I thought this story had a pretty neat premise! I enjoyed following Ruby and Cordelia as they solved the murder. There were two things I didn't like. The end/wrap up moved super fast and, to me, came out of nowhere. And the ending, what the crap? I waited all book for them to tie up Cordelia's story and now I have to wait. I need to know what happened to Cordelia but I won't be jumping at the chance to get my hands on the second book. Hopefully, my library will get it.

A New Lease on Death is the first in a new supernatural mystery series by Olivia Blacke and it is a fun fast read with a most unlikely duo of amateur sleuths. Cordelia is a fortyish woman, smart, a bit grumpy and very quiet, partly because her new roommate keeps killing her plants but mostly because she’s a ghost. Ruby, the unintentional flower killing roommate, is an extremely cheerful, perky 20- year-old who moved into the apartment after Cordelia’s demise. When Jake, their next door neighbour is murdered and the police write it off as just another mugging gone wrong, Cordelia is sure there's more to it than that and she’s determined to look into it but she she needs a still breathing sidekick. Since Ruby is her only option, she makes her presence known and, together they set out to solve the case, well, just as soon as they can figure out how to communicate, not easy when one of them is non-corporeal.

I really enjoyed this tale full of twists and turns and dark humour. Cordelia and Ruby are both very likeable and make appealing protagonists and the mystery was interesting with a satisfying outcome. The story ends with a hint to what to expect in the next installment and I am so looking forward to seeing where this dynamic duo goes next.

Thanks to Netgalley and St Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review

Review: This book is the perfect example of making sure you’re the right audience for a book. I was in a hell of a book slump a few weeks ago, started this book, and then soft DNF’d it because I knew I was not the right audience for it at the time. When I picked it up again yesterday? I couldn’t put it down. I laughed and I loved this cozy paranormal mystery. I found pieces of myself in both Cordelia and Ruby and I loved the way they interacted (even while they really weren’t able to). This was my first book by Olivia, but I’ll for sure be reading more!

Synopsis: 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.

A New Lease on Death
by Olivia Black
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 336
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Pub date: 10/29/24

Thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for an e-copy of the book. All opinions are my own.

A ghost is certain her former neighbor’s death is murder, but she needs help from the living to find the killer.

Cordelia Graves is certain her former neighbor’s death is murder, and not a mugging gone wrong as the police think. But since she’s dead, she needs help to bring a killer to justice. The closest living being she can get to is Ruby Young, the current tenant of Cordelia’s former apartment. But Ruby is unaware she has a roommate. What’s a ghost to do?

A New Lease on Death is a quirky, dark, debut cozy mystery I enjoyed reading because of that quirkiness. Cordelia doesn’t fit the stereotype of a ghost. She’s lonely, bored, and even though she’s been dead a few months, she still has questions about how to be a ghost, and no one to ask. Ruby Young is Cordelia’s opposite in many ways. Ruby is young, perky, and has killed off all but one of Cordelia’ many houseplants. Humor is woven throughout the novel, helping to lighten the dark tone.

The mystery isn’t easy to solve, which is always good. If you’re looking for a quirky, but quick read, then give A New Lease on Death a try. Suicide is mentioned in the book, for anyone sensitive to that topic.
4/5 stars.

I enjoyed the plot line and the creativity behind it. It felt very similar to episodes of Angel, where Cordelia, played by Charisma Carpenter, moves into a haunted apartment (if you don’t know what I am talking about, please look it up.) This also didn’t resonate as a thriller for me. I just didn’t feel a lot of suspense, or hang off the edge of my seat. I did want to undercover what happened to the book character Cordelia, which is why I kept reading.

Everything felt sort of rushed, though. As if this mystery wasn’t the main investigation, but more like a filler investigation to set up the main one. I just felt this sense of something was missing throughout the novel. Everything made sense, but there’s a feeling of more.

Overall, I rate this novel 4 out of 5 stars.

