For whatever reason, as much as I love this series in general, this one failed to pull me in completely at the beginning. Maybe it was the movie backdrop, or the over-the-top nastiness of one of the characters, or the batshit insanity of one of the others, but it just didn't grip me. Jitty the ghost was also back to her nagging, irritating ways.

The mystery plot though was a big old snarl of a puzzle. So many suspects, so many red herrings, but a plot twist that was supposed to shock but was telegraphed early on. But still, a very good mystery.

I am though, for the record, thoroughly jacked with the way Haines is yanking her readers and Sarah Booth around over Coleman. This is the book where it stopped being moving and starting just being ridiculous. Either put them together or kill one of them off already. The suspense has officially been over-played. ( )

As fun as usual. Has she picked Coleman? ( )

...and now I remember why I had stopped reading this series

Sarah Booth Delaney & her friend Tinky Belcourt are hired by a movie company to investigate the disappearance of Son & the death of his mother Cleo in a car accident that sent their vehicle into a flooded fast-moving river. The movie to be based on the biased book written by Son's sister, Sister McFee.

Neither Sister, her father Colin (who is running for senate on an anti-Putin platform), or Colin's new wife Susan have anything good to say about Son or Cleo. All three claim Son was drugged up when the car went over the embankment, but Son had been in rehab & sober for quite some time.

During all the commotion of filming, the author who had been helping Sister write all of her Bestselling books is murdered & Sister is allegedly kidnapped

Sister McFee is nasty to everyone, especially Tinky, whom Sister calls Stinky, the reason is something that is left unresolved and I found annoying.

Not only did I not like most of the characters, Son's bodily absence from the scene of the accident was harped on over & over & over, so that became annoying as well.

What I found to be most annoying of all is Sarah's "Haint" (spook), Jitty... Haines has Jitty constantly dressed in costumes, taking on the personalities of long dead people, and haranguing Sarah about her lack of sex-life, lack of husband/boy-friend, & lack of children. The Haint does nothing constructive, shows no caring, and talks in riddles. Seriously Jitty needs to be banished.

I didn't think the book was well written (I just wanted it over); there were too many side stories, loose ends, with a very pat & convenient ending and I was able to figure out who one of the murderers was. ( )