Tori is determined to own her own antique shop, but spaces don’t come cheaply. As an avid antique buyer and seller, Tori must do what she can to generate income. She has a sprawling three-storey house in Old Louisville to rent out, but currently, only one storey is taken. And there is a problem. Her renter has gone missing. Craig Mallory has just up and vanished. With no solid clues as to what happened, and a strange abundance of mirrors placed strategically around the house, the police turn to Craig’s blog for ideas. However, in his blog, Craig claims that he has been trying to contact a ghost whose footsteps can be heard in the night. Craig’s mother then hires a paranormal detective, Hal Breakspear, to follow up on what Craig has claimed. Eager to get the mystery solved, Tori joins Hal in his investigations. But what they find has them more mystified than ever. Is it a ghost, or is someone trying to cover something up using a paranormal angle? Tori must help to unlock the secrets of the mirrors.
Unfortunately, the premise of the mirrors
is never fully explored. The author has a great idea for a novel and is able to
weave a few heart-in-throat moments in, but so much gets left “not quite
finished.” The mirrors were a central part of the story but they are only
really included a few times. The same with the introduction of things that had
happened in the house or other paranormal aspects that could have been expanded
on. I was left wanting more in places. The twist is fairly easy to spot early
on, but the author manages to feed you enough to keep you going until the end
to find out all the details. What I did enjoy was the description of the houses
and the secret rooms they had. Definitely creepy. The paranormal aspects were
not creepy enough, though!
I was on the fence about Tori’s character
in that she was brave but foolhardy, and it seemed like she jumped into things
without thinking first. I was also surprised at her rent issue with Scott
considering her bravery with other issues. I found Hal somewhat condescending as
he was not prepared to listen to other ideas in places. Tori’s friend Emma was
a gem, and the perfect person for Tori to rely on.
The pacing was good and there were very few
punctuation errors. The author has managed to blend a bit of mystery,
paranormal, romance, history, and friendship into a good debut novel. I know as
she moves further into the series, she will be able to flesh out some ideas
more and in others tie them a bit tighter.
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