Customer Reviews

Ghost of a Chance

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ghost of a Chance by Kate Marsh (aka Katie MacAlister) turned out to be a nice little cozy mystery read. Full of action from beginning to end this book is anything but boring. I found it to closely resemble the Clue game from my childhood with all the "Who Could Have Done Its".

Karma Marx is young, pretty, otherworldly, and married to the biggest snake around. If you want to talk about bad luck or no luck then just ask Karma which one she might have. Karma is as Karma does, unpredictable to the max, she has the most lively life I've ever read about. Yes some of us don't have a life but Karma makes up for that with having the activity of probably 5 people. Better known as a ghostbuster, Karma is the death squad of the otherworld. Unfortunately for her she has a concience about killing and an infinity for collecting the unknown. It really is adorable.

There are many characters that make up this story and they are all very good. Some characters are adorable, huggable and you just want to use them for a teddy bear while others are leacherous snakes. It doesn't take long to find out which is which in this story.

I couldn't figure out who did it til the end which I really loved. Most stories give you such a strong hint in the beginning that you can't help but guess the right villian before you make it half way through the book.

I say "Kudo's" to Kate Marsh for a wonderful start to something wonderfully fresh and exciting for the paranormal world. This was a very energetic fast read that makes you want another as soon as you finish it. I do hope our author will continue on with this delightful storyline.

Sometimes, in order to enjoy a book, it's necessary to suspend disbelief. For Ghost of a Chance, I'd recommend tying disbelief to a construction crane, and hauling it up about 13 stories, where it can dangle overhead while you enjoy this completely delightful mystery.

Karma Marx cleans houses for a living. Only there's not a mop or a spray bottle of vinegar to be seen. Her work is a little more specialized. She rids houses of otherworld spirits. According to the instructions given to her as a transmortis anomaly exterminator, she's supposed to banish intruders to the Akashic Plain, where they will suffer perpetual torment. But Karma, being a kind soul, has only been able to bring herself to impose the banishment once or twice, to really nasty beings who had it coming.

She sneaks the other miscreants home with her. She has an obsessive-compulsive Russian domovoi (a house spirit). She keeps an agoraphobic Roman goddess of door hinges and thresholds in the pantry, a vegetable spirit in the lettuce keeper, a bunch of imps who should be in the silver drawer but aren't--and a husband who will hit the roof if he finds any of these unwanted house guests.

Said sleazy husband makes Karma an offer: rid a house he's just bought of its current infestations (it's reputed to be the most haunted house in the Olympic Peninsula) and he won't contest the divorce that Karma so desperately wants. Simple enough, except . . .

The two-hour job turns into a lock-down. A malevolent (or is he?) poltergeist named Adam Dirgesinger, seals Karma, a sulky Goth teen-ager, and assorted spirits and humans, in the house. They're all going to be there for twelve hours--except the ones who turn up dead, of course.

Ghost of a Chance is part locked-house mystery, part romance, and part screamingly funny look at a world where Karma's lettuce bin talks back to her. By the end of the book, you'll be willing to believe that Karma's world is the real one and ours is ho-hum by comparison. But take heed: this book is like popcorn. You won't be able to stop with just one Kate Marsh/Katie MacAlister/Katie Maxwell.

by Sharon Wildwind
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women

If you are die hard mystery reader this book is not for you.
Some huge bits of info are left out that leaves the reader not a
ghost of a chance of figuring this mystery out. If you like
Katie's Aisling series you will enjoy this book. Its just as
quirky and fun, just not a real mystery. It reads more like a
Paranormal romance

When can all of us fans expect the second book in this series? I Love all of Katie Macalisters books and when I found out about this one I was thrilled to see something new and just as interesting and funny as the others. So any clues?

I was hooked on this book from page 1 & didn't put it down till I finished it, I thought it was great, looking forward to more.

Ghost of a Chance by Kate Marsh was entertaining. Karma Marx agrees to exorcise the spirits of her husband's latest real estate endeavor in exchange for a divorce. There's more to the house than Karma's husband lets on. When Karma goes to "clean" it, the owner locks all involved in, and Karma's husband ends up dead.

You really need to suspend disbelief for this tale. Once that's accomplished though, it's an entertaining read. The locked house senario limits the number of characters involved. The author should have been able to really explore the characters thoroughly, but she never seemed to delve too deeply. The central part of the story seemed to get stuck, going round and round as to who the killer is. Here the author does a disservice to the reader. Told in the first person, we should really have seen all that goes on with that character, but a big chunk is missing. I realize it was necessary to preserve the mystery, but it was really a let down at the end. Still, I find that I would like to know more of where Karma goes from here.

I have not read other books by this author so had no pre-concieved ideas about this book going in. Not a deep mystery but entertaining enough. The characters are mostly likable and the notions of poltergeists takes a new twist. All in all a light enjoyable read.

I always get Katie MacAlister's books, but have been disappointed with the books after "Even Vampires get the Blues". This is her first book in a couple of years that I was able to finish. I found it refreshingly different from other paranormal/romance/mystery novels. It is not a "must read", but it was enjoyable.

Ghost of a Chance is the first mystery novel Katie's done. It gave me a refreshing break from what she normally writes and while it was on the light side of the "cozy" mystery, it still had enough interest to keep it going. A typical locked room mystery, the unexpected twist at the end made for a nice ending. I hope MacAlister writes more mysteries in the future.

I love Katie MacAlister aka Kate Marsh. I buy every book and this one was no exception to her wonderful list of books.