Customer Reviews

Ghost of a Chance (Beeler Large Print Mystery Series)

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In the third of Helen Chappell's series, Watertown Gazette reporter Hollis Ball, a woman with a devout hatred for her editor and a devine penchant for solving murders, learns that the body of her childhood friend's mother has been found after 30 years in a watery grave. The bones of Renata Ringwood Clinton turned up during some repair work on the Calais bridge, still ensconsed in her trademark pink Cadillac.

Hollis' very ex-husband, Sam Westcott, is on hand to again help her hunt a killer, despite his "living impaired" state. As usual, Sam provides plenty of clues, initially from ghostly conversations with the victim, then some "expert" advice from a guest ghost, his drinking, buddy Ed (Edgar Allen Poe).

Suspects abound. Was it Renata's grieving husband? Her lover? Her former employer, the once and future chicken king? Certainly, her soap-opera queen daughter was too young to be a supect -- or was she? And who (or what?) was the ornamental hermit?

Chappell's keen sense of humor, the unique Eastern Shore setting, and a plot that soon involves another death, keep the reader turning pages. This is a "can't-put-it-downer!"

Hollis is playing hooky from her job at a local newspaper, something she almost never does, when her ex husband (and ghost)Sam Westcott, shows up and tells her of the discovery of a submerged car off of the Calais Bridge. It happens to be on her way, so she goes to investigate. The car is an old Coupe de Ville and there is a skeleton inside. Most put it down to an accident. The body turns out to be one Renata Clinton, who divorced the most hated man on Beddoes Island over thirty years before. Her daughter, a famous soap star wants Hollis to investigate, and she reluctantly gets herself involved as another murder is committed and her own father is suspect.

The characters in this series are priceless. Sam the self appointed guardian ghost, his sponsor, Edgar Allan Poe, and who else would name a grumpy homocide detective Ormond Friendly? The story is as good as the characters, this series is alot of fun.

A REALLY GREAT BOOK. I COULDN'T PUT IT DOWN, AND WHEN I DID I HAD TO GET BACK TO IT IMMEDIATELY. THE CHARACTERS WERE FLAWLESS, AND WORKED GREAT TOGETHER. A MUST READ FOR ANY TYPE OF READER.

Now deceased, Sam Westcott lived a wicked life, culminated when he abandoned his spouse of one week to take a long boat ride. Now a ghost, Sam is assigned by the Powers To Be to serve as the guardian angel to his wife Hollis Ball, a reporter for the Watertown Gazette. Though Hollis accepts the ghostly appearances of Sam, she would prefer if he haunted someone else.

Thanks to Sam, a scoop lands on Hollis' lap. A car containing the bones of Renata Clinton, missing for three decades, is found in the San Timoke River. Renata's daughter, soap star Jennifer Clinton, returns home to find out what really happened to her mother. Hollis, a close friend of Jennifer, stirs the ire of three powerful businessmen as she tries to learn the truth. However, when her father appears to be taking the fall for a more recent crime, Hollis decides to dig deeper no matter what the cost.

The Hollis Ball mysteries are a perfectly delightful series that depends heavily on the characters and their witticisms and ghostly hi-jinks as much as on an intriguing story line. GHOST OF A CHANCE has three ghosts populating the pages, but due to the talent of Helen Chappell they add to the charm of the tale. The structured who-done-it and why will keep reader's interest from the beginning to the end, thereby making this amateur sleuth novel entertainment for all.

Harriet Klausner

Try as she might, Helen just can't get some things right. She chose a too common place a title for the book and she has Sam barking up the wrong tree with the company he keeps in the world of ghosts. The book is a good read but these and some other things we can simply do without.