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Karma Marx #1
Ghost of a Chance
While trapped in a house with her sleazy husband Spider and other characters, Karma Marx, who exorcises haunted houses for a living, investigates Spider's murder, forcing her to find the truth among the living and the dead.
288 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published February 5, 2008
66 people are currently reading
1309 people want to read
About the author
Katie MacAlister
121 books5,974 followersFor as long as she can remember, Katie MacAlister has loved reading. Growing up in a family where a weekly visit to the library was a given, Katie spent much of her time with her nose buried in a book. Despite her love for novels, she didn't think of writing them until she was contracted to write a non-fiction book about software. Since her editor refused to allow her to include either witty dialogue or love scenes in the software book, Katie swiftly resolved to switch to fiction, where she could indulge in world building, tormenting characters, and falling madly in love with all her heroes.
Two years after she started writing novels, Katie sold her first romance, Noble Intentions. More than thirty books followed during the years after Noble's publication. Her novels have been translated into numerous languages, been recorded as audiobooks, received several awards, and placed on the New York Times, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly bestseller lists. She also writes for the young adult audience as Katie Maxwell, and for the mystery world as Kate Marsh.
Katie lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and dogs, and can often be found lurking around online.
Two years after she started writing novels, Katie sold her first romance, Noble Intentions. More than thirty books followed during the years after Noble's publication. Her novels have been translated into numerous languages, been recorded as audiobooks, received several awards, and placed on the New York Times, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly bestseller lists. She also writes for the young adult audience as Katie Maxwell, and for the mystery world as Kate Marsh.
Katie lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and dogs, and can often be found lurking around online.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 145 reviews
March 30, 2010
I put this in my PNR shelf, but I think it's more of a mystery with some paranormal elements. However, I have enough shelves as it is, so it's staying where I put it! lol.
I actually picked this book up because it's Katie Macallister's pen name. It's about a woman named Karma Marx, and she is an exterminator. But not of average rodents or infestations, she gets rid of paranormal beings that are from the Otherworld. Most of the time she sets the creatures free, or takes them home but sometimes she has to banish those beings to the Akasha. (This is the common thread between Macallister's Aisling Grey series and her dragon series). Karma's disgusting husband Spider asks her to clean up a house for him, and the only reason she agrees is because she wants a divorce. When Karma gets to the house, she's surprised to find a poltergeist named Adam there who insists the house is his. An angry poltergeist is never a good thing. While Karma is dealing with this she is also trying to corral a young girl named Pixie who is a foster kid that Karma is watching for the month. Plus her gross husband who I really disliked immensely was hanging around making veiled threats to Karma unless she cleans the house like she said she would.
It was an interesting mystery, and I liked the world that was set up. Some knew about the Otherworld and others were blissfully ignorant. I liked the background into poltergeists and how they aren't really ghosts. I'm not sure if she ever wrote another book in this series, but if there is one I would read it.
I actually picked this book up because it's Katie Macallister's pen name. It's about a woman named Karma Marx, and she is an exterminator. But not of average rodents or infestations, she gets rid of paranormal beings that are from the Otherworld. Most of the time she sets the creatures free, or takes them home but sometimes she has to banish those beings to the Akasha. (This is the common thread between Macallister's Aisling Grey series and her dragon series). Karma's disgusting husband Spider asks her to clean up a house for him, and the only reason she agrees is because she wants a divorce. When Karma gets to the house, she's surprised to find a poltergeist named Adam there who insists the house is his. An angry poltergeist is never a good thing. While Karma is dealing with this she is also trying to corral a young girl named Pixie who is a foster kid that Karma is watching for the month. Plus her gross husband who I really disliked immensely was hanging around making veiled threats to Karma unless she cleans the house like she said she would.
It was an interesting mystery, and I liked the world that was set up. Some knew about the Otherworld and others were blissfully ignorant. I liked the background into poltergeists and how they aren't really ghosts. I'm not sure if she ever wrote another book in this series, but if there is one I would read it.
February 8, 2017
Katie MacAlister Ghost of a Chance
Katie MacAlister's, “Ghost of a Chance” will grab your attention from the first page. It is a wonderfully written and fun-filled book. “Ghost of a Chance” takes you into the Otherworld filled with poltergeists, imps, Guardians, Unicorns and more Otherworld paranormal beings. The difference in Katie MacAlister’s paranormal world compared to other paranormal worlds is that this story will bring you to the state of ‘I Believe!’ from the start.
In “Ghost of a Chance”, we meet Karma, (a spirit cleaner of sorts) and her not so nice husband, real estate agent Spider. I honestly don't feel bad to tell you that he ends up murdered. Karma has just a short span of time to figure out who did it. Tall and handsome Adam, (the homeowner of the house where Spider was killed), is also on hand to add a sigh or two to the book.
Filled with the humor any Katie MacAlister readers find in all books, “Ghost of a Chance” was a book that I dived into and couldn’t put down until finished! I definitely encourage this book to be added to your reading list.
