Review – Haunted Grave (Madame Chalamet, Book 5) by Byrd Nash (4/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Historical Fantasy/Paranormal
Length: 214 pages
Publisher: Rook and Castle Press
Release Date: December 28, 2023
ASIN: B0CJVVCXSZ
Stand Alone or Series: 5th book in the Madame Chalamet series
Source: Bought ebook for Kindle
Rating: 4/5 stars
“A fiendish criminal uses the dying to cause mayhem.
The master criminal seems to be behind a gang of the dying causing dangerous riots throughout the city. The target? The nobility and key government officials.Still, a girl has her own problems to deal with, such as the four sister souls sharing your body, and an apprentice who bears unsettling news. It certainly doesn’t help when evidence points to your father being involved with a criminal network right before he was murdered.
The king may lose his kingdom, but what’s a girl to do when the love of your life keeps proposing when you’d prefer a romance without complication?
The fifth in a six-part Gaslamp fantasy ghost mystery series featuring a strong-minded female Sherlock Holmes-like character with a slow burn romance.”
Series Info/Source: This is the fifth book in the Madam Chalamet Ghost Mysteries series. I bought a copy of this on ebook from my Kindle.
Thoughts: This book picks up shortly after the last book left off. It was an easy read that was entertaining but it ended very abruptly. I had to re-read the last pages a few times to figure out what happened there and I am still not sure I understand.
Chalamet is supposed to be resting after the events in the last book but immediately gets caught up in strange goings on and the protests that are plaguing the city. She is dealing with the ghosts of the strange four girls that are bound to her as well. Her relationship with the Duke continues but discretely. As the story progresses, Chalamet finds out that the events happening may be tied back to the death of her father.
I enjoyed this a lot. The story is well written and easy to read. I continue to really love the characters in here as well. It was fun to see threads of the story start to come together. My only complaint is the ending. It was incredibly abrupt and confusing. I read it a couple of times and then went and read the preview of the next book (which did help a bit) but was still confused by what went on. We went from Chalamet being hypnotized to something completely different and I found it frustrating.
My Summary (4/5): Overall I enjoyed this. I love the characters in this series and enjoy all the ghostly happenings as well. It was fun to see the broader story make some progress here and I am intrigued to see how things wrap up in the sixth and final book. The ending of this book was very abrupt and a bit disappointing but hopefully it will make more sense when I read the sixth book.
