“The perfect romance or beach read, with a difference: its enthusiasm and beautiful descriptions offer an unexpected attention to the complexity of not just evolving love, but evolving psyches. It’s a delightful recommendation for romance readers looking for a touch more complexity from their romance reads.”–Midwest Book Review (For Now and Forever)THE GHOSTLY GROUNDS: MURDER AND BREAKFAST is … GROUNDS: MURDER AND BREAKFAST is the debut novel in a charming new cozy mystery series by bestselling author Sophie Love, author of The Inn at Sunset Harbor series, a #1 Bestseller with over 200 five-star reviews.
Marie Fortune, 39, a successful dog groomer in Boston, has had enough of catering to the wealthy and their pampered dogs. Realizing it is time to make a change, she quits and heads to a small coastal town in Maine where she remembers fond summers as a kid. Marie expects to go for a brief getaway—and is shocked to learn that her great-aunt left her an inheritance: a dilapidated, historic house high up on a hill overlooking the harbor.
Marie feels an instant connection. Although the locals tell her it would be folly, Marie decides to renovate and give it a second life as a B&B.
But there is one thing she couldn’t have planned for: the house is haunted.
Two things, actually: her great-aunt also left her a dog—and he is far from a typical dog.
When an unexpected death occurs soon thereafter, solving the crime will be more than just a matter of curiosity for Marie—her very future may depend on it.
A page-turning cozy, packed with mystery, love, hauntings, travel, pets and food—anchored around a small town and a B&B in need of renovation that will capture your heart—THE GHOSTLY GROUNDS is an un-putdownable cozy that will keep you turning pages (and laughing out loud) late into the night.
“The romance is there, but not overdosed. Kudos to the author for this amazing start of a series that promises to be very entertaining.”
–Books and Movies Reviews (For Now and Forever)
Books #2-#6 are also available!
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A good cozy mystery that you can read in a day…
I really liked this book. The story was unique and different than a lot of the other cozy mysteries. It was a very interesting storyline. It was just plain old good!
Marie Fortune’s world has just done a complete 180 all in one day. The 39 year old professional dog groomer from Boston finally hit her breaking point and decided to up and quit her job. After that it all came tumbling down. She broke up with her boyfriend and then she received a heartbreaking phone call that her great aunt June had passed away. She makes her way to Maine to where she frequented summers as a child with her aunt. What happened next through her for a loop. Her great aunt left her her house. What would Marie do with it? Then the idea hit her. Her pipedreams of owning her own bed and breakfast suddenly didn’t seem so far fetched. On a whim, Marie takes the good fortune and cuts all her ties back in Boston to start her new path in life. As Marie gets to work on renovations and becoming a new business owner, she prepares herself for the expected hiccups along the way. What she doesn’t prepare for, is to discover the house is haunted. When an unexpected death occurs and things start to get hairy for the B&B, Marie wonders if she will be able to get through it all and keep her dream alive or if everything she’s worked so hard for and made sacrifices for will all come crashing down.
I stumbled across this book on my Hoopla app and I’m very happy I did! A new cozy mystery series to dive into and so far I love it. This was a fairly short book and I burned through it fairly quickly. It was an easy and fun read. I really loved the narrator for this one as well. I’m pretty excited for this series. I thoroughly enjoyed the first book. I rate this one . Sophie Love
This first in a series cozy is an exceptionally slow start with a lot of convenient coincidences to keep the plot going. But it is easy to read and cute.
It is a somewhat delightful storyline that keeps its readers guessing how a former dog groomer can transform her inherited one-hundred-year-old New England home into a successful bed and breakfast with no experience and very little money to invest. If your looking for a story with strong ghostly content, this is not the book (although there are ghost in the story), for you.
I did find the story very enjoyable and easy to read, keeping my interest because of the character interactions and the presence of an apparition perceptive canine. The ending left me underwhelmed and easy to predict, but I look forward to the next installment to see how the story continues.
I actually very nearly put this book down. The main character seemed very unapproachable and snooty. I’m pleased I read it finished.
The Ghostly Grounds: Murder and Breakfast is the first book in the Canine Casper Cozy Mystery series by Sophie Love.
The book starts with Marie having a very bad day. She heads up to Maine to find she inherited her great-aunt’s house and a unique dog.
Marie reacquaints herself with the town she visited when she was younger and decides to open a B&B in a house that is rumored to be haunted.
It is a good start to the series. There is a death and Marie tries to investigate it. She’s not the best at it which I appreciate since that brings a touch of realism. The solving of the murder was interesting but the twist after that has me anxious to read the next book.
Thank you to BookSirens for the Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) copy of this book and I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.
A fun read. I enjoyed it very much.
Enjoyed this book. Kept me reading and gave all that the plot summary expressed.
A good read!
Liked being able to follow the characters through real life events with which I could sympathize. Very enjoyable read.
This story needed some work. The story was very thin with not very much happening along the way to solving a murder. It needed some more twists and turns to hold my interests as a reader. There also was an over abundance of typos that shouldn’t be so prevalent in a finished product. Some of the dialogue wasn’t very sharp with the main character blurting out things that would have been better left unsaid or having her restate things that were obvious. It just didn’t hold my interest.
I really liked this book, loved Boo! Marie is a wonderful character and trying to get her life together and do something she would love to do. She now has two guys liking her and a business to run. Of course there is a murder to solve. I would have liked to know more history of the house. I am looking forward to reading the second book as Marie is going in a different direction again. I received an arc and the views and opinions are my own.
Fun to read.
I completely enjoyed this book. The writer had their own touch of mystery to the story line which kept me, as the reader, desiring to continue towards the outcome. The added mystery of the main character’s newly acquired faithful companion just makes it all the more entertaining and mysterious. Hope you enjoy this book as much as I did.
Fun, easy read with lovely characters, a decent mystery, and a small town feel.
This book is about a woman who opens a bed and breakfast with a ghost theme. She gets a lot of business from ghost hunters. A skeptic decides to come and debunk the ghost claims and ends up killed in a balloon accident. The bed and breakfast owner decides to investigate because the incident could ruin her business.
Marie is not happy in her current job as dog groomer. She finds out her great- aunt (who she hasn’t seen for years) has died. She goes for the funeral and is shocked ot hear she has inherited the house she remembers so fondly. Ready for a change, she decides to fulfil her lifelong dream of opening a bed and breakfast. The only issue, the house is haunted by a ghost. This is a fun easy read and I look forward to the next book in the series.
Just a fun read.
This is an extremely fun “light” read. Keeps you turning pages and reads at a good pace.