Two women. Three kids. No money.

Jess lost her husband. Libby’s husband lost his mind — or at least his sense of responsibility. With their lives upended and their finances in freefall, the two friends do the only thing they can: pool their resources and buy the one property in St. Sebastian that nobody else wants.

The haunted one. Obviously.

They expected creaky floors and cold spots. They didn’t expect to actually see the ghost, a long-dead mortician who has apparently been waiting for exactly the right people to move in. When word spreads that Jess and Libby can see him, it attracts attention they weren’t looking for.

Including a job offer Libby can’t afford to turn down.

The catch: she has to solve the mortician’s murder. A crime decades old, buried deep, and apparently important enough that someone is willing to pay for answers. Libby and Jess are in no position to say no.

But the deeper they dig, the more they have to wonder — some things stay buried for a reason.

‘‘Dead Companions’ was a delightful surprise. I love finding a new author to follow who knows how to make me smile. I read a sample of this book because it was offered on sale for £0.77. I knew I’d found something good as soon as I read the opening chapter, so I ditched my reading plan for the week and just kept going.

This was a fun, feel-good book, without being saccharine or tropey. What I loved most was the book’s positive energy. It’s written with confidence and skill, sweeping me up in the narrative. The dialogue sparkled. It made me laugh and quickly got me engaged with the core characters of the series. 

Jess and Libby have been friends since childhood, and their kids have grown up together. Now Libby is facing an unexpected divorce, Jess is a widow, and they and their teenage kids. Libby’s two boys and Jess’s daughter are starting somewhere new – a spooky old house on the market for a suspiciously low price in a town with a history of hauntings.

The dynamics of the friendship between Jess and Libby felt real. Their kids were fun and actually sounded like kids. Add in a resident (but selectively visible) ghost and a murder mystery, and what’s not to like? 

The plot (was the resident ghost murdered and if so, by whom?) was above average for a cozy supernatural mystery, but what kept me engaged and smiling throughout the book was how Libby, Jess and their kids fought to find a way to be happy despite the burdens of grief and fractured relationships that they were carrying. They were likeable people who I wanted to succeed.

It helped that the town they’ve moved to has a very high score on the Woo Woo meter, but without going Derry dark. There are multiple ghosts in the story, ranging from the sweet to the scary and most of them are known to the locals, although not all locals can see them.

I had fun with this, and I’m looking forward to the rest of the series. I’ve already downloaded the second book, ‘A Trunk, A Canoe, and all the Barbecue’

I checked out A. W. Hartoin, and it looks like there’ll be a few more series that I might follow.

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A. W. Hartoin has published more than thirty novels since 2012, mostly in four series: the Mercy Watts Mysteries, (fifteen books), Away From Whipplethorn (five books), Stella Bled (eight books), and Afterlife Issues (six books).

Here’s the biography she included in her novel:

A.W. Hartoin grew up in rural Missouri, but her grandmother lived in the Central West End area of St. Louis. The CWE fascinated her with its enormous houses, every one unique. She was sure there was a story behind each ornate door. Going to Grandma’s house was a treat and an adventure. As the only grandchild around for many years, A.W. spent her visits exploring the many rooms with their many secrets. That’s how Mercy Watts and the fairies of Whipplethorn came to be.

As an adult, A.W. Hartoin decided she needed a whole lot more life experience if she was going to write good characters so she joined the Air Force. It was the best education she could’ve hoped for. She met her husband and traveled the world, living in Alaska, Italy, and Germany before settling in Colorado for nearly eleven years.

Then A.W. returned to Germany and lived in picturesque Waldenbuch with her family and two spoiled cats, who absolutely believed they should be allowed to escape and roam the village freely.

After Germany, the Hartoin family moved to the DC area and are slowly getting used living back in the States