A Ghostly Undertaking
by Tonya Kappes
A Cast of characters and a story so well written you will think you are right there in the midst of all the happenings.
~Shelley’s Book Case
I loved this story…Tonya Kappes is one of my favorite authors to read she adds humor into her mystery when you least expect it.
~Community Bookstop
The book is full of distinctive characters and all the charm of small southern town…an entertaining read from start to finish.
~Musings and Ramblings
Ms. Kappes has become one of my new favorite authors with A Ghostly Undertaking because I don’t think I laughed this hard in quite a while as I did with this story.
~Books-N-Kisses
A Ghostly Undertaking: A Ghostly Southern Mystery
(Ghostly Southern Mysteries)
Series: Ghostly Southern Mysteries
Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Witness (February 24, 2015)
ISBN-13: 978-0062374646
E-Book ASIN: B00KPVCEDU
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My Review
Emma is not a demure southern belle. She’s a true southern gal after my own heart. Blurts out what pops in her mind. Not afraid to look crazy. Dives in feet first and to heck with the consequences.
Life gets crazy for Emma after a plastic Santa falls off the roof of Artie’s Deli and Meat store and knocks her out. When she comes to she can see ghosts. Everyone thinks she’s either gone around the bend or suffering from ‘funeral trauma.’
Emma soon knows better when Ruthie Sue, co-owner of the Sleepy Hollow Inn, along with Emma’s grandmother Zula Mae, is found dead at the bottom of the stairs. Her ghost comes to Emma, adamant she was pushed and wants her murderer brought to justice.
Ruthie and Zula Fae were arch enemies and that puts Zula in the spotlight as a prime suspect. Emma has to put on her sleuthing cap and get to the bottom of it as another person falls victim.
Emma and her older sister, Charlotte, operate The Eternal Slumber Funeral Home, owned by their grandmother Zula Mae.
I could just see Emma speeding pell mell through town in her hearse, arguing with the ghost of Ruthie Sue, and the people with their mouths hanging up, shaking their heads as they declare Emma has lost her marbles.
The only one that doesn’t chalk her antics up to lunacy is the handsome Sheriff Jack Henry. He sees more than craziness in Emma’s information. She knows thing only Ruthie Sue could know.
I enjoyed the blooming romance between Jack Henry and Emma Lee. They may not be school kids anymore, but their attraction to each other is bumbling, teasing, and sweet.
I felt so at home in this book. I live in the south and can tell you that these characters are genuine, right down to two first names.
The mystery isn’t obvious and the antics of all of the characters had me snickering.
A light hearted cozy mystery that tickled my funny bone, I do declare.
4 Stars
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Synopsis
A funeral, a ghost, a murder . . . It’s all in a day’s work for emma lee raines . . .
Bopped on the head from a falling plastic Santa, local undertaker Emma Lee Raines is told she’s suffering from “funeral trauma.” It’s trauma all right, because the not-so-dearly departed keep talking to her. Take Ruthie Sue Payne—innkeeper, gossip queen, and arch-nemesis of Emma Lee’s granny—she’s adamant that she didn’t just fall down those stairs. She was pushed.
Ruthie has no idea who wanted her pushing up daisies. All she knows is that she can’t cross over until the matter is laid to eternal rest. In the land of the living, Emma Lee’s high-school crush, Sheriff Jack Henry Ross, isn’t ready to rule out foul play. Granny Raines, the widow of Ruthie’s ex-husband and co-owner of the Sleepy Hollow Inn, is the prime suspect. Now Emma Lee is stuck playing detective or risk being haunted forever.
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A Ghostly Grave: A Ghostly Southern Mystery, Book Two
- Series: Ghostly Southern Mysteries (Book 2)
- Mass Market Paperback: 288 pages
- Publisher: Witness (March 31, 2015)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0062374818
- ISBN-13: 978-0062374813
My Review
This is the second book in The Ghostly Southern Mysteries Series and is just as fun as the first book.
Emma first began seeing ghosts when a plastic Santa fell off the roof of Artie’s deli and meat the and knocked her out cold. When she came to in the hospital Chicken Teater was there. That couldn’t be as his body had been seen to at her very own funeral home, Eternal Slumber, and she’d seen him buried.
