Return to Tradd Street

January 1, 2014
Realtor and psychic Melanie Middleton is facing single motherhood in a haunted house she refuses to admit she loves, but it seems her pregnancy has awakened some malevolent feelings in at least one of the ghosts who shares her home. Mellie is sinking a fortune into her inherited mansion in Charleston, S.C., while trying to convince herself that she hates old houses. Newly pregnant, she has broken up with the father, Jack, a local best-selling novelist, since he won't tell her he loves her. Mellie is reconciled to single motherhood and has a posse of people around her to help, including her until-recently estranged parents, her best friend, and Jack's teenage daughter, Nola. Mellie shares an ability to see and interact with ghosts with her mother, which comes in handy when an infant's skeleton is found in the foundation during renovation work, an event that seems to awaken violent intentions in at least one of the many ghosts who live in her historic home. Working with the circle of friends and colleagues who've helped her solve ghostly mysteries before, Mellie races to untangle the complicated secrets of the past and the tragic story behind the tiny buried body, since the poltergeist's capacity for violence is escalating, threatening Mellie and her child. As she works through the web of past residents of the house, Mellie also finds herself confronting some personal demons, and revisiting relationships with friends, family and Jack, even while their research may uncover truths that threaten her claim on the house that she's fallen in love with. In this installment of White's Tradd Street series, there's nothing groundbreaking or surprising. White is a good writer and carries an intriguing story smoothly forward, combining a number of complex psychic, historical and romantic elements. Mellie can get tiresome (eat a doughnut, already!); the romantic he-loves-me-he-loves-me-not arc becomes annoying; and the historical mystery is somewhat convoluted, but overall, the book is an interesting, engaging read. More of the same from White and protagonist Mellie, which will please fans immensely.

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December 15, 2013
Melanie Middleton is 40, single, and pregnant. She hates old houses, and she hates Jack Trenholm, the father of her baby. She doesn't fit into any of her clothes, and her housekeeper and Jack's teenage daughter, Nola, are conspiring to get her to eat more flax and fiber. The historic house she inherited in Charleston, South Carolina, is haunted, and now some distant relatives of the previous owner have come to contest her right to live there. Then she discovers a 100-year-old infant skeleton in her backyard and a crib in the attic that matches one in Charleston's history museum. Things get weirder from there, but Melanie is used to it; she and her mother have been communing with the dead for years. Madcap paranormal, historical mystery, and small-town romance complete with all the requisite quirky side characters collide in the latest and apparently final installment in White's Tradd Street series. To enjoy its southern charm and romantic angst to the fullest, readers will want to start at the beginning of the series, with The House on Tradd Street (2008).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)