Title: Ghostly Echoes
Author: William Ritter
Type: Fiction
Genre: Children’s, Teens, Young Adult
Publisher: Algonquin Young Readers
Date published: Aug. 23 2016
Format: E-book (sneak peek)
Page Count: N/A
Source: NetGalley

Summary: Jenny Cavanaugh, the ghostly landlord of 826 Augur Lane, has enlisted the services of her detective-agency tenants to solve a decade-old murder—her own. Abigail Rook and her eccentric employer, R. F. Jackaby, dive into the cold case, starting with a search for Jenny’s fiancé, who went missing the night she died. But when a new, gruesome murder closely mirrors the events of ten years prior, Abigail and Jackaby realize that Jenny’s case isn’t so cold after all, and her killer may be far more dangerous than they suspected.

Fantasy and folklore mix with mad science as Abigail’s race to unravel the mystery leads her across the cold cobblestones of nineteenth-century New England, down to the mythical underworld, and deep into her colleagues’ grim histories to battle the most deadly foe she has ever faced.

★★★★☆

Note: This being a review of a sneak peek, it will be short and containing little detail.

So, I was not sure what to expected when I sat down to read the sneak peek to Ghostly Echoes, because I had not read the previous 2 novels in the series, and also because I have had bad experiences with contemporary novels where the setting is Victorian England (or any historical time period for that matter). Usually the dialogue is the main issue, because authors do not do their research about the time period, and they include modern colloquial language. This then takes the spell put upon me by the rest of the book, which then as a whole, ruins my experience with the book as a result.

This, of course, may not be an issue for those unfamiliar with Victorian novels (or any historical novels or trivia), and films. I for one, however, am a big fan of the classics, and particularly those written in and around the Victorian era.

With Ghostly Echoes, William Ritter does a fairy good job with the dialogue, and his descriptions of the clothing worn at the time, are also accurate.

To add, Ritter is also very talented at setting the scene (though I can vouch for this book only, as I have not read the previous 2), and his descriptions are believable and draw the reader in. The pace of the book also appears like it will be good, with the tension slowly building within the first 6 chapters which are included in the sneak peak.

The characters are very well-described, and you feel as if you know them, 6 chapters in!

This sounds like it would be a very fun and interesting read! And I may just read the first two in the series before this third installment comes out, because A) I like Ritter’s writing and the world he has created, and B) I like to read books in order!

I would recommend this sneak peak to those who like mystery, historical novels, a little bit of the supernatural/horror, and suspense!

Pre-order on Amazon.ca: Ghostly Echoes: A Jackaby Novel
Pre-order on Amazon.com: Ghostly Echoes: A Jackaby Novel

If you are interested in the 2 books which came before this one (as I am!) they are for sale on Amazon.ca and Amazon.com!

Look at these covers all together, so pretty…