Katie MacAlister's, “Ghost of a Chance” will grab your attention from the first page. It is a wonderfully written and fun-filled book. “Ghost of a Chance” takes you into the Otherworld filled with poltergeists, imps, Guardians, Unicorns and more Otherworld paranormal beings. The difference in Katie MacAlister’s paranormal world compared to other paranormal worlds is that this story will bring you to the state of ‘I Believe!’ from the start.
In “Ghost of a Chance”, we meet Karma, (a spirit cleaner of sorts) and her not so nice husband, real estate agent Spider. I honestly don't feel bad to tell you that he ends up murdered. Karma has just a short span of time to figure out who did it. Tall and handsome Adam, (the homeowner of the house where Spider was killed), is also on hand to add a sigh or two to the book.
Filled with the humor any Katie MacAlister readers find in all books, “Ghost of a Chance” was a book that I dived into and couldn’t put down until finished! I definitely encourage this book to be added to your reading list.
July 20, 2016
I love this book! Ghost of a Chance is Tim Burton meets Agatha Christie. Well at least for me. Lol, I don't want to post any spoilers, Ghost of a Chance is filled with Katie MacAlister's signature humor and red-hot couples and I am looking forward to reading more about Karma and Adam. If you love haunted houses,poltergeists, snarky teenagers, and meddling parents well then, this is the book for you.
December 29, 2020
2 stars - Not up to the Katie MacAlister's usual par in terms of plot, character development and humour. It also relies heavily on the world building of previous series with an expectation the reader would have read them and therefore understand the references to Guardians, Abbadon, Demon Lords, etc.
Definitely not a good entry into Katie MacAlister's work, this one felt phoned in and aside from a few mystical quirks and the aforementioned referencing to the wider MacAlister magical universe of the Dragon Septs series was mostly a badly plotted and revealed cosy murder whodunnit with a numerous red herrings and a fairly lacklustre reveal of the true murderer.
Check out the first book in the Dragon Septs series You Slay Me for a real laugh and MacAlister at her best both in terms of world building, plot, character development and humour.
Definitely not a good entry into Katie MacAlister's work, this one felt phoned in and aside from a few mystical quirks and the aforementioned referencing to the wider MacAlister magical universe of the Dragon Septs series was mostly a badly plotted and revealed cosy murder whodunnit with a numerous red herrings and a fairly lacklustre reveal of the true murderer.
Check out the first book in the Dragon Septs series You Slay Me for a real laugh and MacAlister at her best both in terms of world building, plot, character development and humour.
June 10, 2019
This really was fun to read, so although I had a few problems with it, the lively narration and dialogue lift my rating to four stars rounded up. The best thing for me, besides the quickly paced writing, was the invention of a brand-new (well, to me) paranormal species, but as I said, with a couple little problems.
One is the name: Katie MacAlister writing as Kate Marsh (that's on the title page) chose to call them poltergeists but they're fully corporeal and pass for human; they even get driver's licenses with no trouble, so there. Perhaps feeling the difference from other people's poltergeists, her first-person narrator Karma Marx usually says "polter" for short. Perhaps inspired by an editor, Karma is made to acknowledge in passing that the word is German for "noisy ghost" but it's a misnomer. Here it is, anyway.
The biggest visible difference from the rest of us is that polters are born with four arms, and during adulthood first one arm falls off and years later another, so that (1) the surly teenage polter in the story has all four and hides them under capes etc., (2) Karma's daddy has only three, and (3) Adam, the senior polter in the group, now has only two arms just like a human. Karma herself has a polter father and a human mother, so she's always had just two arms (I think) and inherited rather minimal polter traits otherwise. For example, the neatest thing about polters is that they can speak to each other in Poltern, a language made up entirely of clicks and knocks (produced it seems with knuckles and toes) that are "mistaken by mortals as spirit rapping"; Karma doesn't speak Poltern very well, but as it turns out she manages to use it advantageously.
Karma, you see, works for the Akashic League as a "cleaner" of haunted houses--she banishes unwelcome spirits to the Akashic plain, or more usually, takes pity on them and finds other homes for them including her own. Adam is a U.S. marshal in the mundane world and a member of the Akashic League Watch in the Otherworld. Adam claims Karma's despicable realtor husband Spider Marx tricked him out of his ancestral home, where our characters have gathered. So, as the publisher's blurb says, he uses his power to put a 12-hour seal on the place, and during that time Spider is murdered (in the basement) to produce a nice "locked-house mystery" in which suspicion falls in turn on everyone present: three and a half polters, two and a half humans, a gay ghost couple from Edwardian times, and a unicorn who's permanently shifted into a fragile, reclusive woman.
