Is the evil lurking in Sunshine House human or something much worse?
Once an exclusive Hollywood hotel catering to the likes of Rudolf Valentino and other great stars of the Silent Film Era, the Bockerman Hotel now is the Sunshine House, an assisted living home for seniors.
And its residents are dying…in droves.
Sara Caine, paranormal investigator, couldn’t believe she got an invitation … droves.
Sara Caine, paranormal investigator, couldn’t believe she got an invitation to hunt for ghosts in the most haunted building in all of Los Angeles, The Sunshine House. Her excitement turns to horror as the mysteries of Sunshine House reveal themselves to be more terrifying then she could have ever imagined.
The Haunting of Sunshine House is the first book in a creepy new Supernatural Suspense series that will have your spine tingling. If you like Darcy Coates, Amy Cross or Bill Thompson, then you’ll love The Haunting of Sunshine House by Dominika Best.
Buy yourself a copy, grab a hot cocoa and turn down the lights. You’re in for a thrilling ride with Sara Caine in The Haunting of Sunshine House.
Once you start, you won’t be able to put it down.
AUTHOR INTERVIEW:
Where did your interest in ghost stories come from?
When I was young and living in Poland, I lived next door to an old cemetery. It had been a Jewish Cemetery before World War II, and had been gated since 1945. No one had been inside in all those years, my child brain imagined. Our apartment was on the eleventh floor and I could see through the dense trees down to the half buried tombstones. I convinced myself I had seen several ghosts wandering there at night. My fascination with all things supernatural grew from there.
Is that the reason history plays such an important part in this series as well?
Yes, absolutely. The ghosts of World War II were everywhere in Poland. You couldn’t escape that dark history. I’ve had a life-long fascination with that time period especially since the tendrils of the horrors still penetrate our modern times. Los Angeles also features prominently in this series. It is called Ghosts of Los Angeles after all. One of the reasons, I loved setting these books in Los Angeles is because of how steeped in history this city is. A different type of history, of course, but one that is stamped on the facades of the city. It’s wild to watch an old silent film and see the downtown streets and buildings prominently featured from that era. The ghosts of all the celluloid stars wander the streets here. On Rudolf Valentino’s birthday, the Hollywood Forever cemetery hosted a live viewing of one of his films on the side of his mausoleum. They had asked the last living organist from that time period to come and accompany that film. Only in Los Angeles.
What made you choose a psychic to be the main character in this series?
As I was researching this book, I came across stories of Bess Houdini. She held seances on the roof of the Knickerbocker Hotel on every Halloween night for 10 years, trying to contact her husband Harry Houdini. I loved that intersection of the supernatural and the famous. I also met some psychics here that were the coolest ladies. They gave me some help in correctly writing about their world.
Who would like this novel?
Anyone who loves a good mystery, wrapped in a creepy ghost story. Some good scares, and some familiar names making cameos. It’s a book to get cozy with.
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This is my first time reading this author, the cover pic caught my eye and the blurb sold me on the book. The plot is different than the usual and that makes for a unique and interesting read. I loved this book, the author has a wonderful writing style.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Well written!
A multilayered ghoulish read!
Believable characters!
It grabs you and sucks you in. It won’t let you go until you read every last page.
Read! Enjoy!
This is book one of the Ghosts of Los Angeles series and is set in the Sunshine Assisted Living Home in 2005. One of its residents Barney Leonard is having breakfast and wondering where his love Babs is, as she is late. All the other residents can talk about is the strange noise from the previous night and all the ghosts they think are haunting the home. It used to be a famous hotel, the Bockerman Hotel, which catered to the rich and famous of yesteryear, so they all think they have famous ghosts! The main problem for the home is that a lot of its residents are dying and certainly more than normal. Unfortunately, Babs is another one of this number. Diane Lawrence is in charge of the home and is sleeping her way with Matt Lacready, who runs McGregor Holdings, which own Sunshine House, and is shocked that Barney has called the police because he says Babs was murdered. He hasn’t gone through the proper procedures and that could cause Diane some problems!
Barney is also discussing stories with the other, mostly female residents, about who is making all these strange noises, saying that it must be ghosts of those who died violently in the building. Babs death turns out to be suspicious after all and now Detectives Murphy and Larson are investigating it. Nurse Lou Fairbanks got off the lift on the wrong floor and ended up having darkness overtake her and then a night of hearing a woman screaming and taps going on and off, which her almost comatose father also heard. It is all a group of other residents, headed by Barney, can talk about! A paranormal investigator, Sara Caine, is invited to come and investigate all of the reports of haunting, in what is one of the most famous haunted buildings in LA, to help settle the residents. She lost her parents in a car accident that she herself was in, whilst she was in high school, and when she awoke from her injuries, she could see and sense ghosts.
