Move over Finlay and Vero, there is a new amateur sleuth duo on the market of cozy mystery series! This is the start of a fun cozy paranormal mystery series following Cordelia, a 40 year old introverted ghost, who is haunting Ruby, a bubbly and naïve 20 year old, who has moved into Cordelia's old apartment. When Jake, the man across the hall, is also found dead outside the apartment building, Cordelia is worried for Ruby's safety so she tries to communicate and assist Ruby in solving his murder. These two opposite characters forge an unlikely friendship through fridge poetry magnets and skittle candy trails as they work together to interview Jake's family and slew of girlfriends to figure out why he was shot. Brimming with dark humor and with a cast of Southie Boston suspects, the mystery was fun, and I loved Ruby's attempts at understanding what also led to Cordelia's own death. This is setting up to be a great new series, and I am excited to return in book 2 to see spend more time with this crime-fighting duo.

Review of Uncorrected Digital Galley

Sitting beside the body of Jake MacIntyre, Cordelia Graves watches as snow accumulate on the legs of his flannel pajamas and the fuzzy socks covering his feet. There’s a bullet hole in the center of his forehead, but she is waiting for him to wake up.

Cordelia sits vigil until the dead man sits up. “I know you,” Jake says. Suddenly he remembers . . . Cordelia is dead. And now, so is he.

Cordelia wants to help Jake adjust to being a ghost. Although she could still see and hear everyone around her, she was invisible to them. Alone and unnoticed. She doesn't want him to feel alone. But Jake doesn't believe in ghosts . . . .

Ruby Young, the new tenant in Cordelia’s apartment, is certain that the apartment is haunted. With Jake being murdered, Cordelia thinks that, perhaps, she can keep Ruby safe. But Ruby thinks Cordelia wants her to solve Jake’s murder.

Will they work together? And will they solve the murder?

=========

First in the author’s planned Supernatural Mysteries series, Cordelia and Ruby provide their unique viewpoints for the reader. The unfolding narrative is both clever and intriguing; Ruby and Cordelia, both quirky and humorous, make a great team and the supernatural aspect of the story is well done.

The idea that Cordelia and Ruby could work together despite the challenges of communicating with each other keeps readers guessing as to how it might all work out and keeps those pages turning as fast as possible. While the mystery isn’t complicated, it is perfect for the telling of this tale and does keep the reader guessing.

Although the story wraps up well with regard to Jake’s murder, a larger mystery remains. Ruby does not believe Cordelia committed suicide . . . Cordelia does not remember doing the deed . . . so how did Cordelia end up dead in the bathtub? Presumably, this mystery will be solved in the next book in the series.

Readers who enjoy cozy mysteries and a clever paranormal character are sure to enjoy this unique tale as well as the stories that [hopefully] follow.

Highly recommended.

I received a free copy of this book from St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.
#ANewLeaseOnDeath #NetGalley

The unlikely combo of the living and the dead, working together to solve a murder mystery.
I was pleasantly that it wasn't as silly as I thought it would, all the characters are fleshed out and have very real world struggles.
The dual perspective story telling really let's you get invested quick and the conversational writing style keeps you turning the page.

cozy-mystery, ghosts, paranormal, urban-fantasy, Boston, situational-humor, verbal-humor, contemporary, amateur-sleuth, murder, investigation, new-series, first-in-series****

Thought there was only one way to behave as a ghost? Cordelia has discovered a whole new way and it's a hoot!
The publisher's blurb is a really good start, but the sleuthing is well done, the humor is hilarious, the plot twists are amazing, and the characters!!! Great start to a totally new series.
I requested and received a free temporary EARC from St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books via NetGalley. Thank you!

This was a fun book and I loved the human/dead person interaction between Ruby and Cordelia. It was a good mystery with a twist and I loved that twist! Well written and fun as hell to read, I really enjoyed it!

I'll be honest, the blurb sounded a little outside of what I usually read. However, I am really glad I picked this ARC up!

Ruby doesn't expect to get a ghost included in her fully furnished apartment! Then, when her neighbor winds up dead, she has some questions! Together the ghost and Ruby try to solve the murder.

Excited for the sequel!

