Murder Of A Hermit is the third shopfront paranormal cozy mystery in this series by Carol Miller. Released 4th June 2024 by Severn House, it's 224 pages and is available in hardcover, paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout.
The setting of Asheville, North Carolina, is well written and believable, with the codicil that readers who are intimately familiar with the environs might find discrepancies which aren't obvious to readers from other areas. The irascible ghosts in the attic are back with a vengeance, banging and rattling and threatening to bring the house down (literally) although the author still hasn't really explored the backstory or explained their presence much.
Much of the characterization, especially secondary characters, is only sketched in *very* lightly. Readers should be prepared to bring a healthy suspension of disbelief. (Then again, there are ghosts in the attic, so there's that). The mystery itself, denouement, solution (supernatural deux-ex-machina) and resolution will strain most readers' suspension of disbelief.
Three stars. Readable, very light, and mostly enjoyable. It works well enough as a standalone, and with three books in the series, it would make a good candidate for a mini-binge/buddy read. Clean language and content, it would also be good for public library acquisition.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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