How Can a Book with Snow Be So Dry???

 

TITLE: Murder Most Haunted

AUTHOR: Emma Mason

PUBLISHER: William Morrow Paperbacks

PUBLISHING DATE: October 7, 2025

PAGES: 320   

SOURCE: ARC

FROM GOODREADS: 

A grand country estate. 

On her last day as a Detective, Midge McGowan is given the retirement present from a ticket to take part in a haunted house tour. She’ll have to spend the weekend before Christmas ghost-hunting in an isolated mansion with a group of misfits, including a know-it-all paranormal investigator and a has-been pop star. 

An impossible crime. 

It isn’t long before the tour starts to spiral out of control. Midge and the guests see an unsettling figure walking the grounds late at night. Then the unthinkable happens – someone is murdered in a room that’s been locked from the inside.

A Christmas they might not survive. 

Heavy snow cuts them off from help, the house’s own dark secrets begin to surface, and Midge can’t shake the creeping sense that they are walking into a nightmare. Could a ghost really be responsible, or is the culprit one of the guests?

MY THOUGHTS: I'm not sure I was paying close attention when I slated this to read in October.  I didn't think it was a Christmas mystery and then when I started reading, I saw mention of snow and the holiday.  But maybe I should have trusted my gut because now that I've finished it, the most Christmas thing I remember about it is all the snow that is mentioned. If it wasn't for that, this book could have happened any time of the year.

Midge has just retired from being a detective.  However, she pretty much only ever worked in the evidence room where she silently faded into the background.  As a parting gift, she is given an expense-paid trip for a supernatural mystery weekend at a haunted estate on the Moors.  Midge's wife is going through cancer treatment and insists Midge goes to get away from things.  She, along with several other guests arrive at the odd estate and end up getting snowed in.  The morning after they arrive, the event owner is found dead in the bathtub. Is the Lady in White who is said to haunt the manor seeking revenge for something or is there another killer afoot?

I had a hard time getting into this book.  Midge is not a very likable character.  There is nothing really wrong with her except she has little to no self-esteem, allows herself to be run over by anyone and everyone, and is obsessed with embroidering handkerchiefs.  In fact, I would say Midge is probably a bit OCD even though it's never actually stated.  Some of the other characters are a recovering pop star addict, a young, annoying podcaster, a hoity doctor and his mentally ill wife, and the owner's assistant.  The only one I really liked is Rona, the pop star, and that could be because she immediately bonded with Midge and I could see Midge having more confidence when Rona is around her.

Together they all work to figure out what is going on.  The podcaster is determined to prove the manor is actually haunted and the doctor fights him on it every step of the way.  As the weekend progresses, the body count increases and everyone except Midge ends up fearing for their lives.

This book didn't wow me like I wanted.  There were some reveals I didn't see coming but even then, they weren't very shocking. I described the book as dry several times as I was reading it, and I still think that best sums it up for me.  I'm sure it will find an audience and I could see it becoming a series with the way it ended but I don't see me picking up the next one if one does materialize.  

MY RATING: 3 PAWS