There are surprises and shifts all the way to the end, just as I had hoped, and the characters are quite distinctive. But I had several problems with this novel besides the annoying use of the word "poltergeist." (1) One of the most important characters just wasn't believable for me at any stage in the story. (2) The polters' other paranormal traits (rapid movement, ability to hide in shadows, ability to flicker off and on at will, ability to see in the dark, long lifespan, precipitation of little stones when under stress) are introduced here and there, some of them late in the story, so that we really don't know what we can expect from them in the course of the action. That clouded the picture quite a bit for me as I tried to follow the mystery. (3) The bright, very funny parts of the story coexist with some really disgustingly evil human behavior, not just the murdered Spider Marx though he was bad enough, giving the book as a whole an uncertain mix of tones.
With those reservations, I do recommend this book.
One is the name: Katie MacAlister writing as Kate Marsh (that's on the title page) chose to call them poltergeists but they're fully corporeal and pass for human; they even get driver's licenses with no trouble, so there. Perhaps feeling the difference from other people's poltergeists, her first-person narrator Karma Marx usually says "polter" for short. Perhaps inspired by an editor, Karma is made to acknowledge in passing that the word is German for "noisy ghost" but it's a misnomer. Here it is, anyway.
The biggest visible difference from the rest of us is that polters are born with four arms, and during adulthood first one arm falls off and years later another, so that (1) the surly teenage polter in the story has all four and hides them under capes etc., (2) Karma's daddy has only three, and (3) Adam, the senior polter in the group, now has only two arms just like a human. Karma herself has a polter father and a human mother, so she's always had just two arms (I think) and inherited rather minimal polter traits otherwise. For example, the neatest thing about polters is that they can speak to each other in Poltern, a language made up entirely of clicks and knocks (produced it seems with knuckles and toes) that are "mistaken by mortals as spirit rapping"; Karma doesn't speak Poltern very well, but as it turns out she manages to use it advantageously.
Karma, you see, works for the Akashic League as a "cleaner" of haunted houses--she banishes unwelcome spirits to the Akashic plain, or more usually, takes pity on them and finds other homes for them including her own. Adam is a U.S. marshal in the mundane world and a member of the Akashic League Watch in the Otherworld. Adam claims Karma's despicable realtor husband Spider Marx tricked him out of his ancestral home, where our characters have gathered. So, as the publisher's blurb says, he uses his power to put a 12-hour seal on the place, and during that time Spider is murdered (in the basement) to produce a nice "locked-house mystery" in which suspicion falls in turn on everyone present: three and a half polters, two and a half humans, a gay ghost couple from Edwardian times, and a unicorn who's permanently shifted into a fragile, reclusive woman.
There are surprises and shifts all the way to the end, just as I had hoped, and the characters are quite distinctive. But I had several problems with this novel besides the annoying use of the word "poltergeist." (1) One of the most important characters just wasn't believable for me at any stage in the story. (2) The polters' other paranormal traits (rapid movement, ability to hide in shadows, ability to flicker off and on at will, ability to see in the dark, long lifespan, precipitation of little stones when under stress) are introduced here and there, some of them late in the story, so that we really don't know what we can expect from them in the course of the action. That clouded the picture quite a bit for me as I tried to follow the mystery. (3) The bright, very funny parts of the story coexist with some really disgustingly evil human behavior, not just the murdered Spider Marx though he was bad enough, giving the book as a whole an uncertain mix of tones.
With those reservations, I do recommend this book.
March 5, 2017
Was disappointed in such poor development of a unique concept.
January 22, 2019
I did not like this. I think the theme was too serious for a light read. I have read other Katie Macalister books and enjoyed them, but this was not for me. Too bad because it had potential.
October 27, 2018
So, Karma is a half human house "cleaner" (she exorcises haunted homes) who agrees to "clean" one last home in exchange for a divorce. Spider (nice name huh?) won't contest it. There are imps, domovoi, poltergeists (or polter).
I admit to a little confusion at the start, with all the terms. Everything is gradually explained however. This was a nice mystery and I didn't see the ending coming (although I should have- there were clues that I didn't pay attention to). I enjoyed the characters and the interactions. They were snarky and fun. Pixie AKA Desdemona AKA Obsidian Angel AKA Morbent Vixen (and it continues) was an interesting character and I was glad there were answers in regards to her background. Spider (an asshole, and a plain rotten human being) got what he deserved and another character does too!
I did still have a few questions about the Akashic league and wergeld, but oh well. This was a fun read! This looks to be the only book, but could have worked as a series I think.
I admit to a little confusion at the start, with all the terms. Everything is gradually explained however. This was a nice mystery and I didn't see the ending coming (although I should have- there were clues that I didn't pay attention to). I enjoyed the characters and the interactions. They were snarky and fun. Pixie AKA Desdemona AKA Obsidian Angel AKA Morbent Vixen (and it continues) was an interesting character and I was glad there were answers in regards to her background. Spider (an asshole, and a plain rotten human being) got what he deserved and another character does too!
I did still have a few questions about the Akashic league and wergeld, but oh well. This was a fun read! This looks to be the only book, but could have worked as a series I think.