Cordelia Graves dies in her apartment, an apparent suicide. Ruby moves in, and quickly realizes that Cordelia really hasn't left. Then Jake, who lives across the hall and might not be quite the "nice guy" everybody claims, also turns up dead. Ruby and Cordelia join forces to try and figure out who shot Jake and why. There might also be some hinky stuff happening where Cordelia used to work, and Ruby now works.

I'm an Olivia Blacke fan. Her Record Shop mysteries are some of my favourite cozies. She also has a knack for great titles, and they are paired with terrific cover art. This one, though, didn't grab me right away - it's definitely a slow burn, and there are a fair number of loose ends hanging. I know that some are necessary to keep us eager for the next book in the series, but this felt like too many.

Cordelia's an interesting lead character. She's not terribly likeable, and that makes it challenging to want to buy into her story. Ruby's got more going on in the likeable department, but at least so far, we don't know enough about her to invest in her.

I will read the next book because I want to know what the heck is actually going on at Cordelia's workplace, and what actually happened to her, but I'm hoping it hangs together a little better than this one.

3.5 stars, rounded down to 3. Thanks to Minotaur books and NetGalley for the e-arc.

I absolutely loved this story! For someone like me that generally reads thrillers- this definitely has a cozy mystery feel. I immediately fell in love with the two main characters and the premise of their relationship. It was a fun, fast, read. The ending left me confused because I wasn't ready for it to end there. It felt like there should have been a few more chapters. Perhaps that was purposeful to support a sequel. Either was this was a great read.

Ruby Young and Cordelia Graves are unlikely friends. Cordelia is recently deceased. Dealing with her ghostly afterlife she bumps in to her neighbor Jake- who she can see is obviously dead in the street. Jake didn't last long and Cordelia was left with more questions. How did she die? Details of her own death were scarce in Cordelia's mind.
Ruby- an upbeat 20 yo moves in to Cordelia's apartment. Cordelia- determined to live alone, haunted Ruby at first until she started liking her new roommate.

Thank you for a copy of this ARC. All my reviews are my own

When Cordelia finds a dead body on the sidewalk outside her apartment building, she doesn't call 911 or run for help. Not because she doesn't want to but because she's, well, a ghost. And ghosts can't exactly use cell phones. So she waits for the police to come, and is more than disappointed to hear them write off the murder as a mugging gone wrong. But that wouldn't explain why the victim was outside, in the snow, without any shoes and still holding his phone. So Cordelia does the only thing she can: convince her very-much-alive twenty-something roommate, Ruby, that she is there and not just her imagination and that they have to solve a murder.

I loved this unique spin on a cozy mystery. I'm not much of a paranormal reader, but this Bewitched-level ghostly mystery caught my eye. (That, and I'm a huge fan of Black, especially Vinyl Resting Place.) Cordelia and Ruby were such a fun dynamic duo, unlike pretty much any I've seen before. I mean, even setting aside the ghost thing, how often do we see a middle-aged/older, single woman star in a mystery? Justice for the Cordelia's of the world. And I loved how they teased that Cordelia's death was actually at the hand of another... you better bet I'm reading the next book to find out more.

Thanks to Minotaur for my eARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

5 stars - 9/10

A New Lease on Death is a quirky take on a unique ghost story. Cordelia Graves is dead-really dead. She has been floating around Boston and taking up her residence in her apartment while trying to make connections with the living. 20 year old Ruby, uber perky and a killer of houseplants-Cordelia's plants to be precise. A few months after Cordelia's untimely death, the apartment building leases her apartment fully furnished and much unchanged (outside of the bathroom-site of Cordelia's demise). Bored with her ghostly state, when Cordelia's neighbor across the hall, Jake, is shot in what's described as a robbery gone wrong, Cordelia is convinced the police have it wrong. When she discovers Ruby can sense her and interact, they inadvertently team up to find out what happened to Jake. Through hilarious miscommunications an other-worldly friendship is created and Ruby and Cordelia close in on the dangerous truth. Olivia Blake's A New Lease on Death is a somewhat comedic take on the afterlife with a clever story and cliffhanger. I look forward to reading more of Blacke's novels.

