Early Review--Dead Bolt by Juliet Blackwell

THERE'S NO ROOM AT THE INN WHEN IT'S FULL OF GHOSTS.

General contractor Melanie Turner's latest restoration is a historic Queen Anne Victorian in San Francisco's Cow Hollow neighborhood. Trouble is, she'll have to work around the owners, the Daley family, who refuse to leave during the construction. But when eerie things start happening around the site. The Daleys threaten to call off the renovation for fear that the work is disrupting the ghosts who live on the property.

But the ghosts aren't the only ones getting in the way of the renovation. The Daleys' neighbors aren't thrilled by the muss and fuss of the construction project. When Mel's father finds a dead body near the job site, Mel must add one more task to her growing to do list. She has to finish the job, bring the house back from the brink, and complete her greatest restoration project yet: restoring her reputation...

I received this book from the publisher for review

Juliet Blackwell's latest in her new Haunted Home Renovation Mystery series, Dead Bolt was a tremendous followup to its predecessor. It's been a year since I read the first book so my memory was fuzzy on the details of the murder mystery there, but it wasn't too important to be totally in the know of it. Characters and events just get mentioned and slightly recapped.

This mystery totally had me guessing from beginning to end! Even though it says that Mel's dad finds the body, he never really becomes a major suspect. And he wasn't really on my suspect list either. But it was definitely an interesting storyline. 

There weren't too many ghostly encounters, but the ones we did have were pretty creepy. It was a pretty quick read for me, despite my hectic and stressful past 2 days, but what can you do.

Mel's life definitely gets very interesting this time around. Her childhood crush and friend, Graham, happens to have himself a new lady friend, just when Mel was working up the nerve to make a move. But never fear, Mel seems to have two admirers willing to take his place! There was definitely a lot of romantic tension throughout the book that spiced things up a bit.

Mel is now starting to get more into this ghost-busting business. She's now added another "case" solved under her belt. I enjoy Mel's character! She's much different from my norm. She's an older character in her 30s, near 40 (if I remember correctly), but she's just fun! She has a lot of rational thoughts and even her irrational thoughts are somewhat logical. Things just make sense with Mel and I so look forward to reading more in this series!

Overall rating 4/5 stars

**Contest time! Jessica at the publishers has been generous enough to agree to another giveaway! One commenter will receive a copy of Dead Bolt!

Open to US only, sorry! Contest closes on December 14, 2011 at 11:59 PM CST

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