March 26, 2008
Ghost of a Chance by Kate Marsh (aka Katie MacAlister) turned out to be a nice little cozy mystery read. Full of action from beginning to end this book is anything but boring. I found it to closely resemble the Clue game from my childhood with all the "Who Could Have Done Its".
Karma Marx is young, pretty, otherworldly, and married to the biggest snake around. If you want to talk about bad luck or no luck then just ask Karma which one she might have. Karma is as Karma does, unpredictable to the max, she has the most lively life I've ever read about. Yes some of us don't have a life but Karma makes up for that with having the activity of probably 5 people. Better known as a ghostbuster, Karma is the death squad of the otherworld. Unfortunately for her she has a concience about killing and an infinity for collecting the unknown. It really is adorable.
There are many characters that make up this story and they are all very good. Some characters are adorable, huggable and you just want to use them for a teddy bear while others are leacherous snakes. It doesn't take long to find out which is which in this story.
I couldn't figure out who did it til the end which I really loved. Most stories give you such a strong hint in the beginning that you can't help but guess the right villian before you make it half way through the book.
I say "Kudo's" to Kate Marsh for a wonderful start to something wonderfully fresh and exciting for the paranormal world. This was a very energetic fast read that makes you want another as soon as you finish it. I do hope our author will continue on with this delightful storyline.
Karma Marx is young, pretty, otherworldly, and married to the biggest snake around. If you want to talk about bad luck or no luck then just ask Karma which one she might have. Karma is as Karma does, unpredictable to the max, she has the most lively life I've ever read about. Yes some of us don't have a life but Karma makes up for that with having the activity of probably 5 people. Better known as a ghostbuster, Karma is the death squad of the otherworld. Unfortunately for her she has a concience about killing and an infinity for collecting the unknown. It really is adorable.
There are many characters that make up this story and they are all very good. Some characters are adorable, huggable and you just want to use them for a teddy bear while others are leacherous snakes. It doesn't take long to find out which is which in this story.
I couldn't figure out who did it til the end which I really loved. Most stories give you such a strong hint in the beginning that you can't help but guess the right villian before you make it half way through the book.
I say "Kudo's" to Kate Marsh for a wonderful start to something wonderfully fresh and exciting for the paranormal world. This was a very energetic fast read that makes you want another as soon as you finish it. I do hope our author will continue on with this delightful storyline.
November 21, 2016
It has been a while since I'd read at all much less a book I actually enjoyed so this story was a nice surprise. I was a huge Katie MacAlister fan already and while this one isn't at the top of my list, it's still a great book. Karma is a "cleaner" who cleans spirits out of houses. She's married to Spider, a shady real estate agent who bought Adam's house by nefarious means. Adam is the other main character of this book and the "hero." What this review doesn't' tell you is the types of people that are in this story. Unicorns, guardians, imps, and lots of poltergeists, oh my! Luckily, the author is excellent at slipping in details needed about the various creatures without dragging it out and throwing in a little bit of humor to offset the somewhat serious storyline. At the end of the day, I liked this book and would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a good read that is low on the heat scale and high on the likable characters. I hope the author decided to write more in this series.
November 1, 2009
"Ghost a a Chance" by Kate Marsh was a fun and entertaining read involving a quirky spirit/entity cleaner, humans, a few of polters (poltergeists), some ghosts, a sprinkle of imps, and a unicorn all trapped in a spell-sealed house.
When Karma Marx finally gets her scummy husband to agree to a divorce, it's only with the agreement that she "clean" the house of his latest real estate venture of all its undead and Otherworld occupants. Easy enough, except the true owner of the house has sealed everyone in for twelve hours, and her soon-to-be ex-husband has been murdered.
This was a very fast read, and enjoyable mystery! Loved the storyline, the characters, and the plot in this first of the Karma Marx series. Cute, light with some dark points, "Ghost of a Chance" gave an interesting and funny twist on house exorcism and the spirit world in general.
When Karma Marx finally gets her scummy husband to agree to a divorce, it's only with the agreement that she "clean" the house of his latest real estate venture of all its undead and Otherworld occupants. Easy enough, except the true owner of the house has sealed everyone in for twelve hours, and her soon-to-be ex-husband has been murdered.
This was a very fast read, and enjoyable mystery! Loved the storyline, the characters, and the plot in this first of the Karma Marx series. Cute, light with some dark points, "Ghost of a Chance" gave an interesting and funny twist on house exorcism and the spirit world in general.
December 26, 2023
A nice, if somewhat shaky mystery with an intriguing setting. In this book Macalister (writing under the name Marsh) proves she doesn't need snarky characters and steamy romance to keep you reading. I really liked how she uses creatures she also uses in her Dark Ones series and expands on them in this story. I really liked Karma and Macalister's writing style holds up perfectly when stripped of the snark, which made it a lot more serious than her Dark Ones books, but I must say I enjoyed the more serious tone. The plot was a bit wobbly at times, but all in all I really enjoyed reading this book and I hope there will be more books in this series.
