The Weird Sisters of Wynter’s Hill – Helen Whistberry

So today’s book was yet another one plucked off the big weird world of Twitter. I swear Twitter isn’t my only source of books but it is the biggest… And what a lovely way to spend a few fever-filled days recovering from the flu but diving into a little novel noir!

As usual this book was another little known indie publication, my favorite. It’s largely a mystery or rather about thirty different mysteries that unwind like a ball of multi-colored yarn and somehow still manage to end in the same spot. Great for people who like to puzzle.

In short it’s written in the hard boiled tradition about a fedora adorned newspaper reporter in the 1940’s who is sent to write a fluff piece about a ghost haunting a local cemetery. There he meets our femme fatale and falls headfirst down a rabbit hole of deception and mystery.

This book moves like a film noir – at a slow and steady amble, picking at threads along the way. We follow in his footsteps as he finds witnesses to interview who lead him to more witnesses and more questions. Before we know it the ghost seems like just a curious side plot as more interesting events give rise to better mysteries. Not to worry though, it all comes together beautifully in the end like a fluffy soufflé.

This was the perfect pick to be reading around Halloween, I have to say. And it was devoid of many of the negative aspects of historical detective novels – you know like overriding anger and misogyny. It even seemed to go out of it’s way to be the opposite of racist. Oh and there was no cursing of any kind so it was a perfectly PG little number suitable for all ages. Granted there was a tinge of violence and the body count got slightly alarming at one point but it wasn’t graphic so I still think it was fine for family entertainment. It even had little flecks of humor thrown in here and there – like what DO you say when you’re found fondling a mausoleum alone at midnight? I honestly didn’t think this genre could be cutesy but hey, it seemed to work! No complaints here! So if this sounds like a little venture you’d like to get in on you can obtain your copy on Amazon (and if you get it from that link specifically I’ll get a small commission for letting you in on it. You’d be making TWO people jump for joy!)