Received ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review

Hilarious cozy mystery! The ghost hunter who doesn’t believe in ghosts is someone can’t help but love. She’s cynical and a con but for good reason. Definitely recommend.

I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. he characters have great chemistry and I loved Ellie and her disbelief in the paranormal and trying to convince people that she is a great ghost hunter. It is a fast paced mystery and I enjoyed it very a lot

Seances are for Suckers by Tamara Berry is the 1st book in Eleanor Wilde Mystery series, and a unique book that I really enjoyed. Eleanor Wilde is a fake ghost hunter, but she has great skill in making people believe her. Ellie pays for her sister's care in a nursing home, where she has been in a coma for ten years. Ellie's brother does not approve of his sisters work, but he can not afford the sister's care, (they are triplets), and the parents are dead. When Ellie gets hired by a rich English man Nicholas Hartford III, to get rid of the ghosts in his family's England estate. Nicholas knows she is a fake, but wants his mother and sister convinced. Wow, this book was so good, and I found this book to be a quick read, with a well developed plot and characters. There are a lot of twists and turns that kept me reading. There is a wonderful mixture of mystery and humor, for a well-balanced unique story. If you love cozy mysteries, I recommend this book.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This series is off to a great start. I hope it has a long run, it's that good. Ellie is a ghost hunter who doesn't believe in ghosts but, hey, a girl has to make a living. Her sister is in a coma with huge medical costs and her brother is a teacher - they are triplets. Some would call her a con artist but that's the way it goes. Her clients are okay with it. After finishing an exorcism, she has not even had time to catch her breath when a wealthy Englishman approaches her to come with him to England and rid his family home of the resident ghost, Xavier. (He is offering lots of money to take the gig. and Ellie really needs the money) .Well, at least his mother believes in the ghost, . Now Ellie and Nicholas, the Englishman who hired her, know she is a fake but others in the family believe. I'm reminded of "it takes a con to catch a con". Fine, until a dead body turns up. Can Ellie figure it out, ghost or no ghost? I'm not going to give anything away that would spoil it.
It's a refreshing mix of cozy mystery, humor, paranormal and a bit of romance. Ellie is quite a character and I liked her from the very start. She made me stay up way, way past my bedtime, always the sign of a well written book. More, please.

Eleanor (Ellie) Wilde has an interesting profession. She rids houses of ghosts. She is a ghost hunter. Some call her a medium others like her brother Liam call her a fake. Ellie Wilde is a fake ghost hunter, Thus begins the book Seances Are for Suckers by Tamara Berry. Ellie, who is the breadwinner of their small family...only because her brother Liam decided to go into a real profession as a teacher... financially supports their other sister Winnie, (they are triplets), who has been in a catatonic state since a terrible accident years ago.

After her last exhausting exorcism Ellie is on her way to Mexico for some relaxation when she is hired by Nicholas Hartford a wealthy Englishman who flies her out to his ancestral estate in England to help his mother who believes there is a ghost (Xavier) whispering in her ear and wreaking havoc on the family,

Estate life is not all that it is cut out to be as we see at the Hartford Estate. The place is cold, dark and falling apart. The family pinch pennies and food is a necessity not a luxury. But the sherry does flow freely! And needless to say there are a cast of characters; Vivian, the aged mother who hears but does not see Xavier the ghost, Rachel the niece a teenager who is virtually a shut in, Fern the sister of Nicholas whose beauty is truly superficial, Cal, Fern's wealthy boyfriend and of course, Thomas the butler/handyman.

Things immediately begin to go bump in the night and mayhem ensues. All but Nicholas thinks she is a real ghost hunter. Ellie must use her "powers" to figure out just who is ghosting who and how. And just how many ghost could there possibly be?

Anyone who enjoyed the Ellie Haskell series by Dorothy Cannell will enjoy this heartfelt, very funny quirky story with some romance and craziness thrown in.

I hope this is the first in a series of Ellie Wilde books. I would rate it a 4 out of 5.

Séances are for Suckers by Tamara Berry is the first book in the new paranormal cozy Eleanor Wilde Mystery series. Eleanor Wilde or Ellie as she likes to be called is a fake medium, well fake as in she let’s her customers continue in their belief of a ghost when she’s moving rats out of the attic that actually went bump in the night..

After an accident ten years ago in which Ellie survived but lost her mother that night and her sister was left in a coma Ellie has had to do whatever she can to pay the medical bills. She doesn’t think of herself as a con artist or fake when she is preforming the service she’s been hired to do but it’s a thin line she’s walking nonetheless.

Just as Ellie is about to head on vacation after her latest cleansing she’s approached by Nicholas Hartford III who is in need of Ellie’s skills. Now Nicholas seems to know Ellie is a fake and just doesn’t care, he’s willing to try anything to rid his family’s home of Xavier the ghost that his mother insists is perfectly real.

