Don’t you just love looking at those old pulp covers? There’s always a sexy girl and sometimes a sketchy looking guy on them.  They make you want to take a stormy afternoon and read pure escapism. The Ghost and the Haunted Portrait let’s us take a visit into the world of the artists who created them and the models who posed for them!  I reviewed this one and don’t forget to enter the giveaway.

About The Ghost and the Haunted Portrait

 

The Ghost and the Haunted Portrait (Haunted Bookshop Mystery)

7th in Series  Publisher: Berkley (May 4, 2021)

Bookshop owner Penelope Thornton-McClure and her gumshoe ghost team up to solve the stunning mystery at the heart of a madwoman’s self-portrait in this all new installment from New York Times bestselling author Cleo Coyle.

While gathering a collection of vintage book cover paintings for a special event in her quaint Rhode Island bookshop, Penelope discovers a spooky portrait of a beautiful woman, one who supposedly went mad, according to town gossip. Seymour, the local mailman, falls in love with the haunting image and buys the picture, refusing to part with it, even as fatal accidents befall those around it. Is the canvas cursed? Or is something more sinister at work?

For answers, Pen turns to an otherworldly source: Jack Shepard, PI. Back in the 1940s, Jack cracked a case of a killer cover artist, and (to Pen’s relief) his spirit is willing to help her solve this mystery, even if he and his license did expire decades ago.

My Review

Penelope Thornton is about to have a book launch for a book on the history of pulp covers in her book store. In an effort to collect more classic book covers for the exhibit she visits her friend Walt, a collector. One of his covers draws her in and she finds there is a mystery attached to it. Along with her sidekick, Jack, a dead PI from the 40s she investigates the crime. I loved Jack and all of his sayings and the well-constructed mystery around the paintings of book covers and crazy Harriet. There were many suspects and the author team takes us back into the forties to see the real artists and models and the underworld around them.  There were plenty of suspects to choose from and I enjoyed the humor between Seymour and Brainert and the relationship between Jack and Penelope. 

About Cleo Coyle

CLEO COYLE is a pseudonym for Alice Alfonsi, writing in collaboration with her husband, Marc Cerasini. Both are New York Times bestselling authors of the long-running Coffeehouse Mysteries—now celebrating eighteen years in print. They are also authors of the nationally bestselling Haunted Bookshop Mysteries, previously written under the pseudonym Alice Kimberly. Alice has worked as a journalist in Washington, D.C., and New York, and has written popular fiction for adults and children. A former magazine editor, Marc has authored espionage thrillers and nonfiction for adults and children. Alice and Marc are also both bestselling media tie-in writers who have penned properties for Lucasfilm, NBC, Fox, Disney, Imagine, and MGM. They live and work in New York City, where they write independently and together.

Author Links

Webpage: https://www.coffeehousemystery.com/cleos_haunted_bookshop.cfm

Free Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/cleocoylerecipes/newsletter

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CleoCoyle/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CleoCoyle

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/cleo-coyle

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/51488.Cleo_Coyle

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cleocoyle_author/

Purchase Links:

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