Spirit Guide by Byrd Nash
Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Genre/Age Paranormal/Fantasy Mystery, YA plus
Goodreads
Synopsis
Are missing girls linked to a mysterious séance where ghosts become flesh?
When a nobleman’s daughter goes missing, Elinor Chalamet and Tristan Fontaine, the Duke de Archambeau, must work together to discover who has kidnapped her and why.
Saddled with a bumbling apprentice, a drunk soldier, and a prickly nobleman who won’t explain why he hasn’t paid a proper call, Elinor must decide if the Society is hiding something from her. When the investigation reveals a connection to an old rival, she finds herself going it alone, something Tristan had demanded she not do.
Will her dance with ghosts be a permanent arrangement?
And when Tristan Fontaine discovers her missing, who will be able to face his wrath?
Elinor Chalamet uses her wits and her ghost-talking skills to hunt for her father’s killer in Alenbonné, a coastal city where ghosts walk at all hours. The third of a six-part gaslamp fantasy ghost mystery series featuring a Sherlock Holmes-like female character in a slow burn romance
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A quick-paced, fun and compelling read for lovers of the supernatural:
#1 Ghost Talker
#2 Delicious Death
#3 Spirit Guide
#4 Gray Lady
#5 Untimely Grave
#6 Ghastly Mistake
My Thoughts
Brief Summary
This is the third book in the series and whilst each mystery is standalone the books do need to be read in order to fully enjoy and understand them. Elinor and Tristan, along with Elinor’s scatterbrained apprentice, are soon caught up in the hunt for a missing noblewoman and her servant. All the clues point to The Morpheus Society being heavily embroiled in this sorry affair and Elinor’s loyalties are questioned.
Star Rating
4.5 stars. The story had me gripped from start to finish and I ended up reading late into the night as I couldn’t put it down.
The Characters
The characters are being developed over the series, which is why I recommend reading the books in the correct order. In this one, we see both Elinor and Tristan opening up to one another a little more, though there’s a fine line between passionate ardour and ire. I adored Twyla, Elinor’s apprentice, and hope we see more of her in future books. She added a nice air of fun and unpredictability.
The Writing
The story beings In medias res, with Twyla struggling to banish a rather unpleasant ghost following an unsuccessful seance. The author then weaves a captivating story that moves along at a fairly brisk pace. There are enough clues to make the “big reveal” feel tenable without being too obvious, and the author often answers one question with another, so that even though the plot is moving forward we still don’t have all the answers.
I was pleased that we saw some movement towards finding out who killed Elinor’s father, as well as seeing Tristan be a little more open about his feelings for Elinor.
The World-Building
The setting is fantasy, though reminiscent of Western Europe in the late-Victorian age. There are also paranormal elements – the ability to see and communicate with ghosts and to observe echoes of images held within objects. The world-building focuses both on the paranormal aspects and on the hierarchy of Sarnesian society. Information on surrounding countries/regions is less detailed but still sufficient for the story to work.
In this book, we also found out more about the Morpheus Society and got a better idea of just what has kept Tristan, Duke de Archambeau, so busy.
I adore books that I can’t put down. This YA series sounds like quite a great find. I’ll have to mark it down. Excellent review!
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