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!

In this novel by Olivia Blacke, Ruby moves into an apartment where the previous tenant, Cornelia, allegedly killed herself. Only Cornelia is still around and now Ruby has a ghost roommate.

This was such a cute quirky read! It was absolutely perfect for Halloween. I loved both Cornelia's and Ruby's characters. They couldn't be more different from each other, yet, they were a great investigative team. The dual POV was a fantastic way to tell the story. It was really entertaining to see the things unfold from Ruby (the breather's) perspective and experience all the feels described by Cornelia, the ghost. The mystery was interesting to follow, but the ghostly adventures and shenanigans was what drew me in the most. The funnest part was Ruby looking for ways to communicate more effectively with her ghost roommate.

If you're looking for a good ghost story with a mystery twist, this book is great! It has a good amount of humor, banter and gives a perfect cozy vibe.

What do you get when you combine a cozy mystery with a bit of the paranormal? A NEW LEASE ON DEATH. It’s the combination I never knew I needed.

Cordelia Graves is adjusting to being newly dead. She’s having trouble moving on to wherever dead people go. In fact, she’s still inhabiting her old apartment and watching her new roommate slowly kill her beloved house plants. Things get a little crazy when she finds her neighbor, Jake, dead in the street with a bullet hole in his head. Ruby is the new tenant in Cordelia’s apartment. She suspects she’s not alone and becomes an unlikely partner investigating Jake’s murder.

The absolute best part of this novel is the friendship between Cordelia and Ruby. From learning to communicate to becoming crime solving partners, their union is hilarious. They learn to trust each other and their conversations are highly entertaining.

Judging from the ending, it appears this is book one is a series. I can’t wait to see what this unlikely duo get into next.

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the advance copy in exchange for my unbiased review.

Such a fun start to what is probably a new series. I’ve enjoyed Olivia Blacke’s record store series and decided to give this one a try. It’s quite a bit different, but very good. Highly recommended.

A woman rents an apartment in a rundown part of town only to discover she has a ghostly roommie, and the ghost wants to solve the murder of the across the hall neighbor. This was my first encounter with Olivia Blacke’s books. I love paranormal cozies with ghost and human detective partnerships, so one glimpse at the blurb was all it took for me to give A New Lease on Death a try.

Told from two points of view, A New Lease on Death begins from Cordelia Graves’ perspective. She’s worked out Ghost Living 101 in the time since her own death and plans to help her newly murdered neighbor, but that goes awry. She’s lonely because other ghosts are not thick on the ground so she starts to take an interest in the new tenant of her apartment. At first, she worked to oust Ruby, but lately has come to enjoy the quirky young woman and wants to help her- and get her help solving the murder.

On Ruby’s end, she was open to the paranormal and always suspected her apartment was haunted by the last tenant- the reclusive woman who committed suicide in the tub. Ruby doesn’t mind sharing and just wants to restart her life after the heartbreak of a cheating boyfriend and bestie back home. Starting over in a new place isn’t easy and she’s going through the motions until Cordelia makes it clear that Ruby needs to look into Jake’s death.

A New Lease on Death had a little slow down in the middle as things were getting set up between Cordelia and Ruby and Ruby’s efforts balancing ghost and life, but once they were on the case, the pace picked up nicely, and I was back into the story. Ruby had a fun personality and was staid and organized Cordelia’s opposite. I got to know this part of Boston through Ruby’s learning about her new town, too, and enjoyed that the author put in so much backdrop to the story.

I knew early on that Cordelia’s death was suspect even though she and everyone else thought she committed suicide and in the end, there were hints this would be an ongoing plot thread through the series. I had no idea who killed Jake so that reveal came as a surprise.

All in all, I had a good time with it and look forward to the next release in the series. Interesting take on ghosts and a clever plot. Paranormal cozy mystery fans are the target audience.

I was really excited for this one, but I should have known. I've tried two other books by this author both in other series and I didn't like either of them. This was no exception. I just couldn't get into it. Ruby seemed immature, the ghost seemed over it. I just couldn't make myself be interested in either of them. I had really high hopes for this, but it just fell flat.

A charming blend of cozy mystery and supernatural fiction, "A New Lease on Death" pairs an incorporeal amateur sleuth with her reluctant living roommate in a quirky murder investigation. The unlikely friendship between ghost Cordelia and twenty-year-old Ruby develops naturally as they work to solve their neighbor's murder, with both characters well-drawn and engaging. While the pacing mildly falters mid-story, the novel's exploration of ghostly existence adds fascinating supernatural elements that elevate it beyond a typical cozy mystery. Blacke successfully balances humor and heart, weaving genuine emotional stakes through this light-hearted tale that proves both entertaining and touching through its dual POV structure.

This was a fun cozy mystery story! I really enjoyed this one. It helps you slow down and just be spooked. It was quite funny and I think everyone should give it a go

Not your average ghost story! Cordelia doesn't remember dying, but she knows she's a ghost. No one can see or hear her, but she manages to communicate with the new girl that's living in her apartment. Communicating via poem magnets on the fridge and condensation on glass, together they team up to figure out who killed their neighbor. I really enjoyed the creativity here!

3.5 stars! This was a cozy, quirky mystery, perfect to read for this time of year. I have never read anything like this and it kept my interest the whole time. The ghost aspect was neat and how Ruby and “her roommate” communicated. Not sure it is a very memorable read but I would be interested in reading the sequel. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5 stars

[ thank you @minotaur_books for the eARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own! ]

PUB DATE: October 29, 2024 (out now!)

I don’t read a lot of paranormal/supernatural cozies but I absolutely enjoyed this one!

It’s dual pov with Cordelia (the ghost) and Ruby! And the way they figure out how to communicate to each other by using fridge word magnets, so clever and made me laugh. 🤣

I loved that we kinda had two mysteries going on.. one was solved and the other will hopefully be solved in the next book?! Guess we’ll find out!

It was a fun mystery. I liked the ghost aspect and learning (sometimes alongside Cordelia!) how it worked and her abilities. I liked Ruby, she was eccentric and she made me chuckle with her inner thoughts. She was quirky and I was here for it!

Overall, perfect book for this fall season! Hoping we get a book two in the future because I need some answers! 👻🔎

During this spooky time, a cozy mystery with a ghost as one of the main characters is a great fit for me. Cordelia Graves died several months prior and is still finding her footing in the afterlife. When she encounters a neighbor who has joined her on that side, she decides to uncover the mystery surrounding his demise. But first she must figure out how to communicate with the woman who now inhabits her Boston Apartment. Ruby Young is struggling to find her place in her new town when she discovers that all the wacky things that are happening in her new residence are the former residence trying to get through to her. Once they discover a means of communication, they work together to improve her life and solve the mystery. This appears to be the first in a new series by Olivia Blacke. I will look into her other series while waiting for the next volume.

3.5 ☆ // An interesting take on cozy mystery for sure. The characters were quirky , but that’s what made this a fun read. I love that you get the double narration, one being a ghost & one being the girl who moved into the ghost’s past apartment. I enjoyed the idea of the two being amateur sleuths & investigating a murder mystery together, also. 

The ending seemed a bit rushed, but it did end on a cliffhanger. Since the background has been set for me, I’m definitely interested in reading the next book to see how the story unfolds. & added points for the cute & fun cover! 

Thank you NetGalley, Olivia Blacke, & St. Martin’s Press for this arc in exchange for my honest thoughts!