Customer Reviews

Ghost in Trouble: A Mystery (Bailey Ruth)

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I'm wary of ghost discussions, but author Carolyn Hart presents this in a rather wholesome way. She has Bailey Ruth Raeburn as someone who has died and gone to heaven. She is not an angel. She participates as a volunteer in the Department of Good Intentions under the supervision of another deceased human living in heaven, Wiggins.

When these individuals return to earth, they are "ghosts." In this story there is a seance, strictly forbidden to Christians--if it is real, that is. Bailey and Wiggins carefully discuss whether Bailey can go to it or not, and why.

Of course I can't give away the story here, since it is after all a mystery. I pretty much never figure out in advance whodunit! But the one who did do it makes sense here, when it is revealed at the end.

I have trouble keeping up with who is who when reading a story with a lot of characters, and working at that is good for my brain. I did manage to follow who was who in this mystery pretty well. After all, there have to be enough possibilities for whodunit to make it a mystery!

This is another winner by Hart!

I was not as impressed with this third outing of the Bailey Ruth Series. The first two books had a steady flow, whereas, Ghost in Trouble came across to me as too choppy with a profusion of unnecessary characters. Get to the point, stick to the point and encourage me on the path to the ending that is the formula for a good book. This on the other hand just did not have the spark to keep me reading.

As we know from the previous books, Bailey Ruth Raeburn and her husband died in a boating accident and now Bailey works as a heavenly emissary helping to keep the living out of trouble. Unfortunately, Bailey has a problem when it comes to following the precepts and from time to time oversteps her boundaries much to the frustration of Wiggins her immediate superior.

Bailey Ruth arrives back in Adelaide, Oklahoma, her former in real life home, to help Kay Clark after her boyfriend, Jack Hume, is discovered dead as the bottom of a staircase at the family home known as the Castle, a local Adelaide landmark.

In and out of the story comes the over abundance of characters that lead this reader to refresh her memory as to how they all fit in.

As with the two previous books, Bailey's antics and sudden appearances in multiple outfits, that are practically a character all their own, lead to the bad guys getting caught and the good guys riding off into the sunset, or the train that is barreling into take Bailey Ruth back home.

In the latest foray of the investigative emissary from Heaven, Bailey Ruth is once again brought back to her hometown of Adelaide, Oklahoma. She is on a mission to save Kay Clark, a woman that she knew in her human life. Kay is at the center of a mysterious death that occurred at the Castle, an estate that is home to the Hume family. Kay is a difficult charge for Bailey Ruth, who has enough trouble following the precepts of Heaven's Department of Good Intentions (and her boss, Wiggins) on her own. Right from the get-go, Bailey Ruth is off to a bad start, "swirling" in and out of being to try to help her charge yet not attract attention. But that of course is impossible. With her redheaded locks and her constant penchant for changing her outfit multiple times each day, you'd think she'd been a fashion model in her former life. She is very obsessed with her image but I suppose as a ghost, there's only so much to entertain yourself...

I was eager to read the latest adventure of Bailey Ruth in Ghost in Trouble. It was a bit of a disappointment. I found it to be a fairly boring read. There are few laugh out loud moments but the plot felt formulaic. The mystery was stretched out and while I wasn't able to guess the who-dun-it, the reveal wasn't an Aha! moment that you usually get at the end of a mystery. The chemistry and back and forth dialogue between Kay and Bailey Ruth was the best part of the story. They played off each other to perfection. I especially liked it when Kay remarked on her need for constant wardrobe changes. I wanted to give her a high five for that comment because it made me feel validated in my annoyance with Bailey Ruth's outfit changes being so overstated.

I think Ghost at Work was the best of the series and each book that succeeds it is a little more rote and familiar. I'd like to see a wrench thrown in the works. Send Bailey Ruth somewhere else, not Oklahoma or have her work as a partner with another ghost, be an emissary trainer or something... She is a character ripe with more plot possibilities and I'm disappointed that this book wasn't more riveting a read. It's a good fluff read (with no profanity or smut, a definite plus for me) if nothing else. In the mystery genre, you can find worse but there is also more thrilling stories to be found. This book is targeted towards fans of this character so if you've read the previous two books, you'd probably still enjoy this outing.

This is book 3 in the Bailey Ruth Raeburn series. It's not necessary to read the first two to understand this one. The reading them would perhaps enhance the story background for the reader.

PLOT: Bailey Ruth is called back to her hometown of Adelaide, OK to save Kay Clark. Kay has been investigating the suspicious death of an old flame and it's put her life in danger.

PROS: As the series is told in first person, Bailey Ruth's ability to disappear and go anywhere to observe is well utilized. The author hints at suspects without revealing so much as to ruin the mystery.

Finally in book 3, we meet the much spoken of Bobby Mac briefly.

CONS: I love a mystery and have a hard time saying no to one, but I found this 3rd (and last installment for this reader) to be difficult to get into. There were too many characters introduced within the span of a few paragraphs. I find that very frustrating as a reader. There's also the list of deceased characters the reader has to keep track of.

For the majority of the book, the reader is not certain a murder has occurred. Jack fell off a balcony. Except for the attempted murder of Kay, there's no solid evidence to suggest it was anything other than an accident. This makes for some dull reading.

I found Bailey Ruth's Charlie Chan quotes to be offensive and unnecessary.

