Dog Days

A Lily Dale Mystery, Book 6

By: Wendy Corsi Staub

Narrated by: Avery May

Do you believe in spirits? A series of strange happenings force Valley View guesthouse manager—and sceptic—Bella Jordan to question her beliefs in the new installment of New York Times bestseller Wendy Corsi Staub's heart-warming cozy mystery series set in Lily Dale, New York's Spiritualist home.

After attending a family wedding in Chicago, young widow Bella Jordan is returning to the guesthouse she runs in Lily Dale—the quirky upstate New York lakeside village famous for its spiritual mediums—when she catches a glimpse of the impossible at the airport: her late husband Sam.

A former science teacher, Bella is grounded in facts and logic. She doesn't believe in ghosts. But even when she's back home with the competing distractions of her quirky guests, small son Max, resident pet cats and a very unexpected litter of puppies, Bella can't find a good explanation for what she's seen.

The situation gets even stranger when her psychic friend Odelia tells her that she made contact with Sam's spirit and he shared a significant name: Kevin… Bacon!

Bella doesn't know what to think, but when she glimpses Sam again and things start to vanish around her, she knows she has to get to the bottom of the strange happenings—even if that means letting go for good…

Listeners of the Crystal Cave series by Susan Wittig Albert, the Harper Connelly mysteries by Charlaine Harris and the Bailey Ruth ghost novels by Carolyn Hart will love this charming, characterful cozy mystery series, which invites listeners to draw their own conclusions on whether ghosts are real.

©2024 Wendy Corsi Staub (P)2024 Dreamscape Media

Pulled an all nighter

I did this charming cozy mystery in one of my favorite series in one sitting. I was up all night, saying just one more chapter till I was at the end. It obviously was so very good! I Lou this series, set in the real town of Lily Dale, home of spiritualism and physics and mediums. In this one, it seems that Bella’s late husband has returned from the grave…

Another disappointment for fans of the YA series

I was a HUGE fan of Staub's YA Lily Dale series, and perhaps foolishly, keep listening to the adult ones hoping to find the magic again.

There are significant continuity issues between the YA and the adult books that I have mentioned in reviews of previous books - the adult books rewrite the history of the few characters than carried over from the YA books, which is just so disappointing for LilyDale YA fans.

I also wish more attention had been paid to continuity in characters' portrayal by the narrators. In the YA books, Odelia was brash and colorful, and her voice reflected that. In these books, the narrator makes her sound formal and almost British. It's like replacing Diane Ladd with Maggie Adams. Both are fine actresses, but not interchangeable.

I had hoped that by now, Bella would be less of a cynic about the gifts and professions of the people she now considers her closest friends and who are residents of the town she now calls home. It feels ick to me that Bella still looks down her nose at mediumship and thinks her friends and neighbors are a little crazy because of their beliefs.

I also had hopes after the previous book that Calla would be brought back as a more significant character, but my hopes were dashed again.

If you are only reading this book or the adult series, you may find them enjoyable. If you were a fan of the YA books, you will probably be confused and disappointed.