The Stranger Vanishes

A Lily Dale Mystery, Book 5

By: Wendy Corsi Staub

Narrated by: Avery May

Length: 7 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

In the quirky, picturesque lakeside community of Lily Dale, where the residents can talk to the dead, young widow Bella Jordan is the lone skeptic among believers. She doesn't believe in ghosts…but after a year in the village, she would admit that her new friends do sometimes seem to know impossible things.

Still, when a Black stranger dressed in old-fashioned clothing arrives unexpectedly at Bella's guesthouse at midnight on Juneteenth, only to vanish the next day as if he'd never existed, Bella's sure there has to be a logical explanation. One that has nothing to do with the strange warning Odelia, the medium next door, delivers from the spirits: Beware of…Barry?

Bella doesn't know a Barry, and she has enough people in her life already, what with her young son Max, their two kitties, handsome vet Drew, a plethora of kind but nosy neighbors, and a full house of summer guests. But as the mystery of the missing stranger deepens, she starts to wonder: did the spirits really mean Barry? Or did they mean bury…

©2022 Wendy Corsi Staub (P)2022 Dreamscape Media, LLC

EXCELLENT SERIES

I am constantly trying to figure out the murderer's identity in these books and haven't achieved my goal! The author is very good at planting enough suspects in your mind to keep you second guessing. A very good read in all so far, and the narration is well done.

Series is getting better

Probably should start with the disclaimer that I started the Lily Dale books with the YA series, which I loved. Which admittedly colors my opinion of the adult series.

This is by far the best book in the series, so far. After the last one, I honestly wasn't sure I could bear another one. But I decided to give it a try and I am glad I did for one reason -- bringing back beloved characters from the YA series.

What's good: I am thrilled that the Calla Delaney character is sharing center stage with Bella in this book. Calla was the protagonist in the YA books. Lily Dale is, after all, a spiritual community and it is nice to have a central character who not only believes in mediumship, but is, actually a medium.

Bringing Jacy Bly back in for the romantic triangle of Blue/Calla/Jacy is awesome, as are the mentions of Jeff, Ramona, and Evangeline. Hoping they are brought back for future books as well.

What's disappointing:

Bella's continued cynicism and disdain for spiritualism. It was understandable in the first few books, but I would have expected, given what she has experienced, that she would be at least less cynical about mediumship. I don't necessarily need her to BE a medium, but I would like her to be growing into a believer, and that just doesn't seem to be happening. There are reasons for this that I cannot put in this review because I don't want to spoil it for anyone.

I wish that when readers took on books in a series, that they would take a page from actors who take over rolls, and at least attempt to provide some continuity. The character of Odelia is known for her outlandishness, from her clothes to her cooking. In the YA series, Odelia's "voice" matches her style. In this series, and in this book in particular, the reader gave her an almost British accent. It is way too formal for the character and made it hard to distinguish sometimes between Odelia and another character. Same with Bella and Calla - sometimes I wasn't sure who was who.

Finally, it is disappointing that the author did not provide continuity between the YA books and this series. There are numerous unanswered questions from the YA series and they are complicated with inconsistencies in this one. For example, in this series, she has repeatedly referred to Blue as Calla's HS boyfriend. While they dated, it was short-lived. In this book, the author references Blue breaking Calla's heart in HS. That DID NOT HAPPEN at all. Calla actually was more interested in Jacy, and broke up with Blue.

In short:

Probably listen to the first four in the series before you listen to this one
If you loved the YA series, THIS book starts to get back to the feel of those books

Not my favorite of the series

I was disappointed in this book. The story didn't really have much to it. Normally I love what Wendy writes but this was was lacking.