A New Lease on Death - Cozy Mystery Review

Goodreads: A New Lease on Death by Olivia Blacke

Rating: Liked It! (3.5 Stars)
Source:   Publisher

Description:  Ruby Young's new Boston apartment comes with all the usual perks. Windows facing the brick wall of the next-door building. Heat that barely works. A malfunctioning buzzer. Noisy neighbors. A dead body on the sidewalk outside. And of course, a ghost.

Since Cordelia Graves died in her apartment a few months ago, she's kept up her residency, despite being bored out of her (non-tangible) skull and frustrated by her new roommate. When her across-the-hall neighbor, Jake Macintyre, is shot and killed in an apparent mugging gone wrong outside their building, Cordelia is convinced there’s more to it and is determined to bring his killer to justice.

Unfortunately, Cordelia, being dead herself, can't solve the mystery alone. She has to enlist the help of the obnoxiously perky, living tenant of her apartment. Ruby is twenty, annoying, and has never met a houseplant she couldn't kill. But she also can do everything Cordelia can't, from interviewing suspects to researching Jake on the library computers that go up in a puff of smoke if Cordelia gets too close. The roommates form an unlikely friendship as they get closer to the truth about Jake's death…and maybe other dangerous secrets as well.

Genre: Mystery - Paranormal Cozy

Why I Picked This Book:  I've enjoyed other books by this author and this looked like a fun read.

My Impression: This was definitely different from any cozy I've read before.  We start out with a frozen body in front of an apartment building in a not so great area of Boston and that's when we meet Cordelia.  Cordelia knows the body as it used to belong to the guy who lived across the hall from her.  She's also getting used to having a roommate in her small dingy apartment.  The problem is that the roommate, Ruby Young, doesn't know she's really there as Cordelia is actually a ghost.  

The book alternates between Ruby and Cordelia's perspective.  Ruby is young and optimistic and a bit down on her luck.  Even when she was alive Cordelia was a bit of a loner and definitely not what one would describe as upbeat.  Together, however, they're an interesting pair as they figure out how to communicate and try to find out just who took out their across the hall neighbor and maybe Cordelia herself.

Since this is a fairly complicated premise there is quite a bit of setup and it takes a bit for things to really get going in the story.  This makes for a bit of a slower pacing.  However, the characters were well drawn and lots of fun and the premise kept me guessing.  I'm looking forward to reading more from this author.

Would I Read More of this Series/Author? Absolutely!  I've enjoyed everything I've read by this author and this was an interesting read.

Would I Recommend this Book? If you like mysteries, ghosts, or interesting and sympathetic characters this is a good read.

* I received this book in exchange for an honest review.  As always my opinions and impressions are completely my own. *