October 16, 2017
I was going to rate it 3 stars for 3.5. However, I really like the ending. This was really a 3.5 with a redeeming last few pages. For the most part, it was just a standard very light whodunnit? story. The mystery wasn't that complicated and the investigative muscles weren't really worked. I wasn't expecting any of that since it wasn't really meant to be in that genre. The premise was straightforward. The cast was simple. It was a simple story. It had little charms but it wasn't fully explored. I loved the characterization of her not banishing the supernatural. I loved that the imps come to know her as a sort of mother figure. I loved the beginning. However, it petered out slightly in the middle and it was just ho hum. I wasn't really interested once they got to the hero's house, which, unfortunately, is the bulk of the story. I love the ending though. It was a twist to the simple and straight affair. It felt real when the middle felt shallow. The story did feel a bit weird in that they were treating a rape of a fifteen year old lightly. I wasn't expecting the heroine to have been the culprit so the skating around the issue of the rape left a bad taste. It wasn't really a big deal since I wasn't expecting a paranormal comedy mystery to address such a heavy issue so I just shrugged it off and was in it wherever the story took me. This is why I'm glad the last few pages revealed the heroine did get her justice in the end. I liked that she hinted at it in that she couldn't take care of Pixie. She was hinting that she would get arrested and won't be fit to continue being her guardian. The league deemed her fine as the guardian but did add another wergeld to her existing one.
The one thing that bugged me is the poltergeist. Why were there extra limbs? I'm unfamiliar with this type of mythology. If the author is creating a new twist on that, I'm not quite sure why extra limbs and why poltergeists? I didn't see the connection.
The story revolves around Karma. She was a sort of ghost buster. She cleaned people's houses of supernatural being. She was going to clean the hero's house in exchange for divorce from her scumbag husband. However, the hero wasn't aware that his house was sold. His banker colluded with the husband and stole the house from under the hero's nose. Joining this ensemble is the hippie-ish guardian who didn't let on her knowledge and a wayward young poltergeist who was turned polter by a demon lord.
The story was them tracking down the murderer. The husband turned up dead and it wasn't clear who did it. An investigation was under way and secrets get revealed in turn.
The culprit was Karma. She found out that the cousin who committed suicide was raped by her husband and his friend. They had a predilection for young poltergeists and targetted the cousin. The cousin killed herself and Karma found out the story when her husband bragged about it. He was going to go after Pixie and Karma lost control of her powers again and killed her husband. She staged a scuffle between the husband and his friend.
People plead their innocence but they revealed they were guilty in other ways. The hippie was after the house. She invented many machines to get rid of ghosts. She was also a guardian. Pixie was turned into a poltergeist by a demon lord. She didn't know a lot of poltergeist culture and was clueless in things taught to poltergeist children. The banker was going to turn the house into a brothel with the poltergeist prostitutes.
The hero figured out that she was the culprit. She told him the entire story. She was tasked with watching over Pixie and had another wergeld added to her existing one. Her father was pushing the hero to Karma.
The one thing that bugged me is the poltergeist. Why were there extra limbs? I'm unfamiliar with this type of mythology. If the author is creating a new twist on that, I'm not quite sure why extra limbs and why poltergeists? I didn't see the connection.
The story revolves around Karma. She was a sort of ghost buster. She cleaned people's houses of supernatural being. She was going to clean the hero's house in exchange for divorce from her scumbag husband. However, the hero wasn't aware that his house was sold. His banker colluded with the husband and stole the house from under the hero's nose. Joining this ensemble is the hippie-ish guardian who didn't let on her knowledge and a wayward young poltergeist who was turned polter by a demon lord.
The story was them tracking down the murderer. The husband turned up dead and it wasn't clear who did it. An investigation was under way and secrets get revealed in turn.
The culprit was Karma. She found out that the cousin who committed suicide was raped by her husband and his friend. They had a predilection for young poltergeists and targetted the cousin. The cousin killed herself and Karma found out the story when her husband bragged about it. He was going to go after Pixie and Karma lost control of her powers again and killed her husband. She staged a scuffle between the husband and his friend.
People plead their innocence but they revealed they were guilty in other ways. The hippie was after the house. She invented many machines to get rid of ghosts. She was also a guardian. Pixie was turned into a poltergeist by a demon lord. She didn't know a lot of poltergeist culture and was clueless in things taught to poltergeist children. The banker was going to turn the house into a brothel with the poltergeist prostitutes.
The hero figured out that she was the culprit. She told him the entire story. She was tasked with watching over Pixie and had another wergeld added to her existing one. Her father was pushing the hero to Karma.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 16, 2019
Karma Marx is half-human, half-polter (poltergeist), and her specialty is exorcising homes of spirits. Rather than banish them, however, Karma takes them home with her where she has to hide them from her sleazy husband, Spider. All Karma wants from Spider is a divorce, and he promises to grant her one, if she'll do one final house cleansing for him.
