I don't typically read cozy mysteries. In fact, this might have been the first one I actually read all the way through. But I didn't want this to end! Cordelia and Ruby, a ghost and a breather, were such a great, fun team. The mystery of who killed Cordelia and Ruby's neighbor wasn't that enthralling but I really loved how they tried to communicate together and interrogate suspects. I will absolutely read the next book, and I will also be checking out Olivia Blacke's other books!

A New Lease on Death by Olivia Blacke
(Cozy Paranormal Mystery)
Overall: 3.4/5

Characters: 3/5
- Cordelia, a mid forties woman who recently became a ghost after dying in her apartment bathtub, is witty and protective. We get to see a bit of her life before she died in a few flashbacks, but it seems that death rather suits Cordelia.
- Ruby, an early twenties woman who moves into Cordelia’s apartment after Cordelia’s death. Ruby enjoys having a ghost as a roommate, and we also know that she likes true crime podcasts, and is suffering from a recent heart break.
- One of the largest hurdles in the relationship between Ruby and Cordelia is that of communication. Ruby cannot hear or see Cordelia except in rare and extreme circumstances. While it was annoying, it was annoying in a humorous way, and I was thankful that Blacke didn’t immediately just gift Ruby with some sort of gift to see and hear Cordelia whenever she wanted. I felt like I saw a lot of growth from Cordelia, who was a depressed alcoholic in life and in death became this fierce protector of Ruby, but I saw very little growth from Ruby… except for the fact that she got a job. I suppose with this being a series, more will come in later books.
Plot: 3.5/5
- The book begins with Cordelia finding out her neighbor, Jake, has become a ghost. Jake and Cordelia find his body, but before Cordelia can ask Jake how it happened, Jake says he doesn’t believe in ghosts, and POOF!, he disappears. Thus begins Cordelia and Ruby’s quest to find out what happened to Jake.
Fluff: 3/5
- With this being the first in a series, I can give a lot of the fluff a pass because we are very clearly setting up things for future books. There were plenty of red herrings, as to be expected. But even by the end of the book, there were still some scenes that ultimately felt like they served no real purpose.
Mystery: 2/5
- I wish I had been *more* invested in finding out what happened to Jake. Truthfully, I was more concerned about finding out why Cordelia was so depressed, why Ruby was running away from Maryland (aside from her heartbreak… that just didn’t seem like a good enough reason to me), and why Cordelia's body went undiscovered for so long. If this were a standalone book, I probably would not recommend it; however, this book clearly sets the stage for future books within the series, and I am very excited to see how the series develops.
Predictability: Honestly, 1/5
- I did not see the end coming with Jake, and that’s probably because I was so focused on figuring out what happened with Cordelia. The first book beautifully sets up the second book, and I will definitely be reading it.
Humor: 2.5/5
- This wasn’t laugh out loud funny to me, but there were parts that made me smile and chuckle. The marketing blast for the eARC said this book would be great for fans of Finlay Donovan, which made me laugh out loud (before I grew tired of her antics). I was looking forward to that style of writing and dialogue, and I think Blacke has good bones, but needs some more opportunity to develop the communication between the two main characters.


I will absolutely be reading the next novel in this series, even if I didn’t feel “pulled in” by Jake’s murder mystery. I am excited to see what Blacke does with Cordelia and Ruby’s friendship and how it evolves!

Thank you to NetGalley, Olivia Blacke, and to Minotaur Books for the opportunity to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review. It has been an honor and a privilege to read your work!

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.

This book was a cozy 3.5 stars for me (rounding up to 4). I am a sucker for cozy murder, and add a little twist of paranormal, I’m there. This was a fun, light read. I enjoyed watching Ruby and Cordelia’s friendship grow. Ruby’s quirkiness made me chuckle a few times.

I was a little annoyed with the ending but I can see this becoming a series, with that cliff hanger.

If you are looking for a light read with some chuckles, this the perfect paranormal cozy murder.

Thank you Minotaur Books & St Martin’s Press for this ARC. This book arrives on shelves October 29, 2024. Just in time for Halloween!

This is a good elevated cozy mystery - no sex crimes, a few curse words, a projects-adjacent village of invested persons who aren’t on their phones all the time. Well done!

