Melanie West is getting her life back on track after a messy divorce when her grandmother, Liza Harris, asks her to join her in opening a bed-and-breakfast inn. Together, Liza and Melanie purchase a purportedly haunted mansion on the Oregon coast and jump right into clearing out the cobwebs. But while attempting to remove wallpaper in an upstairs bedroom, the new B&B owners stumble upon a very real skeleton in their closet.
The police suspect the skeleton is that of the wife of the previous owner of the B&B, but no one in town seems to want to say much about her. As the inn owners try to juggle renovations with their own amateur investigations, their grand opening looms closer and closer—and a friendly ghost in their walls starts playing tricks. But it all comes crashing to a halt when a new body is found stabbed to death on the beach below the inn—the victim chillingly close in resemblance to Melanie herself.
It seems someone doesn’t appreciate newcomers prying into the small town’s past, and now it’s up to Melanie and Liza to get to the bottom of these murders to save their business—and their lives.
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" I love the way Liza and Melanie interact, they make a wonderful grandmother and granddaughter team. That combined with the small-town atmosphere a laughing ghost and a long-hidden skeleton make a wonderful beginning for this ghostly cozy series... can't wait for the next book!"
— Mary (5 out of 5 stars)
“A charming grandmother and granddaughter duo, unsettling small-town secrets, and a long-hidden skeleton at the Merry Ghost Inn add up to a winning debut for this ghostly cozy series.”
— Juliet Blackwell, New York Times bestselling author“This is one of those rare cozies that do justice and pride to that awesome Murder She Wrote type of perfection.”
— Suspense Magazine“Utterly addicting.”
— Night Owl Reviews (Top Pick)“A consistently compelling read from cover to cover, Dead and Breakfast is another outstanding novel in the…Merry Ghost Inn Mystery series and continues to reveal author Kate Kingsbury as a master of the genre.”
— Midwest Book Review“A new series with likable characters and a beautiful setting.”
— Kirkus Reviews“Kingsbury’s crime-solving pair—youngish granddaughter and eccentric senior—are wonderfully appealing.”
— Booklist“Enjoyable…This cozy’s focus is firmly on the living, in particular, Liza and Melanie’s partnership and Melanie’s continuing secret search for her long-lost mother.”
— Publishers Weekly“Who wouldn’t want to open a B&B on the Oregon coast after reading Kingsbury’s delightful mystery?”
— Library Journal“A laughing ghost, a winsome dog, and a charming Oregon coastal village make the Merry Ghost Inn Mysteries a place you’ll want to visit again and again.”
— Leslie Budewitz, Agatha Award–winning author“West-coast setting, B&B with a secret room, and a skeleton. What’s not to love?…A must read.”
— Carolyn Haines, USA Today bestselling author“Melanie and her grandmother Liza are smart, believable, easy-to-like people, and the writing is pitch-perfect.”
— Susan Wittig Albert, author of Queen Anne’s Lace“What’s not to like about a laughing ghost?…More laughter to come.”
— Carolyn Hart, author of Walking on My Grave" Loved the story. Great for late summer listening. I took a star off because of the reader. Her cadence drove me nuts. "
— Mike, 9/27/2017Kate Kingsbury is the author of mystery novels, including the Merry Ghost Inn series, the Pennyfoot Hotel series, and the Manor House mysteries. She grew up in London, England, and at a very early age began telling stories to her school friends during the London Blitz of WW II while huddling in bomb shelters. She moved to the United States in the 1960s and has since published more than fifty romance and mystery novels.
Tavia Gilbert is an acclaimed narrator of more than four hundred full-cast and multivoice audiobooks for virtually every publisher in the industry. Named the 2018 Voice of Choice by Booklist magazine, she is also winner of the prestigious Audie Award for best narration. She has earned numerous Earphones Awards, a Voice Arts Award, and a Listen-Up Award. Audible.com has named her a Genre-Defining Narrator: Master of Memoir. In addition to voice acting, she is an accomplished producer, singer, and theater actor. She is also a producer, singer, photographer, and a writer, as well as the cofounder of a feminist publishing company, Animal Mineral.