In the meantime, Karma is assigned a moody foster teen to take in. She doesn't feel up to providing a home for Pixie, but the Akashic League (which polices the Otherworld), has her over a barrel. Pixie tags along when Karma goes to the home that Spider has purchased by less than savory means. The home isn't just inhabited by spirits; its rightful owner is also in residence. Soon, there is a veritable cast of characters there: Karma, her father, Pixie, Spider, Meredith (Spider's equally sleazy business partner), Meredith's wife Savannah, Adam (the owner of the house), and several spirits, including some that "belong" to Karma. When Spider is murdered and almost everyone had a motive, Adam seals the house for a period of 24 hours so he can suss out who committed the crime.
The tired trope of having a murder take place in a situation where the suspects are trapped together has been overdone. This at least had the added paranormal element to it. Characterizations were done well. The story was in Karma's first-person pov, and she comes through as a noble, relatable character. Spider was so loathsome that I wanted to kill him, myself, while Pixie's teenage angsting and flouncing were annoyingly believable. The plot moved along at a good pace, and it was nigh impossible to determine who had killed Spider, since virtually everyone had good reason to want him dead. The only certainty the reader had was that Karma didn't do it.
Here be bitching (and spoilers):
- Most. Annoying, Ending. Ever. And, major spoiler alert, Karma did kill Spider. WTF? It was in self-defense, and he deserved to die, but WTF? If we're in the main character's head the entire time, it makes zero sense that we wouldn't have known this all along. The story could have still been interesting, as we wonder if Karma will confess or get found out, but no. The entire time, right up until the very end, she's helping Adam search for clues, taking notes as he's interviewing the others, and trying to find a motive. In the end, the blame for Spider's murder gets pinned on Meredith. However, Adam seems to have figured out that Karma really did it. He accepts her version of events, and they let Meredith get hauled away. Now, Meredith was responsible for an off-screen death, and he was a piece of shit, so we don't feel badly he took the rap, but I'm still WTF'ing here.
- There was such a big deal of the reason that Karma was bound to the Akashic League that it seemed it would play a more important part of the story...but it didn't.
- There was also a big deal made of the fact that Pixie wasn't born a polter; she was made into one. No real explanation of how this is possible was made, except for a short 'oh, this happened'. Again, it seemed it would have more bearing on the story than it did.
- Not enough explanation of Savannah's true self. She's non-human, herself, yet she created a device that can destroy spirits? WTF?
- I was dismayed that Sergei didn't return after being victimized by the device.
- I wanted to see more of the imps.
I'd have given this a solid four stars, but that ending just ruined it for me.
In the meantime, Karma is assigned a moody foster teen to take in. She doesn't feel up to providing a home for Pixie, but the Akashic League (which polices the Otherworld), has her over a barrel. Pixie tags along when Karma goes to the home that Spider has purchased by less than savory means. The home isn't just inhabited by spirits; its rightful owner is also in residence. Soon, there is a veritable cast of characters there: Karma, her father, Pixie, Spider, Meredith (Spider's equally sleazy business partner), Meredith's wife Savannah, Adam (the owner of the house), and several spirits, including some that "belong" to Karma. When Spider is murdered and almost everyone had a motive, Adam seals the house for a period of 24 hours so he can suss out who committed the crime.
The tired trope of having a murder take place in a situation where the suspects are trapped together has been overdone. This at least had the added paranormal element to it. Characterizations were done well. The story was in Karma's first-person pov, and she comes through as a noble, relatable character. Spider was so loathsome that I wanted to kill him, myself, while Pixie's teenage angsting and flouncing were annoyingly believable. The plot moved along at a good pace, and it was nigh impossible to determine who had killed Spider, since virtually everyone had good reason to want him dead. The only certainty the reader had was that Karma didn't do it.
Here be bitching (and spoilers):
- Most. Annoying, Ending. Ever. And, major spoiler alert, Karma did kill Spider. WTF? It was in self-defense, and he deserved to die, but WTF? If we're in the main character's head the entire time, it makes zero sense that we wouldn't have known this all along. The story could have still been interesting, as we wonder if Karma will confess or get found out, but no. The entire time, right up until the very end, she's helping Adam search for clues, taking notes as he's interviewing the others, and trying to find a motive. In the end, the blame for Spider's murder gets pinned on Meredith. However, Adam seems to have figured out that Karma really did it. He accepts her version of events, and they let Meredith get hauled away. Now, Meredith was responsible for an off-screen death, and he was a piece of shit, so we don't feel badly he took the rap, but I'm still WTF'ing here.
- There was such a big deal of the reason that Karma was bound to the Akashic League that it seemed it would play a more important part of the story...but it didn't.