A New Lease On Death immediately starts in with the action and pulls the reader into the story. We follow Cordelia Graves as she discovers her dead neighbor (Jake) out front of their apartment building. Soon after we meet Ruby, Cordelia’s new roommate and begin to uncover the mystery of how Jake died. 2 POV from Cordelia a 40 year old women and Ruby 26 year old .
I absolutely loved the plot and storyline of a paranormal mystery, a first for me, I preferred the storyline from Cordelia’s perspective. I found Cordelia’s personality to be lol funny however we didn’t get much depth with her character as the story progressed. Ruby definitely had the most character growth overall but I found her annoying throughout most of the story. This story had a lot of questions that came to mind as I was reading relating to the context of the story.

I enjoyed the writing in this novel and the idea of this story. Had a good pace (slow and boring in the middle) for me. Overall a good time and I enjoyed the book to keep an eye out for the next in series

-Cozy Mystery
-Who Dunnit
-Ghosts
-Dark Funny
-Cliff Hanger
***check Trigger Warnings.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books for the ARC digital copy.

I loved it! Excellent mystery! There were clues dropped here and there that lead me this way and that but I didn't catch on till the end. Cordelia and Ruby are an unlikely crime fighting duo but their differences made it work. They don't know each other very well now and I'm anxious to see how that turns out in the next book.

loved this mystery of cordy's death and solving the murder of a neighbor and the room mate that lives there and helps her solve the case. loved ruby and cordy's relationship. Who killer her ? was it the boyfriend or someone else ? I'm ready for the next book.

What a fun easy read! The story had such character development and you felt like Ruby was your friend and cared what happened to her.

I was invited by the publisher to read this book. I did enjoy this "cozy mystery", which involved solving the murder of Cordelia's apartment neighbor, Jake. The catch was that Cordelia was also dead, so she had to team up with Ruby, the girl who was living in Cordelia's (former) apartment. This was a unique twist on this type of storyline, and the reader was able to have multiple viewpoints as well as get to go behind the scenes, so to speak, of being a ghost.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was an interesting story about how to handle one's death and the afterlife. I enjoyed the story as our main character searches for the reasons behind the death of a fellow apartment dweller...the only problem is that she died a few months ago!. I enjoyed the story as Cordela and Ruby search for a killer, but the book is a little confusing because you don't always know which character you are hearing. Sometimes the story is told from Ruby's perspective and sometimes it is from Cordelia's and the transitions aren't always smooth. There are a couple of storylines that end up not being completed, which leads into a new book, likely, but is not my favorite thing. It was also a little interesting because the living couldn't see the dead, meaning that communication was tricky and didn't really always work out.

‘A New Lease on Death’ held me from start to finish. There are some scenes that took my breath away, and others that genuinely spooked me. It’s got the right amounts of mystery, thriller, intrigue and action. Plus, I was very much a fan of the writing style from the beginning. Overall, I enjoyed it immensely.

OK, first off since we’re getting into summer back in my Thriller romance kind of dark humor reads. This was everything paranormal romance enjoyed from start to finish. I love the cover the story. The premise from start to end was a great refreshing palette from my recently literary fiction reads.

4.25⭐️
Thank you so much to NetGalley for giving me an arc of this book! If you're looking for a light-hearted mystery, this is for you. I liked Cordelia and Ruby a lot, especially as the book went on and Cordelia enjoyed Ruby more. I thought they made a great team solving the mystery together, and overall I thought it was great. The cliffhanger at the end set up perfectly for a second book, so I really hope there is one!

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the arc of this book. all opinions are my own.

I will post my full review once SMP address the insensitive comments of their employee.

Love this modern take on ghosts and live human as detectives, a la Topper. Olivia Blacke - please tell me you plan more with Ruby and Cordelia as a series.

This supernatural cozy mystery was the brain candy I needed to unplug this weekend. Cordelia and Ruby make a good, if unlikely, duo and I enjoyed the quirkiness of the book’s characters. As the first book in a series there was a lot of groundwork laid for the overall development of these characters and their stories, which was a bit of a bummer because I’d like to know what is up with Cordelia, the plant, her brother in prison…

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This book was good as a pallet cleanser I didn't enjoy it as much as I would have hoped but it was a good in between book, I think the idea of the book was good and fun however I feel like it was muted and the plot got lost.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the arc of this book. A New Lease on Death is the first in the Supernatural Mysteries series by Olivia Blacke. This book is an amateur detective story with two female main characters, Cordelia and Ruby. One of the female main character happens to be recently deceased and is a ghost. The interactions between Cordelia and Ruby are funny and bring a lightness to this book. Once I started this book I did not want to put it down. It was a fun light read. I look forward to reading book two in this series.