Sweet Tea and Spirits

By: Angie Fox

Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert

Length: 7 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

*USA Today best-selling series!*

Southern girl Verity Long is about as high society as her pet skunk. Which is why she’s surprised as anyone when the new head of the Sugarland social set invites her to join the "it" girls. But this is no social call. Verity’s new client needs her to go in undercover and investigate strange happenings at the group’s historic headquarters.

But while spirits are whispering hints of murder, the socialites are more focused on Verity’s 1978, avocado-green Cadillac. And when Verity stumbles upon a fresh body, she's going to need the long-dead citizens of Sugarland to help her solve the crime. Good thing she has the handsome deputy sheriff Ellis Wydell on hand, as well as her ghostly sidekick Frankie. The bad thing is, the ghosts are now whispering about the end of a certain ghost hunter.

©2017 Angie Fox (P)2018 Audible, Inc.

Sweet Tea and Spirits

Verity is called to help solve another murder. It’s quite a shock when she finally learns who made that call. She, Frankie her Deputy boyfriend, Ellis help solve the who done it again. Frankie finally finds “the one” who steals his heart. Another winner from Ms. Fox!

Historical Society Flusies and Gangsters Gunning!

One of my favorite cozy mystery series is the Southern Ghost Hunter. I enjoy small town southern girl Verity Hunt struggling against the old tabbies of the town, getting past her disastrous near-wedding to the cheating golden boy of town by falling for his older, sweeter brother, and her accidental introduction to the world of ghostly mayhem when she is stuck with a gangster ghost who puts the 'life' into afterlife.

Verity, with Frankie's dubious help, tumbles into murder and ghostly troubles with each new series installment. I started them out of order, but I did see how getting them in order made sense of some things that are understood by this point in the series.

In this latest, Verity finds herself tangling once again with Sugarland's high society ladies including her boyfriend, Ellis' snobby and conniving mother, Virginia, when she is hired to calm the ghosts at the old manor where the historical society meets. Verity wants nothing to do with the plastic set, but she can't turn her back on a phone call for help that seems to be from a ghost. The trouble leads to murder and now she is definitely in for the long haul with Ellis at her side. Meanwhile, she needs to help Frankie sort some troubles on the ghostly plain when he tangles with a dangerous ghost of a Chicago mobster and gets his first ghostly romantic efforts in a tangle.

These are light and fun on one level since sweet Verity is winging it much of the time and has to force Frankie her gangster ghost's cooperation with bribes and promises, but there are other layers like struggling still with Virginia Wydell's hatred for Verity because she left her son Beau at the altar and began dating another son, Ellis, a sterling man that his mother under-appreciates because he went into humble police work.

The mysteries are clever and entertaining though not really complex. I enjoy how there is always a ghost problem attached to the mystery and the settings tend to be a little creepy and tied to the past as a result.

Tavia Gilbert is a fantastic narrator match for this series and I'm never more pleased than when I can click on and listen in as she voices Verity and Frankie along with the rest of the characters. A light Southern drawl for Verity and a tough guy 20's shtick for Frankie. She hits just the right note of lightness with excitement throughout the story. She will insert more emotion into her voice when the situation calls for it so she is acting and not merely storytelling, but it never feels overdone.

All in all, it was good times and leaves me pleasantly anticipating my next encounter with Verity and Frankie as they get tangled up in a new ghostly adventure. This series is for those who like to add paranormal to their cozy mystery.

Engaging

Story kept me interested to see who did it! Hope Ellis and Verdi stay together.

fun story... left wanting more..

I enjoyed it.. wanted to know more about the storyline. nice to see Frankie grow a little, but verity sure was dense in this one..

love this series!

I enjoy this series very much. it is easy to listen to and the stories are entertaining.

This one really stumped me!

I love this series and even though this one was great and full of its usual southern charm, the plot was my least favorite so far. All the previous books felt more structured to me and I can often start to push the pieces together myself. This one really stumped me and there seemed to be too many plots going on this time.