Séances are for Suckers was one of those cozies that I just found an absolutely fun read all around. I was liking Ellie by only a couple of pages into the story and her whole fake medium act but color me surprised when we actually do get a bit of paranormal added in too. But the setting and secondary characters all had an appeal on top of thinking Ellie was a fun lead then pile on a unique mystery with disappearing corpses I didn’t want this one to end. Definitely recommend checking this one out to the fans of a more quirky cozy.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

You ever read a book not expecting anything, and you read it, and think “that wasn’t what I expected?” Well, this book was that for me. Don’t get me wrong, this book was well-written, fun, level-headed (you have to read it know what I mean), and was captivating. I love how even though Ellie is “tricking” people, she still tries to give people their money’s worth because she’s only doing this to take care of her sister, and people want to believe more in ghosts than real-life issues. I really, really enjoyed this book except for a little bit of confusion on my part at the end. I thought someone was the villain, and it turns out he wasn’t, but not in the way you’d expect which really threw me off at the end. This book was an unexpected surprise, and I can’t wait to read the next one in the series even though I’m not sure where we’ll go from the end of the book. Highly recommend this 4 1/2 star read! I was provided the e-book which I voluntarily reviewed.

I thoroughly enjoyed this mystery and look forward to many more in the series. Ms. Eleanore Wilde is a gifted fake medium and plays the part well. She knows what her audience wants and the price they are willing to pay for closure. When Ellie receives an invite to a haunted English castle from a wealthy, handsome skeptic, her psychic skills are put to the test as the ghosts haunting the castle are thoroughly unpredictable. The one thing this book is not is predictable. The characters are as interesting as they are entertaining with no shortage of suspects. I hope the author commits to writing full-time so we can find out what seances are in Ellie's future. Many thanks to NetGalley and Kensington for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was given a free copy of this book thanks to NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I will start off by saying that I am not a paranormal cozy person. I like my cozies without magic and supernatural things because it's more realistic to me. But I found myself deeply enjoying this mystery and fell in love with the characters, who had a touching relationship. A lot of heart went into this book, and I'm already invested in this series so I can't wait for the next!

Right up front- Ellie is a con artist- but she's a con artist for a reason. She's supporting her sister Winnie, who is comatose and in a care facility. Normally exorcising ghosts is a sorta easy way to make some money (even if her brother Liam does not approve.). This time she thinks working for Nicholas Hartford at his grand family home in the UK to rid it of the ghost Xavier is going to be cake (and sort of a nice break.). NOT! There are some interesting twists and turn here as Ellie discovers that there's more to the story. There's all sorts of family secrets and dynamics which she must deal with to make things right. There's more to this whole story as Ellie is more well rounded than many cozy heroines. Thanks to net galley for the ARC. This was a unique and entertaining read (and the paranormal part never gets too woohoo.)

Seances Are for Suckers by Tamara Berry is the first what appears to be a fantastically fun and entertaining new series.

Although I am not a fan of paranormal, cover and short description seemed very interesting and I decided to give it a go, and I am so happy I did.
It started light and easy, almost as a paranormal parody, morphed into a very touching tale of family and sibling relations, ghost story with a touch of romance.
Ellie is a fake medium who rids people's houses of ghosts. Not a dream job but her sister is seriously ill and needs to be kept in an expensive institution that Ellie pays for.
A very rich English gent hires her to help him get his mother's home free of the ghost. Even though he knows she is fake.
Full of humor and extremely interesting bits and pieces about the medium trade, with many laugh out loud moments, full of witty retorts and an exciting and cleverly disguised mystery.
Eccentric but likable characters, gloomy and spooky setting as befits the genre with a cleverly written story this is the perfect cozy mystery choice.

Ellie has a sick sister to care for and she does that by working as a ghost hunter who doesn't exactly believe in ghosts. Occasionally a perk of the job is a tropical vacation. Nicholas Hartford III, a very rich, very skeptical man has flown Ellie all the way to Jolly old England to his family's estate that is supposedly haunted by a phantom named Xavier. But then an actual dead body appears and then disappears, Ellie have to apply her talent for trickery and psychological insight to solve a flesh-and-blood murder.

The mystery was well plotted and had me guessing until the end. Ellie has a hilarious train of thought. I laughed aloud a few times startling my husband. It was a nice read because it is different than other cozies that i have read.

3.5 Stars

This story has an intriguing idea. Ellie is a ghost hunter who doesn't believe in ghosts. She comes off as a bit mercenary at first, but is doing it for the right reasons. One of a set of triplets, her sister Allie is a woman who has been in a coma for many years and needs care. Then she meets a wealthy Brit named Nick, also an unbeliever, who hires her to fly to England to help purge the family home of a ghost named Xavier.
While there, Ellie discovers a real mystery. And a body. The story is filled with quirky characters like Nick's cheapskate mother, a likable niece Rachel,Nick's beotchy sister and her odd American boyfriend named Cal. The story is a mixed bag, sometimes funny and sometimes suspenseful. I did end up liking Ellie who discovers she has some real sleuth skills and a psychic link with her sister.

