Murder by Death

Not her best effort.  Ms. Shelton can plot a good mystery as well as a very interesting romantic situation, but the dialogue is average and oftentimes shaky - the characters just don't speak naturally, in my opinion.

But with each book I become more and more intrigued by Betts' relationship with her boyfriend the detective, and Jerome, the ghost.  It's an angle that isn't going to work for everyone, but I am fascinated and I hope she'll continue to explore the possibilities.  I'm also really enjoying how Betts interacts with the ghosts; I frankly prefer those story lines much more than the present day murder mysteries.  In fact, I probably would have guessed the murderer sooner had I been paying much attention to it, but I was too caught up in the mystery from the past.  I still don't like her grandma much.

This book was dedicated to a trauma centre and in the acknowledgments, the author made a vague reference to having a very bad year, so perhaps this weaker fifth book in an otherwise solid series had to take a back seat to more pressing life events.  Either way, I'm going to continue anticipating the next one, if only to see what happens with Betts and Jerome and Cliff.