Blog Tour: Secrets Laid To Rest by Catherine C. Hall

 Today I'm partnering with WOW! Women on Writing to celebrate the release of Secrets Laid to Rest, the first book in the Ladies of SPI series by Catherine C. Hall.  Keep reading for my review and an excerpt from the book!  I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Secrets Laid to Rest (Ladies of SPI Mystery #1)

Catherine C. Hall

Published September 19, 2023

The Secrets of Sutter Don't Stand a Ghost of a Chance...

Fall is in the air, the scent of autumn leaves and apple pies, and now a brand new business is opening its doors in small-town Sutter, Georgia.

But not just any business. It's the Golden Girls meet the Ghostbusters when four women find themselves in an unlikely career: Southeastern Paranormal Investigations. Ree Lane, a stylish widow, is more cynic than true believer, while her childhood chum Elle Harper has a knack for getting sensitive info with the help of her homemade pies. The preacher's wife, Betsy Jones, can't be seen with SPI unless she's in her disguise as Nora, a psychic-in-training with a gift for Tarot. And the recently-returned-home Gillian Buchanan is a whiz at technology, especially of the supernatural sort.

Their first case lands on the doorstep when neighbor Doris Tucker is sure her prized vintage dolls are haunted. But there's hardly time for ghost-hunting when the bank director's wife mistakes SPI for a private eye venture. Now they're also hot on the trail of a misbehaving husband. It's a wild ride as the sixty-something sleuths start digging into the past. But have the Ladies of SPI gone too far? And how far will Sutter go to keep its secrets dead and buried? - from Goodreads

After attending a lackluster paranormal investigation seminar, four Georgia women (of a certain age) decide to start their own business investigating paranormal occurrences.  While they do manage to land one client, another mistakes them for private investigators and hires them to tail her husband, sure he's cheating on her.  As they start digging into their clients and the past, what will they find out?

If you enjoy cozy mysteries, this is one to check out.  Set in a small town, where everyone knows everyone else, the story follows four women (a widow, a preacher's wife, a store owner/baker, and a tech wiz) as they start their own business (some a little more reluctantly than others!).  Their first case involves some potentially haunted dolls, and it was interesting to see how the ladies approached it.  Simultaneously, they work on a "cheating husband" investigation.  The writing is clean and a bit humorous.  Hall does a good job of introducing the main characters and I'd be interested to see what happens to them next (particularly Betsy, the preacher's wife, whose husband wouldn't agree with her new job).  There were also quite a few side characters introduced that were sometimes hard to keep track of but set a good groundwork for the small town setting in upcoming installments.  Although there wasn't as much paranormal activity as I was hoping for or expecting, there was a nice little twist at the end, and hopefully there are more spooky shenanigans to come!

4 stars

And now, an excerpt from Secrets Laid to Rest...

There were twenty chairs arranged in four rows and half the chairs were taken. In the front of the room, next to a scratched metal podium, stood a gentleman whose black shirt with the Ghost Trackers logo barely covered his stomach. Next to him was Hannah Worthen, one of the library volunteers, who had pulled Friday night duty. She held up her arm and waved to Elle and Ree. “Y’all come on down here to the front! There’s plenty of room!”

Elle would have happily moved to the front but Ree held the back of her mom jeans in a death grip. “We’re not flouncing up there for the whole world to see,” Ree whispered into her ear. “Or I swear I will fake a heart attack and you’ll have to leave immediately.”

Elle didn’t think her friend would fake a heart attack. Especially since Ree’s husband, William Lane, Esq., had had a heart attack on the golf course that was barely a mile from the local hospital and still managed to die in the emergency room. That had been almost three years ago, after which Ree had made her family, friends, doctors, and perfect strangers swear an oath not to take her to Sutter Memorial, particularly for any emergency of the heart variety. So it was pure theater on Ree’s part but Elle allowed Ree to pull her down to a seat in the back row. “We’re good, Hannah,” said Elle, and waved back.

“Oh, Lord,” said Ree, back in Elle’s ear. “Look who’s sitting over there. With the helmet hair.”

