A New Lease on Death - Moé for Solarpunk Books

Hardcover, 336 pages

English language

Published Oct. 29, 2024 by Minotaur Books.

ISBN:: 978-1-250-33667-5

No rating (1 review)

In this darkly funny supernatural mystery about an unlikely crime-solving duo that launches a commercial, unique, and genre-blending series, death is only the beginning.

Ruby Young's new Boston apartment comes with all the usual perks. Windows facing the brick wall of the next-door building. Heat that barely works. A malfunctioning buzzer. Noisy neighbors. A dead body on the sidewalk outside. And of course, a ghost.

Since Cordelia Graves died in her apartment a few months ago, she's kept up her residency, despite being bored out of her (non-tangible) skull and frustrated by her new roommate. When her across-the-hall neighbor, Jake Macintyre, is shot and killed in an apparent mugging gone wrong outside their building, Cordelia is convinced there’s more to it and is determined to bring his killer to justice.

Unfortunately, Cordelia, being dead herself, can't solve the mystery alone. She has to enlist the help of the obnoxiously perky, …

In this darkly funny supernatural mystery about an unlikely crime-solving duo that launches a commercial, unique, and genre-blending series, death is only the beginning.

Ruby Young's new Boston apartment comes with all the usual perks. Windows facing the brick wall of the next-door building. Heat that barely works. A malfunctioning buzzer. Noisy neighbors. A dead body on the sidewalk outside. And of course, a ghost.

Since Cordelia Graves died in her apartment a few months ago, she's kept up her residency, despite being bored out of her (non-tangible) skull and frustrated by her new roommate. When her across-the-hall neighbor, Jake Macintyre, is shot and killed in an apparent mugging gone wrong outside their building, Cordelia is convinced there’s more to it and is determined to bring his killer to justice.

Unfortunately, Cordelia, being dead herself, can't solve the mystery alone. She has to enlist the help of the obnoxiously perky, living tenant of her apartment. Ruby is twenty, annoying, and has never met a houseplant she couldn't kill. But she also can do everything Cordelia can't, from interviewing suspects to researching Jake on the library computers that go up in a puff of smoke if Cordelia gets too close. The roommates form an unlikely friendship as they get closer to the truth about Jake's death…and maybe other dangerous secrets as well.

3 editions

lastblossom reviewed A New Lease on Death by Olivia Blacke (Supernatural Mysteries, #1)

A somewhat bumpy start with an overarching plot that promises to be much more interesting than the episodic mystery.

No rating

It's a delightful premise, really. Spunky young woman and a cranky older lady team up to solve mysteries. The fact that one is a ghost adds to the quirky charm. But much like the relationship between our leads, this series is off to a somewhat unsteady start. The book takes a moment to get its bearings, and the main mystery presented doesn't feel solved so much as conveniently revealed. Ruby might have the enthusiasm for it, but her investigative skills leave a lot to be desired. I don't expect her to be Sherlock Holmes, but a bit of self-preservation would certainly help. About halfway through the book, I wondered when they'd be getting to the real mystery - Cordelia's untimely demise. And sadly, it turns out that's for another day. Because even though there are a few threads here and there, Cordelia remains a mystery, along with her many intriguing …

It's a delightful premise, really. Spunky young woman and a cranky older lady team up to solve mysteries. The fact that one is a ghost adds to the quirky charm. But much like the relationship between our leads, this series is off to a somewhat unsteady start. The book takes a moment to get its bearings, and the main mystery presented doesn't feel solved so much as conveniently revealed. Ruby might have the enthusiasm for it, but her investigative skills leave a lot to be desired. I don't expect her to be Sherlock Holmes, but a bit of self-preservation would certainly help. About halfway through the book, I wondered when they'd be getting to the real mystery - Cordelia's untimely demise. And sadly, it turns out that's for another day. Because even though there are a few threads here and there, Cordelia remains a mystery, along with her many intriguing secrets. Thankfully they remembered at the end just long enough to drop a hook, but I certainly would have liked to see more. As it stands, the mystery in this book is a fine enough cozy mystery, but the power of this book leans more on how much you like the odd couple chemistry of Ruby and Cordelia and how long you're willing to wait for the much more tantalizing story happening in the background.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for a review copy. All thoughts in this review are my own.