Penelope Wiseman, private investigator for the living is moonlighting as a detective for ghosts trapped on earth. It’s not by choice, a near death experience has left her with the ability to see ghosts, particularly those who died in foul play who are trapped here waiting for justice or retribution but this special ability is less of a superpower and more a double-edged sword.

Penny can’t escape the sometimes physically painful encounters with the suffering souls and she can’t hear them tell her who was responsible for their deaths either. This would be bad enough but Penny has problems of her own that she needs to take care of.

In this first book we meet Penny when she’s just taken over her deceased father’s PI business, and she’s still finding her feet. She’s not a natural or convincing PI like her father was and needs to learn how to build rapport with clients to build the business.  Because of this she’s struggling to keep the business afloat and keep herself fed. She’s even had to pawn his watch, much to the dismay of her younger sister. 

So when a relatively ‘easy’ looking case of an unfaithful husband lands on her desk, Penny is eager to jump in but all is not as straightforward as it seems. His excuse of being busy with amateur dramatics draws attention to a case of a suspicious dog death and who is the little ghost girl vying for Penny’s attention as soon as she leaves his house? Penny’s multiple client case will lead her down a very dark path were two worlds collide in terrifying ways.

This book is dark but also funny and very sardonic. Well written and with a good pace, it’s easy to pick up and hard to put down. I read it over a few nights and am looking forward to the next one.

Thanks to Hobeck Books and Wendy Turbin for a review copy.