A review by celia_thebookishhufflepuff
Christmas Spirit by Morgana Best

4.0

I don't read a lot of cozy mysteries with characters over 30 or so, and I haven't enjoyed the ones I have read, so I didn't have high expectations for this one. Most of the ghost cozies I've read have also been mediocre at best.

Thankfully, however, this beat my expectations for both sub-subgenres. This story focuses on Prudence, a clairvoyant who tours Australia and New Zealand getting impressions from ghosts of people's loved ones. She's in her fifties and has never actually seen a ghost, until Levi appears to her. Levi was a police detective murdered while investigating another murder, and he tasks Prudence with using her skills to solve it.

The premise was already interesting enough. Add in Prudence's strong, no-nonsense character and her ridiculous friends and family, and it makes for a funny, memorable story.

The one thing I didn't like was the focus on romance with a ghost. It wasn't cocky, but it was a human/ghost romance, or the beginning of one, that bordered on uncomfortable. This is the first novel I've read with this kind of relationship, and it might just be something I have to get used to.

Despite the relationship weirdness, I had a lot of fun with this one. I'm debating buying the sequel, because I'm really interested in the story behind the town's other happenings.