“Shhh! She’ll hear you!” Elle strained to see over the heads in front of her. “Oh! That’s…what’s her name? The gal who moved in with her mother? With all the cats? I see her at Cones n ‘Cue all the time. What’s her name?”

“Gillian something,” Ree whispered. “So that makes it official. We’re at the Friday Night Hangout of the Sutter Weirdos.”

“Shhh! It’s starting!”

Hannah dimmed the lights and the rotund Ghost Tracker speaker began. “It’s late at night.” He dropped his voice so low that the audience as one leaned forward. “You are home alone, watching a movie when the lights flicker. That’s odd, you think. But you continue watching your movie. Until you hear a thump over your head, followed by footsteps. It’s not possible, you’re all alone. But are you? Are you?”

“BOO!” shouted another black T-shirt clad man, jumping up from under the table. Five women screamed. Including Elle.

The rotund gentleman smiled. “That’s how we think ghosts appear, isn’t it?” 

A smattering of relieved laughter filtered through the room and the speaker nodded as he continued. “The truth is, it’s often pretty difficult for a spirit to appear in our material world. That’s where we come in, to help these souls make contact. It’s up to us to solve the mysteries, unlock the secrets, and in the end, allow the spirits to perhaps reveal themselves so that they can go home. And sometimes, we need to get them home as fast as possible!” 

The library crowd tittered, their attention riveted on the Ghost Tracker speaker. Except for Ree, whose attention was focused on the person who had just walked into the room. “Elle!” She grabbed Elle’s arm and squeezed.

“Ow! Why can’t you let me hear this man?”

“Look behind me, at the woman who just came in and sat in the chair up against the wall. Don’t be obvious, but look.”

Elle glanced over Ree’s shoulder. She spied a tall, slender woman slightly hunched over a patchwork backpack. Although it was even darker in the corner, she wore tinted glasses. The woman twirled a long strand of blonde hair, as if she hadn’t a care in the world. But Elle watched as she inched forward when the speaker launched into an explanation of poltergeist activity.

The blonde sported jeans, but they were of the vintage sort, with more than just a boot flare. Were they bell bottoms? Yes, thought Elle, bell bottoms. A peasant-style blouse with a fringed leather vest completed the outfit. It had been a while since Elle had seen a hippie in her hometown, but she knew one when she saw it. She recognized the style, but didn’t recognize the woman. “Weird,” mouthed Elle. 

“It’s Betsy Jones,” whispered Ree.

“No!” gasped Elle.

“Yes,” said Ree, with a firm nod. “I didn’t spend the last ten years heading up the high school drama department without learning a thing or two about costumes and disguises.”’

Elle’s eyes widened. “A disguise? You think?”

“I do,” said Ree. “The question is: why is the preacher’s wife out at a presentation about ghosts?”

                                                                              ***

Ree corralled Betsy Jones toward the red SUV where Gillian and Elle were deep in conversation. The rest of the crowd had dispersed as if the Hounds of Hell had chased them away and this suited Ree just fine. After all, it was not her plan to expose the preacher’s wife in a public place and she knew she could trust Elle. She wasn’t so sure about Gillian Something. Ree opened her mouth to speak but Elle turned suddenly and gasped.

“Oh my goodness, it is you, Betsy! What in the world, girl?”

They hadn’t been girls in fifty years. Betsy had just celebrated her 60th birthday and wondered had it really been thirty years ago when she’d arrived in Sutter. Elle and Ree had been best friends in the same kindergarten class back in the day and though Ree had shaken the dirt off her Sutter high-heeled boots after high school, she’d returned years later with the love of her life. And now, Elle and Ree were sixty-two (though Ree could pass for somewhere in her fifties while Elle’s friends were always telling her about great Medicare deals). Gillian was so new to Sutter that no one had a clue as to her age. But in the streetlight glow of the library parking lot, her features softened, Gillian could easily be a bona fide fifty-five.

They had good days and bad days, these four women, but no one in Sutter would describe them as living the dream. That was about to change.