Really fun cozy mystery! I really like the friendship between Cordelia and Ruby! Their banter (or attempts at banter) was really entertaining.
The story flowed really nicely, I never felt like there was a lull.
The ending was good, the solution to the mystery wasn't something I saw coming. The "twist" ending (I put quotes because l'm not sure if it would be considered that or not) was predictable but didn't take away from anything! It was the perfect set up to continue the series!
Also really liked that this story didn't have a romance story intertwined with the mystery. Not often you see a straight forward women's story without a romantic subplot. Not that I wouldn't be open to that in the future with this series but it was refreshing to see!

𝑨 𝑵𝑬𝑾 𝑳𝑬𝑨𝑺𝑬 𝑶𝑵 𝑫𝑬𝑨𝑻𝑯 𝒃𝒚 𝑶𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒂 𝑩𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌𝒆 was such a fun read read, out this week!

When @minotaur_books offered this to me via @netgalley I thought it looked like a fun story, and I was not disappointed, so thank you!!

When Cordelia discovers that she is a ghost, she has to learn all the rules of this weird new existence. Then her neighbor is shot and she is unable to help him. It doesn't help that now Ruby has moved into her apartment and as a young woman 20 years her junior, it feels wrong somehow. But then Ruby grows on her, and it doesn't hurt that she is just as curious about the neighbor's death, so they begin a tricky investigation to figure out the real story.

This was just a lighter, fun read. I really enjoyed both Cordelia and Ruby, though both were humanly flawed. The way they had to learn to communicate and work together taught them both lessons about the values of the generations! The mystery portion was clever enough to keep my attention and surprised me with the conclusion. I will be happy to keep up with this new mystery duo as they look to solve a mystery that was teased through this first installment.

Cordelia and Ruby are an unusual pair of roomates. One of them is a ghost. When a neighbor, Jake, dies under suspicious circumstances the women join together to solve the murder. I enjoyed the dynamics between the two & there were humorous moments. It did get a bit repetitive with the constant mentioning of Jake being a player & having a rotation of women. I thought the mystery was good & I loved where it ended. I'm excited to read the next one in the series.

3.5*

Ruby Young though she lucked out when she was able to find a fully furnished apartment in Boston. Unfortunately, the apartment was haunted by the woman who left everything behind. Shortly after her across the hall neighbor, Jake, was found murdered outside the building, Ruby realizes that Cordelia Graves ghost is still in the apartment and that Cordelia is also trying to figure out what happened to Jake. With the help of some magnetic poetry and the occasional drunken night, Ruby and Cordelia must work together to find out who killed jake.

I love a good cozy mystery and throwing in ghosts made this even more interesting. I liked how Cordelia went from resenting the fact that Ruby had moved into her home and killed her plants to being so protective of her that she pushed herself to burnout to protect her. I liked the way that Ruby and Cordelia had to find a way to communicate and that even when they couldn't necessarily figure out a set way they were more than likely thinking the same thing.

This is the first book in a series and I think that's what bothered me. A lot of the plot felt like it was trying to build up a story for the next book and that left the plot that was relevant to this book feeling rushed. There were so many hints towards Cordelia's death not being a suicide or an accident as well as references to Ruby's past that I kind of forgot that they weren't the true plot at times. I would be interested in reading the next book, though, especially since the backstory has already been laid out.

Thank you Netgalley and Minotaur Books for providing this ARC to me!

This was the detective duo that I didn't know that I needed! Cozy mysteries are my thing, and this one was great.

Cordelia is a recently deceased ghost. Ruby is the new tenant of her apartment. When someone gets murdered in their building, they team up to find the killer.

This was such a cute read. It was propulsive and fun. I liked the dual POV from different generations. Cordelia was fussy and proper. Ruby was a Gen Z free spirit. I liked their opposite personalities also. It added a lot to the story. I liked that there was an overarching story line that will carry through to the next book, but I was looking for a way that the two cases connected throughout this book. I guess we will see in the next book! If you are a fan of Finley Donovan or any cozy mystery series, try this one out!

One note for the audiobook: Cordelia was supposed to be around 40 but the narrator made her sound 60ish. I'm 39 and I have a 6 year old. Let's not lean into grandma age yet for the 40 year olds.

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the ebook in exchange for my honest review.