- There was also a big deal made of the fact that Pixie wasn't born a polter; she was made into one. No real explanation of how this is possible was made, except for a short 'oh, this happened'. Again, it seemed it would have more bearing on the story than it did.
- Not enough explanation of Savannah's true self. She's non-human, herself, yet she created a device that can destroy spirits? WTF?
- I was dismayed that Sergei didn't return after being victimized by the device.
- I wanted to see more of the imps.
I'd have given this a solid four stars, but that ending just ruined it for me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 4, 2024
Not a bad read. Picked it up cheap at a book sale, randomly picked it up in the morning, read two chapters, and then was invested enough and enjoyed it enough to have it done the next day.
First MacAlister book I've read, so I don't have much to compare it to, but I find it does what it says on the back of the book: gives you a locked-house mystery. It's not heavy on the romance, being virtually non-existent aside from a few comments made here and there. Some of the points on the mystery are...I don't want to say blatant, but very easily picked up on but not enough to detract from the read. It becomes less of a 'whodunnit' and more of a 'howdunnit' as the story progresses and I found myself enjoying that.
I have two detractions. One, that it does feel like it drops readers right into Otherworld stuff without prior warning, which prompted the star drop. I found myself looking to see if I'd missed a book in the series (nope, it's book 1) or if there were other connections as far as the characters go. It does an good job of giving readers either context clues or in-story explanations to help them not be lost, but I did find that a minor annoyance. The other is that Spider (the eventually dead guy) is....*loathsome* in both word and action and the narration doesn't pull back from that, which I can see being upsetting for some readers (and his business partner isn't much better). He is perverted, racist, sexist, misogynistic, and abusive. You're glad he's dead, but it's the getting there that's rough. Definitely needs to come with some trigger warnings.
Overall, a good read for mystery fans, especially those who like a good supernatural twist to their crime dramas. The supporting cast are darling and I'm looking forward to digging up the second book as soon as I'm able.
Post-read spoilerish thoughts:
First MacAlister book I've read, so I don't have much to compare it to, but I find it does what it says on the back of the book: gives you a locked-house mystery. It's not heavy on the romance, being virtually non-existent aside from a few comments made here and there. Some of the points on the mystery are...I don't want to say blatant, but very easily picked up on but not enough to detract from the read. It becomes less of a 'whodunnit' and more of a 'howdunnit' as the story progresses and I found myself enjoying that.
I have two detractions. One, that it does feel like it drops readers right into Otherworld stuff without prior warning, which prompted the star drop. I found myself looking to see if I'd missed a book in the series (nope, it's book 1) or if there were other connections as far as the characters go. It does an good job of giving readers either context clues or in-story explanations to help them not be lost, but I did find that a minor annoyance. The other is that Spider (the eventually dead guy) is....*loathsome* in both word and action and the narration doesn't pull back from that, which I can see being upsetting for some readers (and his business partner isn't much better). He is perverted, racist, sexist, misogynistic, and abusive. You're glad he's dead, but it's the getting there that's rough. Definitely needs to come with some trigger warnings.
Overall, a good read for mystery fans, especially those who like a good supernatural twist to their crime dramas. The supporting cast are darling and I'm looking forward to digging up the second book as soon as I'm able.
Post-read spoilerish thoughts:
October 29, 2020
Karma gets a phone call from someone wanting house cleaning, and has to explain that her kind of cleaning is geared more towards supernatural removal than windows and bathrooms. This different plot twist opens the story and allows the reader to get a clear idea of what Karma does without flashbacks and clumsy explanations.
From there, we segue into cleaning a house on behalf of her philandering husband in exchange for a divorce, and introduction to various other types of spirits including unicorns. For instance, polters, or poltergeists, are not the same as the crazy spirits from the movie, but still somewhat zany and irresponsible. Multiple different beings surround us as we move into the story, including some rather specialized deities. All pretty much go along with Karma as she starts to clean the house for her husband.
But the cleaning gets derailed due to a murder, and the group is sealed inside together while the clues are gathered to see who killed the bad guy. Sadly the truth is revealed, and was a total surprise to me, so that is great. For that reason, I didn't like the ending, and in truth didn't like part of the overall story, as Karma is doing retribution for accidentally killing another child when they both were only 6 years old. Really stupid and shouts of revenge rather than justice, which turned me off the entire book even though otherwise it was fun and well done.
From there, we segue into cleaning a house on behalf of her philandering husband in exchange for a divorce, and introduction to various other types of spirits including unicorns. For instance, polters, or poltergeists, are not the same as the crazy spirits from the movie, but still somewhat zany and irresponsible. Multiple different beings surround us as we move into the story, including some rather specialized deities. All pretty much go along with Karma as she starts to clean the house for her husband.
But the cleaning gets derailed due to a murder, and the group is sealed inside together while the clues are gathered to see who killed the bad guy. Sadly the truth is revealed, and was a total surprise to me, so that is great. For that reason, I didn't like the ending, and in truth didn't like part of the overall story, as Karma is doing retribution for accidentally killing another child when they both were only 6 years old. Really stupid and shouts of revenge rather than justice, which turned me off the entire book even though otherwise it was fun and well done.