Everyone in town saw her talking to a ghost and just scratched it off as crazy Emma and her ‘funeral trauma, kind of like PTSD.
Emma soon learns it’s not just hallucinations and is caught up in the murder of Ruthie, her grandma’s nemesis. That placed Zula Fae right in the crosshairs of sexy Sheriff Jack Henry, Emma’s school crush. Emma, with the help of Ruthie’s ghost, sticks her pretty little nose into the investigation as more people are attacked.
That first ghostly case lands her where she is now. When Ruthie Sue finally moved on to wherever ghosts go, she started telling other ghosts that hadn’t moved on about Emma’s gift as a Betweener medium. She can see and here the ghosts of murdered people that are stuck and can’t move on. Just what Emma needs. She helped solve Ruthie Sue’s murder and now she’s sending her clients from the beyond.
So now she stands by the grave of Chicken Teater, local chicken farmer, as his casket is being exhumed.
Her list of suspects is vast as pretty much the whole town is gawking behind the police tape.
Could it be Chicken’s widow, Marla Maria, the beauty queen? Could it be she was jealous of the competition from Mrs. Cluckington, Chicken’s prize winning hen? As Emma looks at all of the faces, she has her work cut out for her.
The Kentucky Cave Festival is gearing up to begin and Emma wants to get this case wrapped up faster than you can say Bees on a Bicycle.
I think it’s sweet how one glimpse into Jack Henry’s eyes can make the butterflies flutter in Emma’s stomach. She’s smitten and so is he. These too are so cute together.
There’s no lacking in colorful, quirky characters and the fun and mystery just keeps on rolling. Feathers fly as Emma leaves no tomb stone unturned to get to the bottom of it.
You don’t have to read the first book to dip your toes into this one, but I’d say grab the first book too and get twice the fun from the beginning.
4 Stars
***
Synopsis
There’s a ghost on the loose—and a fox in the henhouse
Four years ago, the Eternal Slumber Funeral Home put Chicken Teater in the ground. Now undertaker Emma Lee Raines is digging him back up. The whole scene is bad for business, especially with her granny running for mayor and a big festival setting up in town. But ever since Emma Lee started seeing ghosts, Chicken’s been pestering her to figure out who killed him.
With her handsome boyfriend, Sheriff Jack Henry Ross, busy getting new forensics on the old corpse, Emma Lee has time to look into her first suspect. Chicken’s widow may be a former Miss Kentucky, but the love of his life was another beauty queen: Lady Cluckington, his prize-winning hen. Was Mrs. Teater the jealous type? Chicken seems to think so. Something’s definitely rotten in Sleepy Hollow—and Emma Lee just prays it’s not her luck.
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About This Author
Tonya Kappes is a USA Today Bestselling Author.
I write fun humorous fiction, some with romance and some with a little mystery.
More than anything I love to connect with readers! I’m a huge fan of them and LOVE getting to know them. Making readers smile, and remembering not to take life too seriously is how I like to write. I’m addicted to coffee, McDonald’s Diet Coke, and Red Hots Candy to keep her going!
When I’m not writing about quirky characters and even quirkier situations, I’m busy being the princess, queen and jester of my domain which includes my BFF husband, three teenage boys, two dogs and one ornery cat.
And be sure to stalk me on Facebook, Twitter, TSU, Instagram!
Website – http://www.tonyakappes.com/
Purchase Links
Amazon B&N Book Depository
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Tour Participants
March 6 – Shelley’s Book Case – Review, Guest Post
March 7 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – Spotlight
March 8 – Cozy Up With Kathy – Interview
March 9 – Community Bookstop – Review
March 10 – Musings and Ramblings – Review
March 11 – A Blue Million Books – Interview
March 12 – Books-n-Kisses – Review, Guest Post
March 13 – Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers – Guest Post
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March 15 – off
March 16 – Melina’s Book Blog – Review, Guest Post
March 17 – fuonlyknew – Review
March 18 – Brooke Blogs – Review
March 19 – readalot – Review
March 20 – Mochas, Mysteries and Meows – Review, Guest Post
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