Welcome to Sunset in Old Savannah by Mary Ellis #MaryEllis

Sunset in Old Savannah by Mary Ellis is the fourth book in the Secrets of the South Mystery series.

I have been with the characters from the beginning, and it is good to be back.

All I need to do is look at the cover and I am there.

Sunset in Old Savannah (Secrets of the South Mysteries #4)Amazon US  /  Amazon UK  /  Amazon CA  /  Goodreads

MY REVIEW

A convoluted mystery with lots of suspects that kept me guessing.

It’s so nice to be back with familiar faces and off on another adventure with the team. This series can stand alone but to really get to know the main characters and all the supporting ones best, this light, fun, sorta cozy type of read is well worth reading from the beginning.

I start with a smile on my face at the fun writing about Beth.

She’s quite the character. She is my favorite. I love her brash, snarky, sarcastic wit that puts poor Mike, who’s madly in love with her, through the wringer. She manages to find herself in uncomfortable situations, and she’s looking for a reason to get out of town..

I can’t help but laugh at Beth’s antics…even as she puts her life in danger to get to the bottom the mystery.

Old friends, new friends, a mystery solved and another mystery on the horizon. From Natchez and Pensacola, to Savannah, Beth always gets her man.

I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Sunset in Old Savannah by Mary Ellis.

Animated Animals. Pictures, Images and Photos  4 Stars

GOODREADS BLURB

In Savannah, Everyone Has Something to Hide

When socialite Evelyn Doyle hires investigative partners and best friends Michael Preston and Elizabeth Kirby to do some routine surveillance on her wayward husband, the detective duo find themselves embroiled in a mystery with more suspects than there are shells on Tybee Island.

Evelyn’s husband turns up dead, leaving her as the police chief’s prime target. The investigation reveals a hodgepodge of potential murderers, including a scheming business partner, a resentful mistress, and a ne’er-do-well brother. It’s up to Mike and Beth to follow the trail of secrets that reaches further than the branches of the moss-draped oaks of Savannah.

As word of the case gets around town, business is booming for Price Investigations. When Mike and Beth hire Kaitlyn Webb, Savannah’s newest transplant, their workload eases, but will the ghosts of her past threaten everyone’s safety before a killer can be put behind bars? And can Mike and Beth find love as their friendship and faith are put to the test?

ABOUT MARY ELLIS

Mary EllisMary Ellis has written twelve award-winning novels set in the Amish community and several historical romances set during the Civil War. Her latest, Midnight on the Mississippi, first of a new mystery series, Secrets of the South, is set in New Orleans. Before “retiring” to write full-time, Mary taught school and worked as a sales rep for Hershey Chocolate, a job with amazingly sweet fringe benefits. Mary enjoys traveling, gardening, bicycling and swimming, and lives in Ohio with her husband, dog and cat. She can be found on the web at: www.maryellis.net or
https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Mar…

MY MARY ELLIS REVIEW

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Scooby Doo meets Supernatural in Ellie Jordan, Ghost Trapper by J L Bryan – Review, Giveaway & Interview