May 15, 2021
I did like this book a lot but it left me somewhat dissatisfied. Since I have read the other books in her series I already know about the world in which this book is based on, and for a solo book published under another name, this book didn't seem like a stand alone at all. You should know about the world mentioned in the book as it does give weight to a 'reveal' in the book and that would have been a "So what?" moment for me if I didn't know. I enjoyed the book, however as a "Stand alone" book under a different pen name it needs to be read with the rest of the Author's books and thus I could not give it a full 5 stars.
August 24, 2024
The story follows Karma Marx, who exorcises haunted houses for a living. In order to get her sleazy realtor husband, Spider, to grant her a divorce, she agrees to clean one last house for him. The house's previous owner, Adam, isn't happy about this, and seals the house with him, Spider, Karma, and several others (both living and dead) inside. When Spider is murdered, all evidence points to Karma. She has until the house unseals itself to prove herself innocent. This book was funny and fast-paced and well worth the read.
You can never go wrong with a Katie MacAlister book.
You can never go wrong with a Katie MacAlister book.
July 15, 2017
What a fun read! Trying to guess who the killer is and every time a secret is revealed I change my mind. In the end I finally stuck with one and I was wrong! I was kind of surprised at everyone's reaction in the book as to the real killer, like it was no surprise at all and no big deal. I think it would have read better if it was a total shock to everyone, but still a fun little read :)
June 25, 2019
Waste of money!
I am a huge fan of Katie but this book was terrible. Her Dragon series started well but gradually became not funny with a stupid storyline. I could see a thread of a good idea but the heroine was lame, the villains one dimensional, and the charm of her earlier books is invisible. Last purchase I'll be making of her creations.
I am a huge fan of Katie but this book was terrible. Her Dragon series started well but gradually became not funny with a stupid storyline. I could see a thread of a good idea but the heroine was lame, the villains one dimensional, and the charm of her earlier books is invisible. Last purchase I'll be making of her creations.
March 17, 2025
I love the “who done it” even with less romance
Ok so first of all… I love all of Katie MacAlister’s books so I’m a smidge biased. But I really enjoyed the paranormal game of clue! It was full of twists and turns with tiny breadcrumb clues that all came together at the very end! Total page turner. It wasn’t super romantic but it set up the next book well.
Ok so first of all… I love all of Katie MacAlister’s books so I’m a smidge biased. But I really enjoyed the paranormal game of clue! It was full of twists and turns with tiny breadcrumb clues that all came together at the very end! Total page turner. It wasn’t super romantic but it set up the next book well.
August 10, 2017
Great!
This was a really good story. Katie McAlister is one of my favorites authers. This was funny with some very dark undertones. I was confused in a few places because I didn't understand what some words ment. The ending was not what I expected.
This was a really good story. Katie McAlister is one of my favorites authers. This was funny with some very dark undertones. I was confused in a few places because I didn't understand what some words ment. The ending was not what I expected.
August 19, 2017
Another good read
Katie MacAlister strikes again!. Karma, Adam, Pixie and Matthew are awesome characters. I dearly look forward to more of their adventures. If you enjoy great dialogue in a supernatural setting,this is the book for you. Enjoy!!
Katie MacAlister strikes again!. Karma, Adam, Pixie and Matthew are awesome characters. I dearly look forward to more of their adventures. If you enjoy great dialogue in a supernatural setting,this is the book for you. Enjoy!!
September 25, 2022
Meh. I know why I forgot most of this book now. It’s definitely not my favorite Katie MacAlister. She’s usually much funnier.
BUT this was written 12 years ago. Heading in to the sequel hoping for better things but who knows.
BUT this was written 12 years ago. Heading in to the sequel hoping for better things but who knows.
November 7, 2022
Entertaining
Like many of MacAlister’s other series, this one is a fun, chaotic, hilarious and unpredictable romp through the Earth with imps, poltergeists, and a rare peek at a dragons.
Like many of MacAlister’s other series, this one is a fun, chaotic, hilarious and unpredictable romp through the Earth with imps, poltergeists, and a rare peek at a dragons.
July 12, 2024
3.75 Rating. I appreciated the alternative story-line other than the typical murder mystery (someone dies in the first ten minutes), plus the twist at the end. As well, you just can't do better than Tavia Gilbert as the narrator. She always delivers.
January 20, 2020
I like the author but in this story, there are 3 characters that are disturbing and evil. Did not like. The other characters were likeable. Trapped in a house to find a killer.
May 11, 2020
The story was building well and carried great suspense until the end. It was quick, didn’t make sense and was disappointing.
June 7, 2020
Really good. Different character species. Some parts reminded me of Clue.
January 30, 2022
Finished it but only because I wanted to see how it ended. Feel tricked. Terrible ending.
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