Once Ghosted, Twice Shy by Jessica Arden: review

3/5 stars on Goodreads

Once Ghosted, Twice Shy by Jessica Arden

Once Ghosted, Twice Shy by Jessica Arden starts Ghosted Cozy Mysteries series. It’s set in New Orleans and stars Paige Harrington who suddenly finds herself being called to investigate a murder—by the ghost of the victim.

It’s a closed room murder, with a limited number of suspects. But since it was dark, the ghost has no idea who killed him, so no easy solution there. Paige sets out to investigate, but she can’t exactly tell the police where she gets her information from, not even when her good friend is framed for the murder.

She isn’t alone though. She’s helped by her ex-boyfriend who suddenly returns to town after disappearing four years earlier with only a goodbye note. His leaving has left Paige with self-confidence issues, and now that he’s back, old romantic feelings resurface too. It makes working together difficult.

This was a quirky and fun book, but not a terribly good mystery. Paige ignores obvious questions that would lead to solving the mystery faster, random people show up just so they can offer helpful information that she then ignores, and in the end the killer reveals themselves before she even suspects them. The killer’s motivation is bizarre, to say the least. (spoiler) I mean, why would a secret society that does ritual killings be so concerned with representation that more old-fashioned members would feel it necessary to act to stop it? (end spoiler)

But what truly irked me and lowered the rating was the deus ex machina solution. I dislike them in general, and here it removed Paige’s agency completely. Instead of being the main actor of her story, someone who rises to the occasion despite being the underdog, she was forced to look from the sidelines as others handle the difficult parts for her. For someone already dealing with self-confidence issues, this should’ve been the worst kind of outcome. Yet she doesn’t even notice.

I had some smaller issues too. Paige took to becoming a ghost PI a bit too easily; not even a token question about why it happened. Character info was repeated several times, as if for the first time; random character facts sprang out of nowhere, and important info was omitted completely. For example, I thought Paige was showing unseemly interest in a married man, only to learn towards the end of the book that he’s divorced. The cast of characters was slightly too large, and not everyone was necessary for the story. But in general, the characters were nice and interesting (Auguste the talking hedgehog was my favourite) and they will carry the series onwards.

I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.