Cordelia Graves may be dead but she is not ready to leave her Boston apartment. When new tenant Ruby Young moves in she is less than pleased. Especially since the landlord has left all of Cordelia's belongings in the apartment and Ruby has managed to kill all of Cordelia's beloved plants. When the man who lives in the apartment across the hall is murdered in front of the building, Cordelia needs to solve the mystery of what happened. Fortunately for her, Ruby seems to be able to sense Cordelia, and together the two make a unique and fun sleuthing duo. I enjoyed this story and am excited to see what the two get up to next, especially since there is still a mystery around Cordelia's death. The ghostly elements were not overdone. Ruby has to use her witts to do most of the leg work to solving the case. Ruby is an endearing character, who I liked immediately. She is naturally curious but also down on her luck and in need of a friend. These two women are very different, however, together they are a delightfully balanced team. This is the start of a new series.

Thank you Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

This was a really cute cozy mystery! Ruby & Cordy's dynamic duo of young adult & ghost solving mysteries had me smiling from ear to ear. I loved their "banter", even though they could never really hear or see one another. I did find myself wishing that they had solved the second mystery presented, as it felt like it was all set up to be revealed along with the first, but I guess that is happening in a second book. Overall, I am a fan and can't wait to read the next on. Thank to to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to like this book — I thought maybe it would be like the Finlay Donovan series, a cozy murder mystery with two witty, funny female leads. However, it read like a child trying to write a novel — so many times I thought 'are we sure this isn't YA?' The ghost of it all was pretty cool, but it was so poorly written that it didn't seem like the ghost aspect was really that thought out. And the ending was really strange, the murderer is caught in like four pages and then it ends with a cliffhanger to try to get me to read the next in the series, but I will not be doing that.

A cozy who dunit mystery with a girl playing detective with her ghost friend? Um, yes please!

First, the plot was so fun, who doesn’t love a good murder mystery? The story was so fast paced it was a wild ride questioning every single person you met throughout the book. Everyone was suspicious and I loved that I couldn’t guess the killer right away. You get a dual POV in this book between the living and the dead which makes it so much better. Who doesn’t want to see inside the mind of a ghost?

The characters were great. I loved Ruby. She’s witty and funny and a pure soul trying to find her way in the world. That girl wore her heart on her sleeve and saw the good in everyone. Cordelia however was my favorite. I felt so bad for her character when things started coming to light about her past. I thought she was kind of gloomy but had her moments when it came to Ruby and I loved that she had a friend. Together they were such a quirky duo and total opposites but they worked so well together for this story I absolutely loved them.

The story overall was a super fun read. I had no idea who the killer was going to be, and when everything came full circle, it all made perfect sense. I love when there is that cliffhanger at the end that gives you that “omg” feeling and this book had that as well which makes me super excited for book two.

I loved this book. Fast paced, cozy mystery, loveable characters, you’ll have a good time with this one.

Thank you so much for the e-arc

This is a fun first in a series mystery that pairs a ghost with a "breather" (alive human) to solve a murder case. I liked the premise, and I felt it was a cozy mystery, or mystery lite book. Perfect in my book- some suspense, but didn't have me scared to turn the page. The characters are likable, and I always enjoy reading intelligent women characters. I received this book as an ARC (thank you Minotaur books), and I can't wait for the next book in the series to come out. Since book 1 doesn't publish until October, I think I have a while to wait.

I am hit or miss with a murder mystery. This one was fun! I loved the multiple POV’s and the supernatural element. Overall- happy I read it!

Cordelia in her mid-forties, single, living alone in an apartment in a not-so-good neighborhood is now a ghost after being found dead in her bathtub, an apparent suicide. Ruby, a young woman feeling a bad relationship moves into Cordelia’s fully furnished apartment. Neighbor Jake is murdered in the alley via a shot to the head. Then the fun begins as Cordelia wants to figure out who killed Jake so she tries to communicate with Ruby. Magnetic letters on a refrigerator provide limited assistance. So, the two roam around Boston as Ruby talks to people trying to find the killer.

A fast pace, fascinating characters, and a vivid sense of place make this cozy novel entertaining. A cliffhanger indicates there might be more Cordelia and Ruby adventures. Count me in.

I just reviewed A New Lease on Death by Olivia Blacke. #ANewLeaseOnDeath #NetGalley. I really enjoyed this murder mystery. It has an entertaining cast of characters and the ghost element was an added bonus. It was a fast read that kept me guessing until the end. I would highly recommend.

