but basically it's not overdone and Melody really is trying to move on from Leo. Plus she and Fletch as such an unlikely couple that one can't help but cheer them on. Of course, it remains to be seen if he and Melody will get past their differences. I'm anxiously wanting to read book two and can see it being done sooner rather than later.

RATING: 4 PAWS