Spirit and Dust

Spirit and Dust by Rosemary Clement-Moore, 387 pages

Daisy can talk to the dead.  She’s a consultant to the FBI, although some people don’t really believe in her powers.  She’s also not even quite eighteen yet, which makes her situation even odder.  She’s been called to help on a case and in the middle of it is kidnapped by the father of the missing girl that the FBI is now trying to find.  Daisy finds herself bound to him magically to find his daughter and is off with one of his operatives, trying to follow the clues to the missing girl.  This was a funny story, with fantasy, mystery, romance, and adventure.  I liked it and I think that a lot of teens would too.

Gone and Done It

Gone and Done It by Maggie Toussaint
275 Pages


"While planting a cherry tree, landscaper and pet-sitter Baxley Powell digs up a skull. As she waits for the cops, she dreamwalks to identify the victim. Once her findings prove helpful, the sheriff agrees to pay her for consulting, if she closes cases.A widow and single mom, Baxley needs this consulting gig. Her in-laws want custody of her daughter, so she has to be self-sufficient. Complications arise when a fresh body is found on Baxley's jobsite, planting her in the suspect pool. Concurrently, her father steps down as county dream walker, passing the honor to her. Some honor. People need help, and she barely knows what to do.With a killer dogging her heels and spirits nipping at her mind, Baxley follows her dreams."

An interesting twist on mysteries but the book can't decide whether to be humorous or serious

American Ghost

American Ghost by Hannah Nordhaus
320 Pages

"The award-winning journalist and author of The Beekeeper's Lament attempts to uncover the truth about her great-great-grandmother, Julia--whose ghost is said to haunt an elegant hotel in Santa Fe--in this spellbinding exploration of myth, family history, and the American West. The dark-eyed woman in the long black gown was first seen in the 1970s, standing near a fireplace. She was sad and translucent, present and absent at once. Strange things began to happen in the Santa Fe hotel where she was seen. Gas fireplaces turned off and on without anyone touching a switch. Vases of flowers appeared in new locations. Glasses flew off shelves. And in one second-floor suite with a canopy bed and arched windows looking out to the mountains, guests reported alarming events: blankets ripped off while they slept, the room temperature plummeting, disembodied breathing, dancing balls of light. La Posada--"place of rest"--had been a grand Santa Fe home before it was converted to a hotel. The room with the canopy bed had belonged to Julia Schuster Staab, the wife of the home's original owner. She died in 1896, nearly a century before the hauntings were first reported. In American Ghost, Hannah Nordhaus traces the life, death, and unsettled afterlife of her great-great-grandmother Julia, from her childhood in Germany to her years in the American West with her Jewish merchant husband. American Ghost is a story of pioneer women and immigrants, ghost hunters and psychics, frontier fortitude and mental illness, imagination and lore. As she traces the strands of Julia's life, Nordhaus uncovers a larger tale of how a true-life story becomes a ghost story--and how difficult it can sometimes be to separate history and myth."

This isn't really a ghost story.  Instead I would label as a genealogical trek to the past as the author tries to flesh out family myths and assumptions.  The author also made several visits to various mediums and psychics which I felt weakened the book.  

The Mime Order

The Mime Order by Samantha Shannon
517 Pages

"Paige Mahoney has escaped the brutal penal colony of Sheol I, but her problems have only just begun: many of the fugitives are still missing and she is the most wanted person in London. As Scion turns its all-seeing eye on Paige, the mime-lords and mime-queens of the city's gangs are invited to a rare meeting of the Unnatural Assembly. Jaxon Hall and his Seven Seals prepare to take center stage, but there are bitter fault lines running through the clairvoyant community and dark secrets around every corner. Then the Rephaim begin crawling out from the shadows. But where is Warden? Paige must keep moving, from Seven Dials to Grub Street to the secret catacombs of Camden, until the fate of the underworld can be decided. Will Paige know who to trust? The hunt for the dreamwalker is on."

The second book of the bone season series, this entry remains strong in this alternate world London.  It has a strong female characters as well as action intermingled with politics, and introspective examination of self.  Definitely leaves room for a third book.  I would give it 4 stars.