Customer Reviews

Remembrance of Murders Past: A Ghostwriter Mystery

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

 

 

The best of the Ghostwriter series to date. The reader joins intrepid New Yorker, Jake O'Hara, and her band of ghostwriting sleuths as they decamp to Washington, DC to solve a mystery that took place in the 60s at Georgetown University. While having fun trying to guess the murderer, the happy reader also gets to enjoy the company of Jake's extended family and friends--who are in fine form in this outing.

I do love a mystery and this is a great one, right from page one all the way to the exciting finish. Jake O'Hara has to find a priest's killer before he kills her mother. Jake and her ghostwriter pals face their toughest case. Gypsy Rose Liebowitz's contacts in the world beyond help, too. The story moves at a fast pace, moving from Manhattan to Jackson Heights, to Washington, DC to Southampton, Long Island, then back to NYC. Really suspenseful, this book is a roller coaster ride and a great read.

I really liked the twists and turns in book #4 of the Ghostwriter Mystery series. Waiting in the confessional booth, Jake O'Hara's mother witnessed a priest's murder! And the killer also spotted Maura O'Hara! Then Jake, her mother, her mother's fiance, Aaron, family friend and psychic, Gypsy Rose Liebowitz, and the ghostwriters fly to DC to investigate the priest's past - and the long ago murder of a girl who has been haunting Jake. I was surprised when the two murders - 34 years apart - turned out to be linked. And now both Jake and Maura were in grave danger. I stayed up till three a.m. to see how Remembrance Of Murders Past ended!

No matter what genre comprises your favorite reading material, you're likely to find it in this book. But don't let that keep you from reading it. Just when you think the author is liable to go a bit overboard in one direction, she pulls back nicely, and heads in another.

There's a mystery, to be sure, and romance and reincarnation and psychic phenomena and lots of humor. All in all, an enjoyable mixture. One might wish for a bit more about the writing careers of the 'ghosts' but that's a feeble complaint, really.

Jake O'Hara earns her living as a ghostwriter, and even belongs to Ghostwriters Anonymous. At 34, she lives with her widowed mom, Maura, and stumbles into mysteries wherever she goes. This time, however, it's Mom who witnesses the murder of a priest as she's about to begin her confession. From there, the story proceeds from Manhattan to Washington, DC, to Long Island and back to Manhattan again.

Her companions, ghostly and otherwise are all here: Gypsy Rose Liebowitz, Dennis Kim (and his Dad), Ben Rubin (and *his* Dad) and ghosts Modesty, Jane and Too-Tall Tim.

The mystery really centers around a 34-year-old murder victim, whose death on the day Jake was born leads to the reincarnation bits, but in a sensible way. I think more people experience this kind of experience than are willing to say. I know I have.

In the end, however, justice is served, and all the loose ends are neatly tied up, waiting for the next ghostly enterprise. Should be fun!

This is a cute little series and the latest installment of amateur sleuth/ghostwriter Jake O'Hara lives up to expectations. However, the writing seems a bit juvenile and amateur, which I don't remember from the previous books. And, the author really needs to cut down on her use of exclamation points. They don't have nearly as much effect when they're used in just about every sentence in the book.

Noreen Wald has given us a real romp from the present back to the sixty's, from the upper East Side of Manhattan to the great watering holes of Georgetown. This is a fun puzzler with both outrageous and quite real characters. Jake O'Hara is so real that you want to give her advice - marry one of those guys! Hey, she is having so much fun with her wacky family and felow ghostwriters who can blame her for keeping us waiting like her two beaus.
The story even provokes some thought about the past and how it comes back to us but Jake keeps it light and moving. The final chase scene is one of the best ever. It rivals the classic chasse scene in the movie the French connection.
Don't miss this one.

Jake O'Hara's mother Maura witnesses a priest's murder while in the confessional. It seems to be related to a South American drug lord, but noone is sure. Jake is having strange dreams about being murdered. Then at the memorial service for a dead ghostwriter, Jake feels a strange connection to a woman who was murdered the day she was born. Strangely enough all of these mysteries are connected as well as being connected with several rich and powerful Washington bigwigs. With the help of the ghosts and Dennis Kim, Jake, Gypsy Rose and Maura solve the 34 year old mystery.

This is the best of the Jake O'Hara mysteries so far. The author skillfully blends the mysteries of the past and present. The supernatural angle is entertaining but not too overdone. Gypsy Rose Liebowitz's character really stands out, and the Ben Rubin character is strangely absent. Very fast read.

This book seem to have a large dose of the supernatural which turns me right off. I didn't finish it.