Reviewed by Annika
TITLE: Seance on a Summer’s Night
AUTHOR: Josh Lanyon
NARRATOR: Matt Haynes
PUBLISHER: Just Joshin Publishing
RELEASE DATE: May 27, 2019
LENGTH: 8 hours, 9 minutes
BLURB:
Theater critic Artemus Bancroft isn’t sure what to expect when his aunt summons him home to California with vague but urgent pleas about being unable to cope with “the situation”. The situation turns out to be the apparent haunting of Green Lanterns Inn – along with alarming rumors that long-suffering Auntie Halcyone may have murdered her philandering husband. In fact, the rumors seem to have been started by the late Mr. Hyde himself – from beyond the grave.
REVIEW:
I would say that Seance on a Summer’s Night is a cozy mystery rather than a romance or suspense. There is a romantic interest, but if you are looking for steam you won’t find that here. There are also some instances where your heart might beat a little faster when the intensity is set to max, but the overall feel of this book was a cozy amateur sleuth mystery.
Theatre critic Artemus Bancroft is called home to Green Lanterns Inn by his aunt asking him for help. When he gets there the inn is empty of guests and there’s a heavy unsettling feeling in the air. He’s told that the spirit of his aunt’s late husband Ogden is roaming the grounds seeking revenge. Since the haunting started there’s been no guests and no employees have stayed beyond one night – part from the new gardener, the housekeeper and the handyman.
Artemus is sceptic of the hauntings to say the least. However, not long after arriving at the inn unexplainable things starts to happen. To start he keep hearing footsteps on the floors above him – but there’s never anyone there. So when Roma, a medium comes to the inn for their usual séances to communicate with Ogden he reluctantly joins in. The séances are eerie and you never quite know if they are genuine or a hoax – or a combination of the two.
The mystery was a solid one and I would say had all the trademarks of Lanyon’s. I won’t go into details and spoil the book for you, as you’ll have to experience it for yourselves. The big reveal in the end wasn’t a surprising one, but I didn’t mind that. I still enjoyed the investigating and after all the journey was the important part.
I really enjoyed listening to Matt Haynes, loved his voice. He captured the feel of the book, the eerie feeling of the inn, the spooky noises and the séances. He had great pacing and enunciation but more importantly his narration matched the happenings of the book. At times he distinguished between the different characters with different voices, not all of them mind you, but some. Other times he narrated them all with the same voice and only distinguished between narration and conversation. Overall Haynes is a narrator I’d happily listen to again in the future.
Seance on a Summer’s Night was I would say a classic Lanyon mystery. Full of twists and turns, interesting people and with a great sense of place. Haynes brought it all to life and made the experience a pleasant one.
RATING: 
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