Welcome to my stop on the Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour for Ghost and the Haunted House (Genie and Adriana Darling Cozy Paranormal Ghost Mysteries) by Carmen Radtke. Stop by each blog on the tour for interviews, guest posts, spotlights, reviews and more!
Ghost and the Haunted House (Genie and Adriana Darling Cozy Paranormal Ghost Mysteries) by Carmen Radtke
Ghost and the Haunted House (Genie and Adriana Darling Cozy Paranormal Ghost Mysteries)
Paranormal Cozy Mystery
4th in Series
Setting – Fictional small town in New England
Independently Published (May 29, 2024)
Print length : 194 pages
Could quaint Cobblewood Cove be a hotbed for black magic?
Genie and her ghostly great-great-aunt Adriana have been too busy with their gelato business and helping with the restoration of the old speakeasy to notice that something isn’t quite right in their small town.
Until pranks with touch of the macabre haunt the neighborhood, right before Halloween.
But it gets worse.
When a locked room murder case points straight at a connection to dark forces, the sleuthing duo fears for the living – and the not-quite so departed.
Can they root out the evil in their midst before it ends Adriana’s happy afterlife – forever?
Character Guest Post from Adriana
There should be flying cars. I don’t mind that we don’t all have robot servants buzzing about, and I’m glad people still eat instead of just grabbing a meal pill, but I’d hoped that one prediction would come true!
Funny how much and yet how little has changed since 1929. Especially in the Darling villa. It’s sweet to see Genie’s efforts to give me back my home and my strength, if you can call it that in my special case. Believe me, I need every ounce to deal with all the murders and misdeeds we need to solve.
Apart from being the best gumshoe in the county (oh, alright, together with my great-great-niece), I add style and tone to the place. Cobblewood Cove’s always been pretty, if a bit quiet, but hairy-legged men in Bermuda shorts and socks? And don’t get me started on polyester pants with elasticated waistbands. I’ll stick to my silk frocks and Chanel, thank you very much. You should see me all dressed up in my glad rags. Okay, so technically that’s always because it appears as a ghost I’m deeply connected to my former wardrobe. And, yes, I used the g-word.
It’s taken me a while to accept it. After all, what’s a girl supposed to think when she’s out for a night on the town, goes to sleep, and the next thing you know is a shoe hitting you and it’s good-bye, Roaring Twenties? That really throws you a curveball.
At least Genie sees me. And our darling kitty Cleo and all the other animals around. It gets lonely, otherwise. And, no, don’t ask me how your dear departed aunt Bertha and uncle Paul are because I haven’t met them, or anyone else sharing my particular form of existence. It’s not as if there’s a ghost club with local chapters. Not as far as I’m aware, anyway.
Still, the afterlife can be oodles of fun. Take a typical day for me. I spend the night curled up with Cleo on the daybed. I tried to listen to my audiobooks until Genie threw a fit because she says she doesn’t get any shut-eye if Jeeves is shimmering, or Poirot is detecting next to her bedroom. Books and magazines are out because it’s exhausting to turn the pages, even with Cleo’s help.
So, I meditate until I find myself peacefully drifting or letting my subconscious do the hard work on our investigations.
As soon as Genie stirs, Cleo and I wait for her signal to come in. In the beginning I was a little overeager and would barge right into her bedroom, through the closed door. One of the perks of being vitally different. If you ask me, that ability is the cat’s whiskers, even if Genie complains.
Breakfast for me is the scent of crisp bacon or pancakes, and a droplet of milk foam. Cappuccino is one of the greatest inventions since I dropped the cutlery once and for all.
So is gelato. We occasionally had ice-cream in my days, but hot diggity doo, this beats everything. We learned how to do it properly, when we were in Italy. Now, we run a business! Gem and Gelato, and I’m the mastermind behind our flavors.
It’s my nose that does it. I’ve always had a keen sense of smell, but now it’s like hearing drums, piano, violins, and saxophone, and coming up with a jazz arrangement that’ll have the whole Cotton Club hopping. I was there once, with my sister, to see Duke Ellington and his band. Talk about hip!
I don’t want to hurt Genie’s feelings, but compared to that, Cobblewood Cove’s these days is a bit of a drag at times. Let’s just hope we’ll turn things around with the speakeasy. Since it’s our friend’s joint, I consider myself the unofficial advisor. Not that I miss the prohibition, although Genie does her best to keep me away from the sauce, but we had fun! You haven’t lived until you’ve danced the Charleston in a crowded room, with a grasshopper or a gin sour waiting for you in a teacup.
With my help, the Toast of the Town will be a doozy! Add to that the soon to be opened free pet clinic. I’ll have my regular stints there, with Genie. Since I’m the only one in town who can actually talk to animals, I’ll be able to take their case history and to calm them down. At least that’s the plan.
Sometimes I wonder how folks here got by without me. Especially with all those crimes going on that would be unsolved without Genie and Adriana Darling, gumshoes of Cobblewood Cove.
Now you’ve got to excuse me. I hear my partner in crime rolling out of bed and I have so many ideas I need to tell her over breakfast that I better get the coffee started. How, you ask? Duck sauce (or piece of cake, if you insist on your modern expressions).
I can’t make cars fly but I can affect electricity pretty well. It only took a little effort. Alright, and about 50 burnt-out lightbulbs, but only practice makes perfect …
About Carmen Radtke
Carmen Radtke has spent most of her life with ink on her fingers and a dangerously high pile of books and newspapers by her side.
She has worked as a newspaper reporter on two continents and always dreamt of becoming a novelist and screenwriter.
When she found herself crouched under her dining table, typing away on a novel between two earthquakes in Christchurch, New Zealand, she realised she was hooked for life.
The shaken but stirring novel made it to the longlist of the Mslexia competition, and her next book and first mystery, The Case Of The Missing Bride, was a finalist in the Malice Domestic competition in a year without a winner. Since then she has penned several more cozy mysteries, including the Jack and Frances series set in the 1930s and the Genie and Adriana Darling series.
Carmen now lives in Italy with her human and her four-legged family.
Author Links:
Website – www.carmenradtke.com
Facebook – www.facebook.com/Carmen-Radtke-1958399947738868/
Twitter/X – https://www.Twitter.com/CarmenRadtke1
Purchase Links: Amazon
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Ghost and the Haunted House TOUR PARTICIPANTS
July 1 – Mystery, Thrillers & Suspense – SPOTLIGHT
July 1 – Eskimo Princess Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
July 2 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – CHARACTER GUEST POST
July 2 – Socrates Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
July 3 – Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT, EXCERPT
July 3 – Books, Ramblings, and Tea – RECIPE
July 4 – OFF
July 5 – Angel’s Book Nook – SPOTLIGHT, EXCERPT
July 5 – fundinmental – SPOTLIGHT
July 6 – Baroness Book Trove – REVIEW
July 6 – MJB Reviewers – SPOTLIGHT
July 6 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – SPOTLIGHT
July 7 – Cozy Up With Kathy – REVIEW, AUTHOR INTERVIEW
July 7 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT
July 8 – Read Your Writes Book Reviews – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
July 8 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT
July 8 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
July 9 – Ruff Drafts – AUTHOR GUEST POST
July 9 – Lady Hawkeye – SPOTLIGHT
July 10 – Sarah Can’t Stop Reading Books – REVIEW
July 10 – Boys’ Mom Reads! – CHARACTER GUEST POST
July 11 – Literary Gold – SPOTLIGHT, EXCERPT
July 11 – Novels Alive – REVIEW
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Sounds like a cozy I will enjoy reading.
This book sounds like it has some unique characters.