Thank you to the the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest feedback.

Adorable, witty, quirky, entertaining, and hilarious story about a ghost who honestly, doesn't know how she died! A refreshing and cozy murder mystery. Loved it.

A New Lease on Death is a cozy ghost mystery involving a new Boston apartment tenant and the ghost of the prior tenant. In a shady part of town, no one is very surprised to find a dead guy in the street. Something just doesn't add up, and our main characters set off are on the trail for their neighbor's murderer. The humor in the book was enjoyable, and it was fun to watch the relationship between the two growing into friendship. This looks to be an enjoyable new series, and I'll definitely pick up book two when it comes out. Thank you, St. Martin's Press, for the ARC, and the opportunity to provide an honest review.

This book was a rather unique. I really liked the writing style as well. I will definitely be reading more from this author.

Perfect for fans of Darynda Jones! I throughly enjoyed this novel and found the plot unique and intriguing. I can’t wait to read more from this author and this series. Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martins Press for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

I thought this was a very unique and clever mystery. I enjoyed the characters. I was a little bummed that there was a cliffhanger at the end of the book, but it looks like there is a sequel in the works, so I will just have to wait until that comes out to find out what happens next. I thought Cordelia was an especially funny character and I liked her quick wit. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys cozy mysteries --- especially the Finlay Donovan series!

Many thanks again to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

What a fun cozy mystery this is! I look forward to reading the next in this series! The “found family” aspect was a fun touch.

A cozy supernatural mystery that's perfect for a cold winter's day spent on the couch. A New Lease on Death follows Cordelia (dead) and Ruby (not dead) and their attempts to solve the murder of their neighbor. The only catch, Ruby can't see or hear Cordelia, but somehow the two make it work. This was a cute little mystery, even if it took a while for the characters to grow on me. Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martins Press for Advanced Copy in exchange for my review.

A New Lease on Death by Olivia Blacke was a good time! Sporting one of my fav covers of the year, this book was filled with amateur sleuthing with interesting and quirky characters within a city that is larger than life, Boston. I enjoyed this book, the character arc and development as well as the writing very much. I hope this is a series because if so, I will automatically buy book two when it is released.

This cozy supernatural mystery was exactly what I needed between heavier reads. Blake has created two unsuspecting roommates, Ruby, a young woman running from her small-town heartache, and Cordelia, a mid-40’s single woman, who might have a bit of a drinking problem. Oh, and did I forget to say, Cordelia is a ghost.

The dual POVs kept the story moving quickly, and offered truly unique experiences. After all, opening apartment doors as a ghost takes a bit of doing!

I wasn’t expecting the cliffhanger, but will be watching for more stories for Ruby and Cordelia.

Thank you to Minotaur Books, St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest thoughts..

I knew from the very first sentence that I was going to love this book. I was getting Beetlejuice & The Frighteners vibes along the way, in only the best ways possible. I loved that there’s chapters from both Cordelia & Ruby’s perspectives, it adds such a uniqueness to a cozy mystery, which are usually only from one POV. And the story is set in Boston, not a small town. This is a perfect way to have the supernatural mixed into your mystery, the author successfully melds it all together. Both characters are well drawn, funny & full of personality quirks but also with sadness & their own pasts. Cordelia is one of the most interesting main characters I’ve read in a while. Together they’re an odd couple & that makes them even more interesting!

I can’t wait for another book! And to learn more about them. This is such a strong start to a series.

🔑

Read if you like:
* Haunted Haven series by Carol J. Perry
* Kitchen Witch series by Lynn Cahoon

This book is a great read, very clever, and a lot of fun. A ghost, a murder/mugging and some very interesting characters. Ruby is just looking for a new start in a new city. She moves into a haunted apartment, but in her words “the ghost is real nice”. The ghost is the previous inhabitant of the apartment who committed suicide. Ruby gets a job and works with the ghost to solve a murder. This is a lovely, intelligent mystery. I cannot wait to read more in this series. Thank you NetGalley for providing the ARC.