This book was one of the best cozy mysteries I have ever read. The writing was fantastic. The mystery was well plotted and had me guessing until the end. It had a great cast of secondary characters. I wasn't sure at the start I was going to like Ellie. She is, after all, a con-artist that prays on people's fears for her own financial gain. And I am still not 100% onboard with that, but perhaps the author will take her in a different direction (hopefully) after the events of this book. With that being said, I still found myself liking her character.

The other element that I surprisingly liked was the budding romance between Ellie and Nick. I am usually not a fan of romance in my cozy mysteries, but the author made it work quite well here. I am interested to see where she plans to go with that in future books.

So yea, this turned out to be a delightful read. Bring on book two!

Séances are for Suckers is a humorous take on old school romantic mysteries like The Moonspinners by Mary Stewart.

Ellie is the youngest of a set of triplets. On her eighteenth birthday, her mother is killed and her sister descends into a vegetative state. Her brother is an elementary school gym teacher. To earn the money for her sister’s long-term care, Ellie works as a fake medium. Ridding families of their ghosts frequently means more psychological than psychic assistance.

When Nicholas approaches Ellie with a project, she can’t resist even though Nicholas knows she is a fake. He wants Ellie to prove to his elderly mother that her ghost, Xavier, is someone’s childish game.

Once at the family’s ancient estate, Ellie suspects everyone including Nicholas of causing the ghostly events. It doesn’t help that Nicholas is devilishly handsome and apparently rich too. Plus there is the man-of-all-work, Thomas, who is equally handsome but so much less complicated than Nicholas. When Ellie literally stumbles over a corpse who is gone before she returns with help, Ellie begins to believe that this particular ghost may be real.

I actually liked the romance more than the mystery. Like Ellie, I started to feel like part of the family and really wanted it not to be an intentional fake haunting for profit. Séances are for Suckers is a very enjoyable romantic read perfect for a cozy night in with only your cat (or dog, if you are one of those people) for company. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 stars!

Thanks to Kensington Books and NetGalley for an advance copy.

Seances for Suckers by Tamara Berry

This is a very neat cozy mystery that encompasses a couple mysteries. First we meat the protagonist Ellie who is a con artist because she takes money from others to get rid of ghosts that are not really there. However, I must say that the author does a great job of keeping the reader interested in her and keeping the humor around her as well so that she is not instantly hated. Ellie gets a request to take a job that will entail getting rid of a “fake” ghost at Hartford Castle in England. Once she arrives she meets a cast of characters that are well developed and rich in personality. As you read you may think you have it all figured out. I believed it was a family member doing all of the haunting but I will not say if I was right. I will say that the plot is full of humor and will keep you engaged throughout. I cannot wait until we meet Ellie again as this is the first in the series.

Thank you to netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

This is probably the best book I have read on NetGalley. Great series start with an exciting plot and likable characters, The suspense continues throughout the story with even the subplots keeping me interested. I would highly recommend this book.

What a great debut for a new series! It's exciting and fun to read, full of new ideas and there's any of the typical cozy mystery cliche.
Ellie, the heroine, is a con woman, full of humour and with a heavy emotional baggage, called to solve the problem of a possible fake cost in an English manor.
. The entire cast of characters is well fleshed out and fascinating.
The plot keeps you hooked till the end and it's fast paced and full of twists and turns.
I loved the style of writing, full of humour and engaging.
I look forward to reading the next instalment in this series, the debut was fabolous.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to Kensington Books and Netgalley for this ARC

The moment I picked this up I knew I wouldn't be able to put this down. The author can tell a story good and leave you wanting to continue on because you just have to know what's going to happen next.

While visiting her sister in a home, a client, Nicholas, interrupts their 'talk' by wanting to hire her so she can put this ghost talk of Xavier out of his mother's mind. Shortly after Ellie hops on a plane to England and makes her way to Hartford Castle. There we meet Rachel, Nicholas's niece, Fern, his sister, Cal, Ferns beau, and Vivian, the mother.

Ellie had it all figured out, thinking it's one of the family members or Cal, but after getting to know them she's not so sure. Just like Ellie I had in mind who's doing the 'haunting', but it was way different than hers, even when she revealed who she thought it was like. I was like "Oh yeah, that made sense, even though you convinced it wasn't." Around the 90% things started to really get good that it was making me so nervous. I was confused for the most part until it was explained.

The ship in this book...baby Cheesezus, the ship in this book makes me so happy. I haven't felt this way about a ship in so long. So thanks for that.

All the characters in here are my favorite, okay maybe Rachel is my favorite by far, but still. They have their own personalities and backstories that aren't flimsy you know. Their relationships to one another is great to see unfold and seeing the results of certain things being revealed coming to light.

Tamara had me believing everyone was in on it and I'm just...no words. The writing and the story telling is so good. I'm looking forward to reading more books from her.

For some reason I find this one a bit difficult to review. I liked it, but I didn't connect with Eleanor even when she was being real as opposed to being a fake medium. The cast of characters was good and I did become suspicious of all of them at one point or another. I would read another book in this series, I just would like to see Eleanor be more relatable and less one-dimensional. She must have interests, hobbies, etc?

Thank you to Netgalley and Kensington Books for providing this ARC.