Rating: 4 stars out of 5
When his Uncle Mortimer died and left him Hoxne Grange, the family’s Gilded Age estate, Tristan Pryce knew he wasn’t going to have an easy time of it. He was to be the second generation of Pryces to serve as a caretaker for the estate, a way station for spirits on their final steps to the afterlife. The ghosts were the simple part. He’d been seeing boo-wigglies since he was a child. No, the difficult part was his own family. Determined to establish Tristan’s insanity, his loving relatives hire Dr. Wolf Kincaid and his paranormal researchers, Hellsinger Investigations, to prove the Grange is not haunted.
Skeptic Wolf Kincaid has made it his life’s work to debunk the supernatural. After years of cons and fakes, he can’t wait to reveal the Grange’s ghostly activity is just badly leveled floorboards and a drafty old house. The Grange has more than a few surprises for him, including its prickly, reclusive owner. Tristan Pryce is much less insane and much more attractive than Wolf wants to admit and when his Hellsinger team unwittingly release a ghostly serial killer on the Grange, Wolf is torn between his skepticism and protecting the man he’d been sent to discredit.
Goodness know I love a good ghost story and author Rhys Ford, so I was pretty much a happy reviewer when I saw the blurb for Fish and Ghosts by Rhys Ford. And it delivered but it some unexpected ways given the previous series I’ve come to love and associate with this author.
Honestly, its more lighthearted, its quirky and funny. Sure it has ghosts but some of them are of the four-legged type. Tristan has seen a ghost giraffe and a ghostly elephant roam the estate and there’s a certain animal toy that will have you in giggles. Why? Because of who it belongs to. And yes, it has a Irish Wolfhound as well in the tale, a straight arrow to my heart for any story. The pathos surrounding the ghosts is there as well, Ford knows not to leave that out. The aura of mystery, sadness, hope, loss, death… everything we associate with ghosts is present here but presented in enough different ways that might make you sniffle, giggle, and pull back in horror. Yep, Ford ran the gamut here, changing up the pace to keep it interesting, the narrative swift, and the next supernatural blockade their relationship just around the next balustrade.
I loved the characters of Tristan Pryce and Wolf Kincaid. They are well fleshed out, charming in their vulnerabilities and past histories, and so entertaining that I can’t wait for more. In fact I felt that way about most of the secondary characters with the exception of Wolf’s assistants, Gidget and Matt who were more one note, and the least interesting of the bunch. Screechworthy kept coming to mind as it seems that was all the one thing (fighting, I mean, that they did, other than have sex). When you don’t mind if a ghost kills characters, than perhaps you aren’t all that connected to them.
Luckily, I loved everyone else, from Mara to Wolf’s mom. Those are keepers and I hope to see them in the next installments. Surely Tristan’s greedy relatives won’t give up so easily.
Love Rhys Ford, or ghost stories? Love romances with humor and a supernatural element or five? Check out Fish and Ghosts, the first in a new series by Rhys Ford. I recommend it and the author. Its out in a number of formats, from ebook to audiobook. You choose your addiction.
Cover art by Reese Notley. This cover really doesn’t do it for me, especially the representation of Tristan, who is supposed to have long golden hair, thin. Just no, a surprising miss from this author.
Sales Links: Dreamspinner Press | ARe | Amazon
Book Details:
ebook, 240 pages
Published December 30th 2013 by Dreamspinner Press (first published December 29th 2013)
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesHellsinger #1
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 