Olivia Blacke: A New Lease on Death
Series debut
A New Lease on Death, by Olivia Blacke, is the first in her Supernatural Mysteries series. I have read a lot of cozies that contain supernatural elements, especially either a ghost detective or companion detective. I was pleasantly surprised to find Olivia Blacke managed to find a spin on it that was entirely new, at least to me. Two main characters star in A New Lease on Death and switch perspective every few chapters or so. Our living detective is Ruby Young, an optimistic new tenant of a cheap and fully furnished apartment in Boston. Our ghost is the apartment’s previous tenant, Cordelia Graves. Cordelia does not remember the details of her death, or really why she is hanging around as a ghostly entity, but she is not pleased that Ruby has moved in and is systematically murdering all of her beloved plants. Ruby is blissfully unaware of Cordelia for the most part, just curious why her light bulbs keep dying and her electronics often go on the fritz. What puts these two on a collision course is the death of their neighbor Jack Macintyre, who is shot outside of their apartment and left alone in a blizzard for someone to call the police.