Living Spectres, A Chesterton Holte, Gentleman Haunt Mystery by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro is book 2 in a trilogy. As I hadn’t read book one, it was a bit difficult to fully understand the storyline, but once I did, I was hooked. In the three different subplots, I adored 2. I don’t think I’ll know about the third until I finish the trilogy. The details given were extremely accurate and painted the story beautifully. I recommend this for all paranormal mystery fans.

I cannot understand how I had this book for ages on my Kindle and never got to it sooner.
This was an enchanting read.

The storyline was straightforward. Poppy is a journalist at a time when women did not do "such things". Teaching and nursing were the accepted occupations for women who had to work. For upper crust women like Poppy who came from a privileged background, there was no necessity to work and many people had no qualms about pointing this out to her. Investigative journalism is her forte, not just the social and women's pages and this created a rumpus amongst even her male colleagues. Not all of them but she certainly ruffled a lot of feathers.

That is the story of Poppy. What she investigates and how she does it is immaterial to the fascination of this story. What is unique is that she has a ghost of a spy master who is a friend, a colleague and one who befriends, protects and advices her on all aspects of her career - in a professional and personal way as well. The fact that he is dead, is all part of the story and the world he occupies is one of ghosts and spirits not frightening ones but a separate world of their own. The fact that just a handful of people can actually talk to Holte is the fascinating bit. It includes Maestro - Poppy's cat who snarls and sniffles when Holte is around.

The story here is a convoluted one but it does cover the fields of women in journalism at the time, the ethics and rules governing the behaviour of women in society (horrible!) and the social setting of the time which was very interesting.

The interest in this story lay in the spirits of this story.

Goodreads and Amazon review was posted on 27/7/2017. Review on my blog mid November 2017. Also linked to my FB page.

"Living Spectres" is the second book in a series by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro that takes place during the Roaring Twenties.
Poppy Thornton is a newspaper reporter who is accompanied by her ghost companion, Chesterton Holte. Holte chose to repay a "debt" he owes by helping Poppy any way he can. The book takes place a few months after the events of the first book. I didn't enjoy this one as much as the first book but am not quite sure why. It seemed almost too descriptive which drew my attention away from the story itself. I love Poppy's character very much. She is definitely an unusual woman for this time period where women were expected to remain at home. Chesterton Holte is a hilarious sidekick to Poppy and I always enjoy the animosity between Holte and Poppy's cat. Even though I didn't enjoy this one as much as the first one, I still hope there will be a third novel to continue the story of Poppy and Holte.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in return for my honest opinion.

I was excited to read this book. I have read a few of Chelsea Quinn Yarbro's other books and thoroughly enjoyed them.

This book wasn't as good as her other books I have read, but I liked it. She is a stickler for detail and I always feel as though I there in the scenery seeing what her characters see. Poppy's character was well written and defined, it took a while to get used to the language of the times, but once I settled in, I quite enjoyed it. I was transported to the 20s and I loved the character of Holt. I wonder if I had read the first book in the series if I would have liked this one more.

All in all, I enjoyed the book, it just wasn't as exciting as I wanted it to be.