House of Whispers: Book One Of The Supernatural Properties Series [Mass Market Paperback]

Margaret Lucke (Author)

Book Description

Series: Supernatural Properties | Publication Date: March 1, 2008

Claire Scanlan is launching a new career in real estate and has a chance to sell a spectacular oceanview home designed by a world-renowned architect. But the home has a problem that frightens off buyers - it was the site of a vicious mass murder. As Ben Grant, the handsome, successful brother of one of the murder victims, shows Claire and a real estate rival the empty house, Claire experiences strange sensations. The unexplainable experiences continue and the idea that the place might be haunted both fascinates and repels her. Claire is also fascinated, and not at all repelled, by Ben Grant. Claire realizes the psychic experiences are real and must solve the mystery of the bloody tragedy - even though Ben seems to be a suspect.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Juno Books (March 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0809571587
• ISBN-13: 978-0809571581
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,302,605 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #36 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Religion & Spirituality > Occult > Ghosts & Haunted Houses

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gives new meaning to haunted house, April 25, 2008

By 

Karen Stephen "Doctor Flamingo" (San Francisco Bay Area) - See all my reviews

This review is from: House of Whispers: Book One Of The Supernatural Properties Series (Mass Market Paperback)

When I think of haunted houses, I imagine creaky floorboards, cobwebs, dark recesses, and a gray clapboard house covered by a tangle of vines inhabited by bats. House of Whispers breaks the mold, relegating its spirits and the human who encounters them to an ultra-modern, sun-filled mansion on the edge of a Pacific cliff--a home created by an award-winning architect who has become the victim of an angry son--or so the story goes. The book's heroine, Claire, a neophyte real estate saleswoman, wins the dubious honor of having to market and sell this spectacular home where, unfortunately, a great tragedy, the murder of an entire family, has taken place. Her skepticism about all things paranormal disintegrates as the spirit of one of the dead reaches out to touch her in search of justice. Her attraction to the brother of the architect/victim wavers under the shadow of suspicion. Author Margaret Lucke's prior successes in mystery writing (and teaching others to write mysteries) adds a literate and believable edge to the who-done-it aspect of the story. What a great read for an eerily sunny afternoon when chimera are least expected.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars House of ghosts, June 10, 2008

By 

Helen Hancox "Auntie Helen" (Essex, England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: House of Whispers: Book One Of The Supernatural Properties Series (Mass Market Paperback)

Claire Scanlan is starting on a new career as an Estate Agent and hoping to get over her divorce through work. Unfortunately another new employee at the Estate Agency, Avery Collier, is also hungry for success and Claire's new house listing might be a significant problem. Although the house is a wonderful building designed by a renowned architect it was also the location of the murder of that same architect and his wife and child by his son. Many people have been to view the house previously but have been put off by strange feelings - is the house haunted?

Claire discovers very early on that the house probably is haunted. She's always been very open to supernatural events and often dreams about things. When she realises someone in the house is trying to contact her and that there might be more to the murders than the police originally thought, she doesn't know who to trust. Is Ben Grant, the brother of the architect and the man listing the house, too good to be true? Can Claire be a success in her job when Avery keeps trying to get her in trouble?

This was an enjoyable book with an interesting mystery which gradually unfolded. The author's sense of pace was good and it wasn't easy to guess who was the guilty party. However I also felt that the book didn't have anything particularly new to say and that the characters felt more like ciphers, without particularly deep feelings. There is a romance within the book but it didn't feel very thoroughly portrayed; I also felt that the author used Eden, the surviving daughter, as a rather clumsy plot device when she tells Claire something she hasn't told anyone else, despite having known her only a couple of days. The book was interesting in its way but nothing particularly special.

Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book © Helen Hancox 2008

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars entertaining haunted house whodunit, April 2, 2008

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: House of Whispers: Book One Of The Supernatural Properties Series (Mass Market Paperback)

After she catches her husband in bed with another woman, Claire Scanlon starts divorce proceedings and returns to her California hometown where she quickly shares a home with her best friend Lindsay. She obtains a realtor position with Golden Gate properties. Because she is late on her first day on the job, her boss makes her compete with another newbie Avery for the LeGrande listing. The seller Ben Grant will select the realtor of record after he meets the rivals and gets their opinions on how to show the house.

The house has a dark past because the last tenants were murdered there by their son who turned his gun on himself and committed suicide. Claire smells blood when she enters the abode and hears a voice whispering. She next sees something out of the corner of her eye. Claire is shook to her bone marrow, but Ben picks her to show the house because she will know how the other potential buyers will feel. Claire and Ben become romantically involved. She goes to the house and picks up vibes that a fifth person was there during the murder-suicide. In spite of her sudden paranormal skills, Claire understands she has no mundane proof that the real killer got away with mass murder.

HOUSE OF WHISPERS is a fascinating blending of romance, mystery and the paranormal. Every few chapters, the ghost talks to herself wishing she could communicate more directly with Claire so that the truth becomes known about her parents, her brother and her. Claire's reactions to what her senses find seem right as she goes from doubter to questioner to believer. Margaret Lucke provides an entertaining haunted house whodunit.

Harriet Klausner