Absorbing, funny mystery with two leads, one of them a ghost. The tone feels closer to hard-boiled than cozy, but there isn't too much on-page violence or suspense. And, actually, half the time this feels not like a mystery at all; it's just as much the story of two women growing into themselves and their odd-couple friendship. I really enjoyed this and didn't mind the resulting leisurely pace, but others may disagree.

Cordelia Graves died a few months ago but she is ghosting around her old apartment with nothing to do. When Ruby moves in and acquires all her stuff she thinks she’ll be less bored. Really she is just annoyed. Then, Jake the neighbor gets shot outside the apartment and she can’t believe the police thinks it a mugging gone bad. There has to be more to the story. Cordelia decides to put her mystery solving skills to the test, but she needs Ruby’s help.

This is a weird and quirky mystery with a cast of unusual characters that ended on a cliffhanger setting itself up for book 2.
Cordelia is the ghost of a woman who killed herself by overdosing on alcohol and pills. But did she really? Her landlord didn’t even clean out her stuff before he rented it to the next tenant, Ruby, an unemployed young woman who soon realizes that Cordelia is hanging out with her. Then Jake, the neighbor across the hall dies in front of their building, Cordelia and Ruby team up to solve his murder.
This was definitely unlike any other cozy mystery I’ve read before but at the same time, when I was done, I wasn’t left feeling wowed. I may get around to reading the sequel at some point, but I wouldn’t be in a rush to get to it any time soon.
Thanks to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for this eArc in exchange for my review.

Thank you to NetGalley, Olivia Blacke, and St. Martin's Press for the ebook. This murder mystery is a delightful blend of quirky humor and unexpected twists. I can’t wait to see what comes next!

This was not my first Olivia Blacke story, nor will it be my last. A New Lease on Death is the first book in Blacke's new Supernatural Mysteries series. It was a great series debut. I found this story to be just as cozy and entertaining as the others I have read by her. It was cute, spooky, funny, and so enjoyable. I can't wait to see what the characters get into in the next book in the series! My favorite cozy mystery writer, hands down.

I really enjoyed this book. I loved how the characters interacted with each other and the other characters in the book. I laughed a lot. I think I may have cried some. Definitely can not wait to read the next one! Add this one to your TBR list.

This was a fun cozy mystery book - great for spooky season if you don’t like scary thriller or horror stories. I enjoyed the writing style and there was enough mystery to keep me coming back to find out what happened!

As soon as I saw this cover, I knew it had to go on my TBR!

I loved this from the first page. Cordelia and Ruby's relationship is hilarious and adorably endearing. Cordelia has been dead for a while—long enough for Ruby, who has moved into her apartment, to kill off most of her beloved plants.
I loved their friendship, and how they worked together to figure out who killed the man that lived across the hall. This is a fun and fast-paced book that had me laughing out loud, and glued to the pages. I can't wait to see what happens in book 2!

A ghostly murder mystery or an ad about the dangers of underage (and general) drinking?

I can't shake the feeling this could have gone two ways: make it a kids' story, or make the protagonist older and less obnoxious; but, don't know why, this is what we got.
It's not exactly bad - I was here for a mystery and that's what I got -, but I also can't say I enjoyed it very much.

The story was fine, the narration was way too stretched, and the ghost roommate was the heart of it, but Ruby was a problem from the beginning.
I'm of the idea that everybody can and should spend their life how they want, except for being harmful to others; well, essentially, Ruby has spent the entity of the book judging and criticising anything others did that she didn’t agree with. And, at the bare age of twenty years old, I don't think you have that right.

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books and NetGalley, who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest opinion.

I read "A New Lease on Death" by Olivia Black on NetGalley. Ruby is a young adult who just moved to Boston to get away from a cheating boyfriend. She rents a fully furnished apartment, where the last tenant, Cordelia, is a ghost. They set out to solve the murder of a neighboring tenant.
I really enjoyed reading this murder mystery and am hoping Olivia Blacke has more with Ruby & Cordelia.