At only 74 pages in, I was sick of hearing about Bailey Ruth's red hair and her constant clothing changes. The book would probably be a good 50 pages shorter if all references to her clothing and hair were removed. She seems more addlebrained in this book than in the previous two. She would be a better detective if she spent less time obsessing over clothing and her hair. Everything from rooms to cars, she somehow manages to mention how it compliments her hair. How did this vain woman make to Heaven? Her behavior might be amusing in a minor character, but is annoying and tedious in a main character.

2 STARS: The 2 stars are for the well written novel but not much else. The plot needs plumping. There is so much information thrown at the reader, but for much of the book, you don't know if any of it is worth anything.

The first in this series was refreshing and entertaining, enough so that I read the second book when it came out. Like many sequels, it lost a little of its fresh originality but not so much that the third in the series wasn't bought too. What a mistake. The plot of Ghost in Trouble is a complete mishmash; the characters were tired, old stereotypes; and the heroine is now written as a shallow, vain bird-brain. The author is trying to make the Bailey Ruth character cute and appealing, but the heroine instead comes across as very annoying. I say, do the reading public a favor and end this series.

This is a major chick lit book. Every time the main character appears there is a long description about all of the clothes she decides to or decides not to wear and why it looks good on her (and why she is so beautiful). For me this distracts from the rest of the story which on the whole was interesting enough- and as a mystery it was successful as I did not have it figured out before the end. The book was relatively well written, and did have some humor but it was overshadowed by the overwhelming sense that the book was trying to become a empowering chick lit novel of some kind that it kind of lost it's oomph as a fun, light hearted mystery. I haven't read any of the authors other books so I can't compare this to them, but for me it was not very successful, but was somewhat entertaining.

I've read all three Bailey Ruth mysteries and they just keep getting better and better. This time Heavenly emissary Bailey Ruth is sent back to her hometown of Adelaide, Oklahoma to save the life of a woman she had a run-in with when she was alive. She and Kay Clark don't get along in the beginning. Kay was the woman who, in Bailey Ruth's opinion, stole the husband of one of her good friends years ago. However, being from Heaven now, Bailey Ruth must reserve judgment and get on with her mission. Kay Clark is in Adelaide because the man she had the affair with, Jack Hume, came back home to Adelaide after making a name for himself in Africa as an adventurer, and wound up dead after what appeared to be an accidental tumble downstairs. Kay suspects he was pushed to his death. Bailey Ruth arrives just in time to save Kay from a similar fate. Now, the two of them know that Jack's death was not accidental and Kay has obviously gotten the attention of the killer. But who among the wealthy Hume family, and friends, had a motive to kill Jack? Practically everyone. While Bailey Ruth and Kay snoop around, Bailey Ruth enjoys her sojourn on earth by eating burgers, switching clothes on a whim, (she's a terrible clotheshorse), and avoiding being seen or heard. She still hasn't mastered the not being seen or heard part, which makes for quite a few comic moments. Loved it!

Heaven's Department of Good Intentions assigns emissary Bailey Ruth Raeburn to protect Kay Clark. Bailey Ruth and Kay knew each other when they lived in Adelaide, Oklahoma.

Following the death of Kay's former boyfriend Jack Hume, she goes to his family estate the Castle to pay her respects. However, while she is visiting the family, a large vase crashes near her almost hammering Kay. Bailey, as Kay's "assistant", Francie de Sales, investigates who is trying to harm her employer and why while ignoring heavenly operating procedures for earthly visits, which she knows makes her boss Wiggins' halo red with ire. When she and Bailey begin to believe Jack did not just accidentally fall as reported, but was murdered, like a dog with a rawhide bone they chew on the clues while intensifying their inquiry.

The third heavenly ghost mystery (see Ghost at Work and Merry, Merry Ghost) is an entertaining paranormal whodunit starring a delightful optimist heroine who is more optimist than the Little Engine That Could. Bailey Ruth believes rules even divined from heaven need to be bent (Wiggins would accuse her of breaking them) if the on the ground scenario demands it as she is the field operative. With a strong investigation by the two amateur sleuths, sub-genre readers will relish the antics of the heavenly heroine who is all "Hart".

Harriet Klausner

I listened to the first few chapters of the audio book. It annoyed me that this ghost was able to move physical objects, eat, and drink. I prefer the "realistic" host in Sophie Kinsella's "Twenties Girl." Then it occurred to me that a ghost helping with a murder mystery is just plain silly. All she would have to do is look up the dead man's ghost and ask him who his murderer was!

The heroine is Bailey Ruth Raeburn a "spirit" or "ghost" who is sent from "Heaven's Department of Good Intentions" to help people out. Bailey and her also deceased husband reside in Heaven. She and her husband, Bobby Mac, were lost at sea when a storm his their cabin cruiser. They died in the latter part of the 20th century. They had lived in Adelaide, Oklahoma that has a population of just over 16,000. As Bailey is lounging around on their boat in Heaven, a telegram from her boss, Wiggins, appears telling her that "skulduggery" is a foot in Adelaide and to come at once and so she does.

She learns that a woman, Kay Clark, who was once an enemy of hers is in danger. She is living at "The Castle" that the Humes family owns and is planning on writing about them. However, her investigating is bringing out people who are afraid of what she might find out. As Bailey discusses the new project with her boss Wiggins, an emergency down there arrives and she is quickly sent off via the Rescue Express.

While much of the story and mystery is interesting, I found the flavor of the story and attitude of Bailey Ruth to be too much humor and not enough substance. I usually enjoy fun mysteries such as those by Carol Higgins Clark but this was too much fun and not enough serious character development for me.