Givin’ Up the Ghost, by Gwen Gardner, is a cozy
mystery involving a sixteen year-old girl who moved in with her uncle and
cousin. Indigo Eady, who has the ability to see ghosts, and her fifteen
year-old cousin, Simon, are seemingly looking for something to do. They, together with their friends Badger and
Riley, start to investigate what happened to Badger and Riley’s father, who had
mysteriously disappeared. Everyone thought that he had run away with his
secretary; everyone except the four friends.
They are joined by Cappy, a chimney sweep that Indigo met, to prove that
Bart didn’t just leave his family.
The plot was good, and I liked the characters, although I had trouble remembering that they were in their teens. Also, Ms. Gardner
did not play fair with her readers. She
introduced certain characters in the beginning of the book and the reader would
not see them again until the end. By
that time, the reader forgot who the character was and what role he played in
the story. What’s more, the characters
were too many in numbers to keep straight.
I usually read a cozy mystery in a day or two, as I
get involved in them. I lost interest in this book from the very beginning, and
so it took me a few weeks to read. I
kept thinking it would get better, but it didn’t. I am sad to say, that I only gave this book
one star.