Matters in the hotel are linked to events in Zamosc, Poland, back in 1942, and the practices of the Nazi Angel’s of Death. An eight year old Polish boy called Syzmon, is key to later matters. He is pulled away from his mother by a Nazi soldier and his female assistant. He is a child with the looks of the Germanic ideal! He joins other children like him, as experiments and brainwashing are carried out, similar to concentration camps, and those that don’t measure up, disappear to be killed. His early year’s treatment will affect him in many ways and you get to see this as he gets older.
Accompanying Sara to the home is a group of ghost hunters and a séance is arranged. There are definitely ghosts in the home, as medium Sara can attest, but they are unsure a ghost is behind all these suspicious deaths. Barney and his friends want Lou to be sacked or removed, as they are sure matters only became worse when she arrived. But nothing is as it seems and the police aren’t really interested, as soon as ghosts are mentioned! The paranormal investigation will lead Sara to a new ability suddenly surfacing, more than she has ever wanted, but may be the key to finding the paranormal or human killer of the elderly. Her ghost hunter friend Johan may be more involved in tracking down his demon Luther at this time, but his hacker friend Ritchie will be the one to help them pull all the threads together, with Sara’s unwanted ability giving them vital clues.
An assisted living home, with more than the expected number of sudden deaths, plus a ghost issue, brings about an intriguing read with lots of suspense and a whodunit mystery. Some of the characters are well fleshed out and given lots of background and others rightly so are left somewhat in the background. Some shocking deaths occur or are mentioned, including events from WWII and Nazi treatments, so not for the really squeamish. The story is set in 2005 for the most part, but goes back and forth to 1942 and times in-between, as necessary for the storyline. It all makes sense in the end. A well-hidden killer and a hidden fall guy! Good read! I received an ARC copy of this book from BookSprout and I have freely given my own opinion of the book above.
Story kept me guessing who the killer was and very intense.
Wasn’t really a haunting type of book I was wanting to read
I did NOT finish this book. The first few chapters jump to different times. Then when the time stayed the same, the chapters jumped to different people. I couldn’t figure out mother/son thing. I have no idea what the first few chapters have to do with Sunshine House. I read to chapter 10 and was still completely lost, so I gave up. This one goes in the DNF file for me.
As usual, I would suggest that you read this book and form your own opinion.
I thought this was a great read. From start to finish I was pulled into the story. The story has a great flow and is well written. A paranormal mystery that takes place in an assisted living home. I had a hard time putting the book down and would recommend reading.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Sometimes I felt like the book was a little too long in reading in some areas. But, being it was about ghosts and murder and senior citizens ( the senior citizens were a little slow!)
Well-written and an engaging story. This was the first book that I have read by this author and I will be looking for more!
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
A ghost story/murder mystery set in assisted living facility? It’s about time! As a long-term care nurse who has worked night shift for years, I know how haunted those buildings can be, and I couldn’t resist “The Haunting of Sunshine House.” This multi-layered, atmospheric novel more than satisfied my expectations. A series of untimely deaths among the elderly residents of the Bockerman Hotel is interwoven with a grim and chilling historical narrative to create a complex and intriguing storyline. Sara Caine is the paranormal investigator who is assigned the creepy task of hunting the ghosts of the Bockerman, which was originally a glamorous hotel that catered to Hollywood’s stars. Eva Murphy is the LAPD homicide detective investigating the mysterious murder, which has an eerie connection to the war crimes of World War II.
Sara Caine and Detective Eva Murphy are both fascinating characters, and their interactions with the ghosts of the Sunshine House make this novel an addictive and scary read. This is Book 1 in a series called The Ghosts of Los Angeles featuring Sara and Eva, and I will definitely be reading all three of these novels.
This is the 1st book I’ve read written by Dominika Best; she has done a great job at writing a good book; I can’t wait to read more of her books.
The story line caught my attention at the very beginning and kept me interested throughout the entire book.
I loved the characters.
I received a free copy of this book via booksprout and I’m voluntarily leaving a review.
Great read. The author really draws the reader into the story. Will definitely read another book by this author.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
This was a good read thanks to the well written characters and the engaging story lines. I was hooked from beginning to end and I am looking forward to the next book by this author.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
The Sunshine house is now a assisted living home for the elderly but it used to be a famous restaurant, Bockerman, frequented by Marilyn Monroe, Joe Dimaggio, Fred Mertz and D.W. Griffith to name a few. Barney, a retired sound engineer, lives there. He’s sitting at breakfast with friends thinking about the buildings history and contemplating the increase of deaths at the home. Barney’s love of his life, Babs is late as usual and he expects her to be dawdling but when he goes to check on her he finds her dead. Barney is going to find out what is going and he asks around about what people have seen. It is rumored that the building is haunted but some people don’t believe it. Barney’s loudest objector is Lou, a nurse who lives there with her father, Dads. Barney talks to a friend and arranges for Frederick and his ghost investigation group including Sara Caine to come check out the haunting claims. Sara was in a deadly accident with her parents and has seen ghosts ever since. Sara has to figure out why people are dying in the home before more lives are lost. Great book, look forward to reading more.