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I am happy to be able to kick off the month of October with this wonderful story about Ellie Jordan, Ghost Trapper by J L Bryan for Kiss Off Book Tours.
Add me to Goodreads now.
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Ellie Jordan, Ghost Trapper (Ellie Jordan, Ghost Trapper #1) by J.L Bryan
Publication Date: August 27th, 2014
Genre: Adult Paranormal Mystery
 MY REVIEW
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Ellie Jordan, Ghost Trapper by J L Bryan is an eerie tale that had me laughing and cringing as Ellie and Stacey investigate a haunted mansion. It made me think of the movie, The Ghostbusters and the TV show, Ghost Hunters. There are plenty of screams and chills that you will not want to miss.
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Ellie had trained her whole life to be a ghost trapper. Now she is a senior investigator for Eckhart Investigations. She has a degree in psychology that comes in handy when assessing the legitimacy of her clients. Ellie felt she didn’t need any help, but her boss, Calvin, coaxed her into it. It was a good thing.
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Stacey is just learning, but I love her snarky attitude.
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All jobs start with research and the mansion has a sordid history.
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Ellie and Stacey set up all their equipment and wait.
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Imagine…sitting there, alone, in the dark, and watching the bolt locking the door slide open on its own, feeling a huge drop in temperature, knowing something is there but unable to see it. Loud voices, banging, screaming…
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l loved the tone of the writing, it had me laughing out loud.
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“Well, let’s go check out the dark basement of the abandoned insane asylum. Nothing could possibly go wrong down there.”
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They have ghost pajama parties and a mock funeral. There was much more going on than they anticipated and it was becoming very dangerous.
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Ellie Jordan, Ghost Trapper, started out in a Scooby Doo sort of way, but turned more Supernatural as the story went on.
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“Let’s split up to save time”
“Isn’t that what they always say in a horror movie? Right before somebody gets killed?”
“Usually, yeah. So hurry.”
The characters had me yelling, don’t go in there, watch out, get out of there. I couldn’t help myself. I even felt sympathy for one of the ghosts. They are not all bad, are they?
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J L Bryan’s writing had me hooked from the beginning. I liked the humor mixed with the danger of very unhappy evil spirits.
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I loved the ending and couldn’t help but smile as I went to check out more of what J L Bryan has to offer. So if your house is haunted, be sure and call Ellie Jordan, Ghost Trapper. She will get the job done!
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I picked up Ellie Jordan, Ghost Trapper, a while ago, so when I saw the tour, I decided this was the perfect time to review it.
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Animated Animals. Pictures, Images and Photos  4 Stars
Summary from Goodreads
Ellie Jordan’s job is to catch and remove unwanted ghosts. Part detective, part paranormal exterminator, Ellie operates out of Savannah, Georgia, one of the oldest and most haunted cities in North America.
When a family contacts her to deal with a disturbing presence in the old mansion they’ve recently purchased, Ellie first believes it to be a typical, by-the-book specter, a residual haunting by a restless spirit. Instead, she finds herself confronting an evil older and more powerful than she’d ever expected, rooted in the house’s long and sordid history of luxury, sin, and murder. The dangerous entity seems particularly interested in her clients’ ten-year-old daughter.
Soon her own life is in danger, and Ellie must find a way to exorcise the darkness of the house before it can kill her, her clients, or their frightened young child.

INTERVIEW

  1. What inspired you to write Ellie Jordan, Ghost Trapper?

I was interested in writing about ghosts because, unlike pretty much any other kind of paranormal critter (vampires, werewolves, etc.) it’s not clear whether ghosts are real or not. I thought it would be fun to write a detective series about a character who deals with them all the time.

  1. Have you ever had a ghost experience before?

One time my wife and I were staying with some friends who lived in an old house in Athens, Georgia. We slept downstairs and were the only people on the floor. We were both awoken at the same time by a deep male voice saying “shoo, shoo” just a few inches above our heads, like someone was leaning over us and talking. Nobody else was in the room. We didn’t tell our friends about it until they’d moved out of that house.

  1. What made you choose to write in the paranormal genre?

I’ve always been interested in the supernatural and sort of looking into mysterious and unexplainable events. I also think that we can learn about ourselves through imagining human beings in extreme circumstances, whether that’s dealing with paranormal monsters or a dystopian future society.

  1. What was your favorite scene to write in Ellie Jordan?

Probably the ghost ones, like early on when she’s first encountering the ghost in the house, or later when they have to visit the abandoned old insane asylum to look for clues.

  1. Which character was your favorite to write?

I really enjoy writing both Ellie and Stacey and how they interact with each other. Their psychic friend Jacob is becoming more and more fun to write with each book.

