How to Seduce a Ghost [Hardcover]

Hope McIntyre (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 28, 2005

A young ghostwriter must track down a deadly arsonist in the first of an exciting new mystery series.Writer Lee Bartholomew spends more time dwelling on the terrifying possibility of her own grisly murder than on solving anyone else+s. Yet she insists upon living alone in a gigantic London house, banishing her boyfriend Tommy-who is eager to marry her-while she quakes in terror at the thought of the rampant crime erupting just at the other side of her front door. The situation gets worse when someone begins setting fire to houses in Lee+s Notting Hill neighborhood. As Lee embarks on a new job to ghostwrite the autobiography of soap star Selma Walker, she finds herself catapulted into the center of the arson investigation-and into the arms of a dangerous new lover. Now, she must discover who is setting these mysterious fires, learn the truth about Selma-and give Tommy an answer to his marriage proposal-before she can return to her quiet life.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In the pseudonymous McIntyre's sprightly debut, ghostwriter Lee Bartholomew has a lovely life in London's fashionable Notting Hill. Lee's career is humming along, an American soap opera diva having recently asked Lee to ghost her autobiography. Lee's only problem is one most heroines of Brit chick-lit would kill for: Tommy, her beau of eight years, is pressing Lee to marry, and Lee's not sure she's ready. Then Lee's neighbor, a star of children's TV, dies in a ghastly house fire, and the police begin whispering about arson and murder. Soon, tragedies and tribulations pile up, and Lee's once-simple life grows ever more complicated—and dangerous. Lee's garden shed, which she's been renting out to a Marilyn Monroe lookalike, goes up in flames. Her father leaves her mum for a French mistress. Too much to keep straight? Perhaps the unnecessary appearance of Lee's estranged childhood best friend as the local cop's new girlfriend is, shall we say, overkill. But all in all, McIntyre delivers a page-turner with a socially redeeming message.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Its flippant title aside, this sparkling debut is a winner all the way. It stars Londoner Lee Bartholomew, one of the most engaging protagonists to come along in ages. As clueless about love as Bridget Jones and as filled with neuroses as Inspector Morse, Lee barely survives each day without some new calamity threatening to destroy her world. Her vulnerabilities make her all the more lovable, both to readers and to the two very different men in her life: dependable long-term boyfriend Tommy and the dashing and dangerous Buzz Kempinski. In this adventure, Lee, who works as a ghostwriter, agrees to work with soap-star Selma Walker on a tell-all book, but she is distracted by a series of mysterious fires in her colorful Notting Hill neighborhood. Meanwhile, Lee can't seem to put out the fire between her and Buzz, Selma's manager. Colorful characters populate the book, from Lee's zany mother to her saucy young boarder. The pseudonymous McIntyre knows exactly how to temper the wacky parts of her story with more serious bits, balancing the whole stew perfectly. Both hilarious and heart wrenching, this beguiling mix of chick lit and hip thriller--Helen Fielding meets Janet Evanovich--is the must-read of the crime-fiction fall season. Jenny McLarin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Mysterious Press; First Edition edition (October 28, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0892960132
• ISBN-13: 978-0892960132
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,257,960 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars 3 1/2 stars -- the second half of the book mkes up for the slow start..., November 21, 2005

By 

tregatt (Portland, Oregon) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How to Seduce a Ghost (Hardcover)

While I found "How to Seduce a Ghost" to be a fairly entertaining and absorbing read, I didn't think that it was that much of a page turner. I think that the difference in opinion may lie in how one reacts to the heroine of the piece, Lee Bartholomew. If you find this character to be an engaging and beguiling character that you can relate to, than the book automatically becomes a very absorbing read. If, on the other hand, Lee's constant self-involvement begins to grate after a while, then, like me you begin to have mixed feelings about "How to Seduce a Ghost."

When ghost writer, Lee Bartholomew's famous neighbour, Astrid McKenzie, dies tragically in a house fire, Lee begins to fixate on the notion that she might be the next Notting Hill denizen to die in a house fire. (Lee has several phobias; and one of them involves imagining painful forms of death.) Single and living rent free in her parents house, Lee has it rather good -- a nice boy friend (Tommy) who's dying to settle down with her (except that she's not ready and seems to be a little bored with their relationship right now) -- and a job she loves. So what if she seems to lead a rather solitary and circumscribed life. But all this changes suddenly when she lands the assignment of ghosting a noted soap opera actress's biography and finds herself in the middle of an affair with the actress' manager (talk about conflict of interest!); and then her parents drop the bombshell that they want to sell the house that she's living in -- this after she's rented out the summer house to a young girl who bares a passing resemblance to Marilyn Monroe. And when, one night while she's away her summer house burns down while someone is in it, Lee realises that her life has taken on the semblance of a nightmare -- and one she cannot seem to wake up from...

