Windwood Farm by Rebecca Patrick-Howard

Windwood Farm by Rebecca Patrick-Howard is an interesting ghost story/mystery.  The author of the book shows real promise and the book kept me entertained enough to read it in only a couple of days.

The ghost story portion of this book was exactly the way I like them a bit creepy, a little scary and intriguing enough to keep me turning the page to find out what happened.  The mystery attached to the ghost story was well thought out and fairly believable.  The more modern mystery felt contrived and left me wondering why it was even included.  I suspect the author though the book needed more suspense but it felt like the addition of the modern mystery pulled you out of the delightful headspace the ghost story created.

On the whole I really liked this book and will probably start the 2nd book in the Taryn's Camera series fairly quickly however a really good editor would have taken this book from a good book to an awesome book in its genre.  In addition to the issues with the modern mystery there are a number of rather abrupt scene changes that kicked me out of the story and caused me to go back over the last couple of pages thinking that a page or two had been skipped.  Still this author shows real talent and I'm looking forward to my next excursion with Taryn's Camera.

If you like this book you may also like books by Wendy Webb.

The Book of Killowen by Erin Hart

The Book of Killowen by Erin Hart is both an enjoyable historical mystery and an intriguing modern mystery in one.  Written very much in the same vein as the first 2 books in the Nora Gavin/Cormac Maguire series (I haven't read book 3), this was a quick and satisfying mystery which I easily read in less than 24 hours because I just had to know the conclusion which did not disappoint.

The story begins with the introduction of the historical 9th century characters and the murder of one of them.  Though you never know precisely who ordered the killing of the character you are shown his murder and his "burial" in the bog. The historical mystery centers around the book that the man was killed for and why his death was deemed necessary.  

The modern mystery comes into play when a car is dug up with both the bog man and a more modern corpse inside.  The rest of the book tells the story of why the new murder happened and the book that connects the 2 cases.

This story should be enjoyable to the people who read and enjoyed Erin Harts first 2 Nora Gavin/Cormac Maguire mysteries, anyone who has read and enjoyed Deborah Crombie's A Finer End and those who like a medieval mystery with their modern story especially if it involves the church. 

Tortured Minds: Pennsylvania's Most Bizarre--But Forgotten--Murders by Tammy Mal

Tortured Minds: Pennsylvania's Most Bizarre-But Forgotten-Murders by Tammy Mal is a well written, entertaining true crime book.  It tells the story of 4 unconnected murders that took place in the state of Pennsylvania in the 1930s.  All are a little bizarre though the claim of them being the most bizarre seems rather unlikely. 

This book is almost in the form of 4 short stories giving out the information about the murders in a slightly fictionalized (how would the author know what people were thinking and feeling) but very appealing fashion.  If you enjoy true crime, especially those that happened long enough ago to be more stories you can enjoy as opposed to news you have to feel sorry about, this book may be for you.