  1. Do you have a dream cast for any of the characters?

I don’t because I don’t keep up with newer actors very well. This would be a really interesting blog post if someone else wanted to do it, though (hint, hint!).

  1. What is your writing process like?

I have a toddler, so I pretty much just write whenever I can. A lot of times that’s late night! I try to hit specific wordcounts, but it always goes slowest earliest in the first draft and gradually picks up steam. Then I go through a number of drafts before sending it for editing.

  1. What kind of research did you have to do for this book?

I’ve actually done kind of a silly amount of research for this series, and I still do. First, I’ve read or listened to as many true (or supposedly true) ghost stories as I can find. I wanted to learn all about what real ghostly experiences were like, instead of following other fiction. I also researched the real technology and procedures used by ghost hunters and applied those to Ellie’s investigative process. My goal has been to make it is as realistic as possible as far as reflecting “ghost culture” in the real world.

  1. How many books are you planning for the series?

Eight or ten right now.

  1. When you were a kid, what was your favorite ghost story you heard?

There was an old house in an overgrown field near where I grew up. People would say it was haunted. I think that was the scariest one because it was so close and I could have walked inside the place if I wanted to (but I didn’t want to). I don’t even remember a specific story about it, people said different things. I did watch a lot of Scooby-Doo as a kid, too. And I was obsessed with the Nightmare on Elm Street movies, which are about a certain kind of ghost.

  1. When did you write your first book and how old were you?

I was thirteen and wrote a book about a delusional kid who dressed up in a dog costume and tried to fight crime, despite his lack of any superpowers or anything. It was called Dogboy.

  1. What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating Ellie Jordan?

How many real or supposedly real ghost stories are out there. I’ve read several books about ghosts just in the Savannah area alone. There are lots of books and websites that collect people’s ghost stories, and lots of people have personal stories if you start asking around. There are at least a dozen “ghost reality” shows on TV, where haunted buildings are investigated with technology or by psychics, or people recount experiences they claim to have had. The abundance of ghostly experiences by real people has made researching and writing the series much more interesting to me.

  1. Do you have any advice for other writers?

Read widely, not just in your own genre, read lots of books on craft, and write every day. Commercially, you want to write in a popular genre and make sure you have quality book covers that reflect the correct genre.

  1. What is your favorite genre to read or watch?

I like to read historical nonfiction, biographies, things like that. Nonfiction is great fuel for your imagination.

  1. If someone dared you, would you spend the night in the house in the story?

No! Not unless Ellie had cleared the place first.

  1. Is there a genre you’d like to write but haven’t yet?

I actually write some science fiction on the side, but it hasn’t done as well as the supernatural stories so I don’t focus on it.

  1. Why did you choose to have the book take place in Savannah, Georgia?
  2. It was an easy choice for me because I live in Georgia and have visited Savannah several times (and I’m always willing to go back for more research!). Some of my ancestors were present at the founding of that city. So I wanted to write about a city with which I was familiar, and Savannah is a great setting, with lots of old mansions built in every style and centuries-old graveyards, plus the city is built on top of multiple native burial grounds. It’s believed to be one of the most haunted cities in the country among paranormal researchers and among people who live there. Most of the buildings in the Historic District have at least one ghost story attached to them. It seemed like a place where professional ghost hunters would really have their hands full!
 About The Author

J.L. Bryan

J.L. Bryan studied English literature at the University of Georgia and at Oxford, with a focus on the English Renaissance and the Romantic period. He also studied screenwriting at UCLA. He enjoys remixing elements of paranormal, supernatural, fantasy, horror and science fiction into new kinds of stories.

He is the author of The Paranormals series of horror novels (Jenny PoxTommy Nightmare, and Alexander Death) the Songs of Magic series for younger readers (Fairy Metal ThunderFairy Blues, and Fairystruck…so far) and other books. He lives in Atlanta with his wife Christina, their son, and some dogs and cats.

Website / Facebook / Twitter / Goodreads

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