For me, the interesting thing about this book was not so much the plot (it was a bit easy to figure out who the murderer was), but "watching" how Lee finally grew up and became less self absorbed, difficult and snooty. Because, quite honestly, I couldn't really see why so many characters kept falling over themselves to please her for much of the book. Here was a character who had a rather nice boyfriend (not perfect, but nice) and all she did for much of the book was moan about him and push him away. And then there was how she allowed her parents house to fall apart because she valued peace and quiet over seeing to the rising damp problem. Apparently living with the smell of decay and the dirt was far easier than putting up with Tommy's untidiness. Fortunately, just as I was about to abandon the book, things changed and the pace picked up a bit. With Lee learning some unpalatable truths about her new lover, making some unwelcome discoveries about herself and her relationships with the other people in her life, and her reslove to solve the mystery of who the mad arsonist is, the novel became a more interesting and more challenging read -- a bit like a much lighter version of a good Nicci French urban thriller. And I must admit that the second half of the book really made for good reading -- the pacing was swifter and the plotting became tighter and more urgent. So that all in all, I'd rate this as a good 3 1/2 star read.

(And by the way, the character Lee Bartholomew is supposed to be a some kind of cross between Bridget Jones and Monk -- from the TV series -- not Colin Dexter's Chief Inspector Morse -- unless one is suggesting that Morse's partiality for a glass of beer is some kind of neuroses. I don't quite see the analogy myself but then I can be dim sometimes.)

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Solving the Mystery of the Fires, November 18, 2005

By 

Shelley Bush "Country gal" (Glen Rock, PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How to Seduce a Ghost (Hardcover)

Lee Bartholomew is pleased with her life. She lives alone in her parents' home while they are living in France. She has a boyfriend of eight years whom she sees occasionally. She is a ghostwriter for people who need help writing their autobiography. In addition, she just got a new client, a famous soap opera star. Little did she know that her life was going to change.

It all starts when Astrid McKenzie's house goes up in flames with her in it. Lee becomes scared since she lives right down the street. Then Lee meets Selma Walker to write her story. Instead, she becomes involved with Selma's manager Buzz. Then she learns that Buzz is also Selma's husband. After Lee's summerhouse catches on fire, Tommy, her boyfriend, moves in. Lee's mother shows up and Lee learns about having a full house. Meanwhile, when Lee is supposed to be writing Selma's book, she tries to solve the mystery of the fires.

How to Seduce a Ghost, though long, kept me interested. Readers will have trouble putting the book down. They will be puzzled as more and more facts and people get involved. Readers will guess repeatedly and be very surprised with the ending.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars ultra lighthearted chick lit whodunit, October 25, 2005

By 

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

This review is from: How to Seduce a Ghost (Hardcover)

In London ghostwriter Nathalie "Lee" Bartholomew is doing quite well professionally with her latest potential client being an American soap opera star Selma Walker who wants to hire her for sinful amount of cash to write her autobiography. However, on the personal front, her boyfriend of eight years Tommy wants to marry Lee; she has doubts about tying the knot so she tries to delay her response.

Meanwhile Lee makes love with Selma's manager Buzz only to learn that he is also her client's husband and that he abuses his wife. Even worse, Buzz apparently made it with Lee's neighbor Astrid who recently died in arson set fire. Lee wonders if Buzz committed the act even while the detectives query everyone remotely connected to the victim. However, soon Lee's house is in flames and a corpse resides in her summerhouse; someone is systematically reducing the Notting Hill Gate neighborhood population and interfering with lee's love life.

HOW TO SEDUCE A GHOST is a fun chick lit amateur sleuth tale starring an intriguing female who seems to enjoy being on the edge even when it places her long term relationship in jeopardy. Lee is fun to follow as she proves London swings though her numerous trysts (and that of Selma too) also take away from her arson-homicide investigation. Still fans of ultra lighthearted chick lit whodunit will enjoy Lee's antics enhanced by Selma's escapades.

Harriet Klausner