Sharing an apartment with a ghost is next-level awkward

Ruby recently moved to Boston, leaving behind a failed relationship into which she feared she might be drawn back. With no job lined up finances were tight, so when a fully furnished apartment was available cheap she grabbed it. The fact that the previous tenant, Cordelia Graves, had committed suicide there might have been off-putting for many, but Ruby had always wanted to believe in ghosts. Plus….dirt-cheap rent in a very expensive city, so even if the neighborhood wasn’t the best it was pretty much the best Ruby could afford. As the weather gets colder and Ruby’s meager resources are almost at an end, even the upbeat Ruby is getting worried that she’ll be able to find a job and support herself. Then Jake MacIntyre, the man who lives across the hall, turns up dead in the street, shot in the head. Two dead residents in the same building in just a few months strikes Ruby as odd, but as far as the police are concerned its just one more statistic in a less-than-top-notch neighborhood. Well, it turns out that Cordelia’s ghost has never moved out of the apartment….it was always her refuge, and apparently death didn’t change that….and she doesn’t think that Jake’s death was random either. Ruby senses that Cordelia is still around, which she finds both sort of cool and kind of creepy, and when the two find ways to communicate with one another (Magnetic Poetry to the rescue!) they find themselves partnering up to look into Jake’s death. Was it a random killing, or had Jake’s reputation for cheating on his girlfriends finally come home to roost? And is there any connection between his death and Cordelia’s?
Having a ghost partner up to solve a mystery with the living isn’t a new concept (Warren Beatty in “Heaven Can Wait” springs immediately to mind), but there is a freshness to the pairing of Ruby and Cordelia. Cordelia is feeling her way through this whole being-dead thing…what can and can’t be done, things to avoid (touching the living is very painful, being anywhere near electronics is bound to cause havoc), and so on. As the reader learns more about her life prior to her apparent suicide, she becomes a genuine and sympathetic character, and one who feels very protective of the younger Ruby. Ruby is in many ways different from Cordelia in personality (preferred dress code is the least of it, and she definitely doesn’t have the late Cordelia’s green thumb), which might have prevented them from being friends when Cordelia was alive, but they find that they actually get along as the latest spin on The Odd Couple quite well. Both of them have made some major mistakes in their choice of men, and both want to see justice done for Jake. It’s a fun combination of girl buddy and amateur sleuthing, and the ending implies that this might be the start of a series. A New Lease on Death is a quick, quirky read with appealing characters and a plot with enough twists to keep the reader guessing, and I was hooked throughout. Readers of Celeste Connally, Colby Wilkins and Kelley Armstrong should pick up a copy of this clever spin on how to handle a ghostly roommate and solve a murder to boot. Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books for allowing me early access to a copy….I look forward to the next adventure of Ruby and Cordelia.

A New Lease on Death was a unique and charming cozy paranormal mystery and I loved it!

I was hooked on this book from the first page. I love a good ghost/paranormal story in general, but the mystery focus was great. The friendship between Ruby and Cordelia was absolutely adorable. I loved both of those characters!

This story is funny and sweet with a fascinating cast of characters with a great Boston setting that is its own character. Loved, loved, loved it! Can’t wait for book 2.

📚: A New Lease on Death by Olivia Blacke
⭐️: 3/5

The gist: Cordelia - former office manager, Bostonian, and… well, she’s dead. A ghost, to be specific. The afterlife has been pretty boring with no other ghosts to keep her company, until her former neighbor, Jake, drops dead on their doorstep.

Jake’s death is more than suspicious, and Cordelia teams up with an unlikely partner (her apartments’ new tenant) to figure out what happened.

The good: This was a darkly hilarious ghost story to wrap up spooky season. I don’t read many cozy ghost stories, and this fit the bill.

The eh: The pacing of this plot felt a bit off at times, leading to where this book could easily be put down (even when I wanted to know what happened). This does end on a bit of a cliffhanger to a plot point I had hoped would be resolved by the end of the book — but alas, I have to wait for book 2.

Big thanks to St. Martin’s Press for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. A New Lease on Death is out now!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the copy. This was my first book by Olivia Blacke and it was a quick easy read. It follows Cordelia, a ghost who receives help from her new “roommate” Ruby in solving a murder. The story switches perspectives between Cordelia and Ruby. I really enjoyed Cordelia’s perspective on the world and how she sees it. Blacke did set the opportunity for a sequel, and I would read it if she chooses to write another.

Wow!
Absolutely enjoyed this! I'm usually more into slasher thriller but this did it for me!
Can't wait for a second one! I need to know Cordys story!