Southern Ghost (Death on Demand Mysteries, No. 8) [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Carolyn G. Hart (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1993

Bookstore owner Annie Darling must set aside her shame and do some serious sleuthing when her husband Max becomes the prime suspect in an unspecified crime involving a beautiful blonde.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Hart offers a pleasing eighth entry in her multiple award-winning (Agatha, Anthony and Macavity) cozy/Southern gothic series starring mystery bookstore owner Annie Darling and her sleuth husband, Max. In 1970, the son of South Carolina's prominent Tarrant family takes his life in the aftermath of antiwar protests; his father, in shock, also dies. His mother soon dies of grief and a baby, a cousin, drowns. Dark deeds come to light 20 years later, when a young woman eager to to find her true parents reopens old wounds, aided by an elderly aunt who brings in outside help, namely Max and Annie. While Hart sidetracks us with an excess of cat lore, the tiresome supernatural musings of Max's mother and such genre stereotypes as the crusty, all-knowing matriarch and a drunken daughter, in the end she whips all into a remarkably satisfying tale. The segues to the dark night 22 years ago are chillingly effective and tantalizingly brief. A seasoned mystery maker, Hart ( The Christie Caper ), who is current president of Sisters in Crime, earns the devotion of her following.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 353 pages
• Publisher: Wheeler Publishing (July 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568950292
• ISBN-13: 978-1568950297
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,220,837 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Carolyn Hart talks about mysteries and writing in a new interview on Oklahoma public tv. Please visit www.CarolynHart.com and click on the link in the upper right hand column.

In April Berkley Prime Crime will publish DEATH COMES SILENTLY, the 22nd Death on Demand title. Coming in October is WHAT THE CAT SAW, a novel of suspense.

Carolyn writes the Death on Demand series set in a mystery bookstore on a South Carolina sea island and the Bailey Ruth Raeburn series featuring a lively redheaded ghost.

Carolyn is also the author of several WWII novels, including ESCAPE FROM PARIS which is now available for the first time in its complete uncut version. Escape from Paris is the story of two sisters who defy the Gestapo to help British fliers avoid capture.

In Ghost at Work, Bailey Ruth returns to earth to help someone in trouble. She moves a body, investigates a murder, saves a marriage, prevents a suicide, and--in a fiery finale--rescues a child who knows too much. In Merry, Merry Ghost, Bailey Ruth protects a little boy from danger. In Ghost in Trouble, Bailey Ruth tries to corral a wilful woman determined to play hunt-the-killer. Coming in 2013 is HIJACKED GHOST which puts Bailey Ruth at risk of ever returning to Heaven.

Letter from Home, a WWII novel set on the home front, received the Agatha Award for Best Mystery of 2003. It was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize by the Oklahoma Center for Poets and Writers. Thirteen-year-old Gretchen Gilman is working for the small-town newspaper during the hot summer of 1944. Murder occurs on the street where she lives, forever changing her life and the lives of those involved.

Hart was one of 10 mystery authors featured at the National Book Festival on the Mall in Washington, DC, in 2003 for Letter from Home and again in 2007 for Set Sail for Murder, 7th in the Henrie O series. In Set Sail for Murder (new in paperback March 2008), Henrie O joins a troubled family on a Baltic cruise and death is an unwelcome passenger.

Hart has been nominated 9 times for the Agatha Award for Best Novel and has won 3 times. In 2007 she received the Lifetime Achievement Award at Malice Domestic. She will be the International Guest of Honor at Bloody Words in Toronto on June 6-8, 2008.

Hart is a native of Oklahoma City, a journalism graduate of the University of Oklahoma, and a former president of Sisters in Crime. She is also a member of Authors Guild, Mystery Writers of America, the International Association of Crime Writers, and American Crime Writers League.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An engrossing tale of how death continues to affect a family, April 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Southern Ghost (Death on Demand Mysteries, No. 8) (Mass Market Paperback)

The style Ms. Hart chose for this mystery kept me on the edge of my seat. It wasn't as funny as her previous tales, but certainly suspenseful. I loved her method of travelling back in time to give tidbits of information that would puzzle and then illuminate. As always, her setting is intricately woven into her story and you can feel and smell South Carolina before you are done. One of her best in this series.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Skeletons in the family closet, June 21, 2002

By 

Karen Potts (Lake Jackson, Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Southern Ghost (Death on Demand Mysteries, No. 8) (Mass Market Paperback)

Max Darling receives a panicky phone call from his client, Courtney Kimball. She urges him to meet with her immediately but when he arrives at the agreed-upon place, she does not show up. When they do some investigating Max and his wife Annie find that Courtney has just discovered that she is part of the wealthy and powerful Tarrant family. She wants Max to find out who murdered her father and grandfather in 1970. Max and Annie figure that it has to be either a family member or one of the servants, since they were the only ones with motive and opportunity. They travel to the family home and interview each of the suspects, finding that each person has a motive for the murders. Max and Annie discover many secrets in the Tarrant family and that wealth and prominence do not make them immune from tragedy, greed, and deceit. This is a page-turner that will keep you guessing until the very end.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Quite Enjoyable Quandry, July 2, 2000

By 

A Reader (Missouri) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Southern Ghost (Death on Demand Mysteries, No. 8) (Mass Market Paperback)

Southern Ghost was one of the stronger books in the Death on Demand Series. It seems the characters and the stories get stronger as the series progresses. This story includes a large number of local ghost stories that add a real flavor for the past to the mystery at hand. The story has Hart's usual references to a multitude of mystery authors and books, as well as some of the more colorful characters from past books in this series. Including characters like Miss Dora and Sybil added zip to what was already a well planned mystery and gave readers a deeper sense of the area that the books are set in.