Reviewed by Cheryl K

TITLE: Ghost In the Box

SERIES: Haunted Souls #18

AUTHOR: Pandora Pine

PUBLISHER: Self

LENGTH: 181 pages

RELEASE DATE: February 15, 2024

BLURB:

A killer is on the loose in Salem who not only wants to take your life, but your soul as well…

Psychic Copeland Forbes anonymously receives a locked wooden box with an unknown spirit trapped inside. Attached to the chest is a cryptic warning: May you get what you truly deserve. Sensing the box comes armed with a curse, Cope refuses to open it until more can be learned about the sender and the ghost who dwells within.

Several other psychics lend a hand to uncover the secrets the chest conceals, but there are no easy answers to be had. When the box is destroyed by unknown hands, the curse comes for Cope with devastating consequences.

Meanwhile, Detective Jude Byrne, and the rest of Salem’s Cold Case Unit, are trying to solve the thirty year old homicide of college student Trinity O’Connell, whose lifeless body was discovered after she attended a meeting of the Purity Circle, a group that values celibacy. Her father was the only suspect at the time of the murder, but he’d never been arrested, and was now long dead. Having to start from scratch, Jude digs up three possible suspects, all of whom had their own reasons for wanting Trinity dead.

Who killed Trinity O’Connell? Why? More importantly, who is the ghost in the box?

REVIEW:

Disclaimer – This is book 18 in the Haunted Souls series, plus it is intrinsically connected to Pandora’s Cold Case psychic series.  All this means if you have not read any of either series, you will need to do so before you partake of this book.

Ok, now on to the good stuff.  I say this with most of my reviews for Pandora’s books, but I really love the fact that each story she writes is unique.  There are always the major underlying themes of found family in her books, but each story premise is unique, imaginative, and a brain teaser. Her world building is wonderful and is branching out to now include the youngest characters being in school. I feel like those teachers are gong to have their hands full as our young trio get older.  But that’s just a credit to Pandora’s character development, which continues to dive deep into the psyche of all the characters in the story. I love how she incorporates real life issues into the fictional world of Jude, Cope, and the whole Scooby gang.

The latest mystery tackled in this story is a barn burner and I love how she weaves the mystery of Trinity O’Connell’s cold case death into the storyline.  I also love all the twists and turns that come with these mysteries. So, of course the prose are fantastic as usual.  But don’t get complacent and think  this just one of her “normal” mysteries- there is a bit of a twist in this story.   Well, there might be a couple of twists and turns – but I’m not going to tell what they are.

I’ve been reading Pandora’s stories long before I ever started reviewing them for Love Bytes and all I can say is each book gets better and better. So do yourself a favor and run to your favorite eBook purchasing site and snap this one up.  As usual, I’m looking forward to the next book in this series.

RATING:

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