Ghost at Work (Bailey Ruth Raeburn Series #1)

Oklahoma City Oklahoman

Bailey Ruth is a lively, original heroine and a pleasure to read. Hart gets to design heaven and indulges herself in celestial fantasies. The Oklahoma City author is a master at constructing a mystery. She builds this one with finesse, suspense and humor.

Deseret News

absolutely charming...it’s that rarest of books, filled with characters who have character, both fanciful moments and genuine surprises. And there are pieces to the puzzle that are sure to catch you off guard.

Boston Globe

Hart’s version of heaven is a hoot...Bailey Ruth and Wiggins will delight readers who prefer their mysteries light and seasoned with wit and the supernatural.

Boston Globe

Hart’s version of heaven is a hoot...Bailey Ruth and Wiggins will delight readers who prefer their mysteries light and seasoned with wit and the supernatural.

Deseret News

Publishers Weekly

A ghost turns sleuth in the intriguing first of a new series from Hart (Death on Demand), who's won Agatha, Anthony and Macavity awards. When Bailey Ruth Raeburn and her husband die on their cabin cruiser during a storm, Bailey joins the heavenly host. Later, she returns to earth via the Rescue Express to her hometown of Adelaide, Okla., to help the rector's wife, Kathleen Abbott. After finding the body of a dead man on her back porch, Kathleen fears either she or her husband might be accused of the crime. Bailey Ruth helps her to move the body, inaugurating a search for the killer that proves difficult as the victim was despised by many. As Bailey Ruth uncovers more than one crime, she must contend with her own violations of the Precepts for Earthly Visitation and adjust to her powers on earth. Hart blends an enjoyable fantasy with realistic characters and an engrossing plot that's sure to charm even ardent materialists. (Nov.)

Library Journal

What a tangled web Hart weaves for Bailey Ruth, an emissary from Heaven on a mission to help people in trouble. The body of a man is found at the rectory in Adelaide, OK. The pastor is a suspect, and his wife is Bailey Ruth's great niece. Hart, the prolific, award-winning author of the popular "Death on Demand" and Henrie O. series, launches a new paranormal cozy series. Her ghostly heroine glides through walls yet also eats solid food and solves problems for living folks. Sure to appeal to readers who enjoy gentle mysteries in the style of Elizabeth Fackler and Nancy Atherton. Here it is all too cute for words. [See Prepub Mystery, LJ7/08.]

—Jo Ann Vicarel\

Kirkus Reviews

A heaven-sent sleuth rescues a pastor's wife from a possible murder charge. Late, inquisitive redhead Bailey Ruth Raeburn may be in heaven, but she jumps at the chance to revisit earth as a helper in the Department of Good Intentions. Although she thinks Paris would be a nice place to go, she's sent to her old hometown of Adelaide, Okla., where Kathleen Abbott, the overworked pastor's harried wife, has just made an unwelcome discovery on her back porch: the body of the much disliked Daryl Murdoch, a man not above a little judicious blackmail. Bailey Ruth and Kathleen temporize by hiding the body in the nearby cemetery, but it will take a good deal of snooping and breaking departmental rules before Bailey Ruth can solve the crime. Being invisible, of course, is a big help for a sleuth who can sit in on private conversations and move from place to place in a twinkling. Because Kathleen's daughter Bayroo, who was named for Bailey Ruth, is the only one who can see her, a lot of people end up unbelievingly watching objects float in the air or disappear. The list of suspects is long-even the pastor is not above suspicion-but Bailey Ruth's special gifts give her the edge over the hardworking police chief, who's in for a big surprise. The newest sleuth from veteran Hart (Death Walked In, 2008, etc.) is a charming addition to the swelling ranks of ghostly detectives.\