The Ghost of Christmas Past

Molly Murphy Mysteries

De: Rhys Bowen

Narrado por: Nicola Barber

From Rhys Bowen, the author of In Farleigh Field, comes the next Molly Murphy mystery: The Ghost of Christmas Past.

Semi-retired private detective Molly Murphy Sullivan is suffering from depression after a miscarriage following her adventure in San Francisco during the earthquake of 1906. She and her husband, Daniel, are invited for Christmas at a mansion on the Hudson, and they gratefully accept, expecting a peaceful and relaxing holiday season. Not long after they arrive, however, they start to feel the tension in the house's atmosphere. Then they learn that the host couple's young daughter wandered out into the snow ten years ago and was never seen again.

Molly can identify with the mother's pain at never knowing what happened to her child and wants to help, but there is so little to go on. No ransom note. No body ever found. But Molly slowly begins to suspect that the occupants of the house know more than they are letting on. Then, on Christmas Eve, there is a knock at the door and a young girl stands there. "I'm Charlotte," she says. "I've come home."

©2017 Rhys Bowen (P)2017 Audible, Inc.

A Great Mystery!

I started out listening to this book - like so many others - while driving. But once in the thick of the mystery I couldn’t “put it down” and didn’t get other things done that should’ve happened today so I could finish the listen! Ms Bowen is a great writer! But the written word in conversations is difficult to narrate and all the “I said” and “she said” etc with pauses were awkward in my opinion. That is the reason for a 4 star for the performance-and sometimes the narrator had trouble slipping from voice to voice. But better her than me - overall she does a great job! If there is another Molly Murphy book after this one, I’ll be looking for it - but not too soon! I need to get some real work reading done!

too short

the story is only 7 hours long. I it was good and the narration was excellent . but I feel cheated. I like a more in-depth mystery and antagonist development.

Enjoyable

A cute, satisfying, entertaining chapter in the life of Molly Murphy.

Looking forward to more.

Hope during our trying times

Wonderful story and beautifully read. I follow Molly’s stories when the social divisivess in America becomes especially painful and discouraging.

They keep geeting better

Much better then the first books, she works more with her husband. The books keep getting better.

Molly Murphy Never Dull

I have loved this series and listening to Nicola Barber read each book. This lat one does not disappoint. Each if the characters are at key tuning points in their lives. The mystery is fun and has its inevitable twists that Ms. Bowen always has up her sleeve. The best part is the interaction and relationship of the characters. Here is to hoping there are more Molly Murphy takes to come. If not, it has been a very enjoyable series.

Easy Listening

This was a light book and was fun to listen to while I did things that didn't require much thought.

Fluff

Fluff but fun. A well constructed story with appropriate villains and heroes. Got it on sale and was good value.

Another stunning story

Although, this one starts a bit darker than the earlier stories, Molly still gets herself into and out of some interesting scrapes. These are just such a joy to listen to.

Wonderful light historical mystery!

I must start by admitting there is a very special place in my heart for the historical mystery novels of author Janet Quin-Harkin writing using the pen name of Rhys Bowen. First there was her Constable Evan Evans series beginning in 1999 followed by her Molly Murphy series beginning in 2001of which this novel is the 17th then followed by Her Royal Spyness series with the 12th novel to be published next summer and finally this year's possible standalone WWII novel In Farleigh Field. The lady is 76 years old and she continues to prolifically write wonderful historical mystery novels.

The Molly Murphy series starts with Molly being a very young private detective in Great Britain. The early novels were light and fun, but then she moves to the US and gets married to policeman Daniel Sullivan and has a son. Then she and her family are caught in the San Francisco earthquake in a harrowing experience. The Ghost of Christmas Past finds Molly and their two year old son in New York with her husband just returning from a brief assignment with the federal government in Washington DC to hopefully his police captains job in New York. The year is likely 1908, but the novel does not make the year clear. Molly is deeply depressed grieving a miscarriage and it is the Christmas season. The Sullivan family along with their Irish governess are invited to spend the holiday with a wealthy family outside NYC. This novel is not so much about Christmas as about a complex web of criminal issues related to the family they are visiting for the holiday. Molly Murphy Sullivan quickly adapts to her detective self and works toward resolving the issues helping her overcome her grieving.

Rhys Bowen packs a lot of action and complexity into this shorter than usual 7 hour audio novel. As always with this series British voice over actress Nicola Barber narrates superbly. All of Bowen's series have different narrators and all are great, but Her Royal Spyness narrator Katherine Kellgren is my favorite.

Each novel and each short story in her series are standalone, but to fully appreciate one of her series read the novels in order.