The cover of this book caught my attention and the fact that it was a supernatural mystery. I would consider this something like a cozy supernatural mystery book, and tbh it was pretty entertaining to read. I was kind of thinking it was going to go in a different direction from the description, however, I'm not mad at it. The book was left with a cliffhanger, which I love and loathe lol mostly because I was really hoping to get the truth on Cordy's death. I adored Cordelia in this book so it was a bummer that I'll have to wait for the second book to expose the mystery behind her. So, I suppose I will have to check back when it comes out so that I can satisfy my questions with some answers. I have a feeling I know what happened though. I can appreciate the twist at the end, that's always nice to have a little shocking twist when, as a mystery reader, I'm always trying to solve the mystery before its revealed in the book.

Just something that caught my attention immediately while reading. There were some things that it seemed like were contradicting. Two examples of that would be..

1. Cordy is not supposed to be able to feel the cold outside yet she could feel the warm stream of air when the radiator turned on.
2. Cordy was alright near the old fridge without any interference but avoided the old laundry room.

There was a few other things like that where as soon as I read it I was like... hmmm I thought she wasnt/was able to do that.

Overall, I would recommend this book to people who like a very calm and cozy read. It's a super easy read and the author did nail the mystery part. I'll be interested to read the next book when it comes out. Thank you to Netgalley and the author/publisher for allowing me to read this ARC.

This book got my interest right away. Fun different read . Loved the ghost mystery. Really enjoyed it.

I thought this was a nice, cozy mystery. I thought having a ghost and a living person trying to solve a neighbors murder was a good plot. Unfortunately, the fact that Ruby (the living) can’t see or hear Cordelia (the ghost) was a little frustrating. I’m hoping in future books this somehow gets resolved.

Thank you to the author/publisher for a copy of this ARC! I had not heard of this author and now I am looking forward to checking out her other series and look forward to the potential sequel to A New Lease on Death. This was a fun read and one that had me hooked right from the start. The author starts with an immediate grab and continues the story from there. It wasn't until about 90% you really understand and know what has happened. I will highly recommend this to friends and family when it comes out.

Thanks to NeGalley and St. Martin's for the opportunity to read A New Lease on Life by Olivia Blacke. This was fun and I enjoyed it lots.

In this riveting new series, we meet two unlikely friends who come together to find out the truth behind their neighbors suspicious murder. There is Cordelia Graves, the former occupant of Apartment 4G, who was found deceased in her bathtub shortly before Christmas. A woman in her 40s, Cordelia is spending her afterlife trying to figure out how many other ghosts there are in Boston, and attempting to avoid accidentally passing through “breathers”. The current occupant of Cordelia’s apartment is a young, 20-year-old woman, Ruby Young, who after a bad relationship ended decided to upend her life and move to Boston from Maryland in hopes to get some peace and quiet away from her boisterous homelife, and prove that she can really, truly make it on her own.
This unlikely pair come together for their neighbor Jake, who had been murdered in cold blood, and the Boston police are doing nothing about it. The neighborhood isn’t great, and his death is deemed to have been a mugging gone wrong, with no hopes in finding out who is behind Jake’s untimely death. But, together, they are able to solve a crime simply for remaining interested and involved in the happenings of their former neighbor.
In A New Lease on Death, it is both humorous and decidedly sad. While I do understand that this ARC is unedited, the author goes in great detail on things that aren’t entirely needed. While we as readers need to understand Cordelia’s ability to ruin technology, it is continuously repeated in nearly every chapter in Cordelia’s point of view, and occasionally within Ruby’s when she has figured out that technology and death do not go hand in hand. Phrases are oftentimes repeated when it isn’t necessary to do so. It’s almost as if the author thinks we, as readers, are forgetting what she has written about…or the plot has paused and they are simply repeating something that has already been said to fill up space.
Despite this, I DID enjoy the story immensely, and will, more than likely, read the other follow up stories to come. I would love to hear more about Cordelia’s death, and what truly happened to her, although I have an idea of what might have happened or who might have been involved, but I was shocked to learn the true culprit in Book 1 so I could be taken by surprise again. I always have enjoyed a good supernatural story, though this one does read more as a YA than an adult fiction, but that doesn’t mean that an adult can’t enjoy it, right?
Thank you to author Olivia Blacke, St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an ARC of A New Lease on Death in exchange for my honest review.

This was a darkly funny and cute story that was engaging from start to finish. A quick and enjoyable read that would likely appeal to fans of the Findlay Donovan series.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Honestly, I always enjoy a cozy mystery. I enjoy them more when they are darkly comedic, like this one is.
It's a good start to a series, though I would recommend going in mostly blind (She sees ghosts, that's all i'll say :) )
It's a 3.5 stars for me.