Wiccan Reads--The Ghost and Mrs. McClure (And an Invitation)

I love paranormal fiction. The ghostier the better! Recently I discovered a series of delightful books called The Haunted Bookshop Mysteries. Now these are not scary novels, but they do have a ghost, and each is a good mystery. Written by Alice Kimberly, the first book is The Ghost and Mrs. McClure (The Penguin Group, copyright 2004 by the Berkley Publishing Group). Inspired by the novel The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (R.A. Dick), the story follows a young widow, with a small son, who moves back to her small hometown in Rhode Island after the suicide of her husband. She steps in to assist her aunt in bringing about the revival of the family bookstore. Unbeknownst to Penelope, the widow, the store is haunted by the ghost of a private investigator, the rough and tumble, hard-boiled Jack Shepherd who was murdered on the premises in 1949. Jack talks to Pen in her head, and she has silent conversations with him which can lead to some hilarious results. A murder occurs at the bookstore, and P.I. Jack assists Penelope in the investigation--because, of course, the small town cops are not too efficient.  This is a fun read, a good mystery, with a taste of the old film noir aspects of the '30's and '40's. I highly recommend this well-written series. There are five in the series, with a sixth on its way.

Have you seen the old movie, The Ghost and Mrs.Muir?  A wonderful film starring Gene Tierney and the very charming Rex Harrison. A dead sea captain who is haunting his coastal cottage is not too happy when the war widow, Mrs Muir moves in with her children and housekeeper. It turns into an interesting love story. I love this old film, and honestly, did not realize it was based on a book. The novel was published in 1945, by R.A. Dick--pseudonym for Josephine Aimee Campbell Leslie. The film was made in 1947. A t.v. series was also produced from 1968-1970 (you may remember Hope Lange in the role of Mrs. Muir, Edward Mulhare as the Captain).

A couple of weeks ago, I read the novel Practical Magic, by Alice Hoffman. I had only seen the movie, and decided to see what the book was like. Now I would like to do the same with The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. I would like to invite anyone interested to join me in reading this book. It would be fun to see what we think about it. Firstly, I am going to check my local library to see if they may have a copy of the book. If not, I do know that Amazon.com has the original novel, and in true marketing form, offer the DVD of the 1947 movie.

Read the book, watch the movie and then comment on here. I will be posting about it sometime in the near future, once I have found the book. Happy Hauntings!