(Spoilers) I wish there had been more focus on Julia’s murder storyline than anything else. I feel like a lot of time was spent talking to the ghosts in the house while they really didn’t have anything to do with it. I guess it was all still connected in the end but the buildup felt a bit convoluted considering it was just the mistress who did it.

Frankie was extra funny in this one and I enjoyed his character growth with Molly but I felt like too much time was spent on that too. I really liked the scene with Verity and Mic but it felt like it would have been better suited for another book. Maybe they are laying groundwork for later on. I def feel like there should have been more scenes with Vincent and Constance since they were the murderers.

The reveal and resolve of each book needs to be at least 10 min longer bc my head is always left spinning from the sudden data dump and despite that, I feel like questions are left unanswered. If I absorbed everything correctly, it seems like Mother Mary knew Julia was about to be murdered by Constance who had tampered with her brakes. Molly helped lure Verity there by screwing around with the mannequins, prompting Julia to call Verity to help with the ghost problem. But it seems like Mary and Molly were trying to get Verity to save Julia though it is unclear how they expected her to do that. I am also unsure why they took over her car, I guess they just wanted her to stay? I know they were mad about their history being burned, but I don’t really see how that connects to Julia’s murder.

Henrietta also seemed like a fairly pointless character, serving to only reveal the truth about the house. It seemed like Virginia knew but covered it up? And why did she have Constance start a fire? Were they trying to burn the whole house down so Julia couldn’t be president? And were Vincent and Constance conspiring to kill Julia together or Constance acted on her own? What was the point of him killing his first two wives too? And then never even finding out how he managed to do it and why. Was he doing it for inheritance or was he some kind of sicko? Very confusing stuff in this one. It would have helped to know a lot more about some of the characters and less about others. I don’t even recall if they mentioned how long Julia and Vincent were married. And was she mostly trying to prove that he was a cheater or a murderer? The “evidence” she found was very underwhelming but maybe they plan to do more with Vincent later.

My fav scenes were when Constance attacked Verity who was then saved by Mother Mary. That was a very compelling, well done scene and Tavia nailed it as always. I loved the exchange between Verity and Mic and the fight between Virginia and Verity. I am growing very sick of Virginia getting away with so much but it’s fitting for the antagonist. The banter between Verity and Frankie is always gold.

Overall, the book was still great and would def read again. I need to take a break with this series until next Halloween bc the murders are really starting to wear on me. It is the greatest series I’ve read in years though and I highly recommend! 👻

Entertaining

Everything was good. Several laugh out loud sections. The narrators were good, too. Some surprises.

My favorite in the Southern Ghost Hunter series

Sweet Tea and Spirits is the fifth book in the Southern Ghost Hunter series by Angie Fox.

The mystery begins when Verity Long receives a ghostly phone call that there has been a murder at the Sugarland Heritage Society building. Verity's boyfriend, Deputy Sheriff Ellis Wydell, is dispatched to the scene shortly after. Verity is eager to help solve the murder, but she runs into a big problem...there is no body found at the scene! At night, Verity and her ghostly sidekick Frankie decide to go investigate the spirit side of things at the Heritage Society building in hopes to get to the source of the mysterious phone call, and this time they come across the dead body of someone they know.

The mystery continues in what is, in my opinion, the most thrilling book of the entire series to date! This book is spooky, funny, and has a great surprise ending. I have grown so fond of the characters in this series ever since I downloaded a free sample of the first book on a whim one day. I am eagerly awaiting the next adventure!

Loved it!

As always, another great mystery. Angie Fox and Tavia Gilbert are awesome together. Angie is a great writer and Tavia is the best narrator I've ever heard. Please keep them coming. Thank you... again.

amazing 😍✨

I have listened to all of her books but I think this one is my favorite one I haven't listened to haunted homecoming but I think that it will be a good one.