This is the third in a series featuring Pat Montella, a woman from a large Italian family from Philadelphia who moved to Virginia to inherit an old estate, since she is the only remaining member of an old Confederate family. It is in Virginia that she first encounters both history and ghosts.

It is Christmas Eve when our plucky Nancy Drew-like heroine travels to Williamsburg to meet her boyfriend's family for the first time and to spend a few days in one of the colonial houses that were part of the original dwellings present at the time of the Revolutionary War.

As soon as Pat enters the house, she begins getting strange sensations, which she tries to ignore, but this isn't like any haunting she had ever experienced before. Her prior spook sessions had never been frightening; at least she hadn't feared for her personal safety.

The narrative comes from two first-person characters, as the story skids to 1783, then back to the present. One of these is Pat and the other is Ben, a somewhat mysterious man who was in the war and is now making his way in Williamsburg, taking what work he can, as well as entertaining many with his excellent fiddle.

As in Santangelo's previous stories, Pat acts like a conduit from the past to the future. But she is also astute enough to help solve murders that happen around her and she solves past mysterious happening as well.

The background of the story was very entertaining as well, because Pat experiences in her own life certain traditions and customs of the past. Her hostess is an expert at historic recreations, such as the typical festive meals that would have been identical in the hard days of the new republic.

There is a fine balance between the two story lines of the past and the present, and one reason for this is that methods of murder don't seem to change much over the centuries, except that the actual implements have improved over time.

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The third in her series of--call them double mysteries, contemporary and historical, with ghosts. The first two were published by St. Martins, this one by a small press. I'm guessing the others didn't sell very well and St. Martins dropped her. Which is a pity, because it means that this one wasn't reviewed and will sink into obscurity. It doesn't deserve that. It's at least as good as the others. ( )

http://lesasbookcritiques.blogspot.com/2006/09/poison-to-purge-melancholy.html ( )