I had a lot of texts to read, and things always get crazy in the lead up to Christmas, but happily, with the temperature dropping & finally nowhere to go & no one demanding time I could curl up with this, the second book in the Tradd Street series by Karen White. 

Revolving around Melanie Middleton, a Charleston real estate agent with the ability to see dead people, the series is great fun. In this volume, Melanie’s mother returns after abandoning her thirty years previously, asking for her daughters help with the re-purchase of a family property, and to reveal a deadly family secret that separated them. 

The same cast of characters return; the awkward but lovable best friend, the perceptive research librarian, the ex-alcoholic father, and most important, the will-they-won’t-they love interest. It’s entertaining and twisty stuff, set against the backdrop of Charlestons rich historical past and gorgeous architecture, with the dead never far away and ready to complicate matters. Once again, Melanie ignores what’s right in front of her, choosing inaction or narrow escape over resolution every time, lending the story a soap opera feel, but it’s still all great fun, with banter, suspense and the past refusing to remain dead… 

Read it if: you liked the first book, you certainly will enjoy this, or if you like ghost stories, history or other series like those by Charlaine Harris for example.