Haunted

Hannah Smith #3

by Randy Wayne White

Hannah Smith returns in the stunning new adventure in the "New York Times"-bestselling series from the author of the Doc Ford novels.

The house is historic, some say haunted. It is also slated to be razed and replaced by condos, unless Hannah Smith can do something about it.

She's been hired by a wealthy Palm Beach widow to prove that the house's seller didn't disclose everything he knew about the place when he unloaded it, including its role in a bloody Civil War skirmish (in which two of Hannah's own distant relations had had a part), and the suicides--or were they murders?--of two previous owners.

Hannah sees it as a win-win opportunity: She can stop the condo project while tracking her family history. She doesn't believe in ghosts, anyway. But some things are more dangerous than ghosts. Among them, as she will learn, perhaps fatally, is human obsession.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Suspense, Thriller, Audiobook, Crime, Mystery Thriller

333 pages, Hardcover

First published August 19, 2014

About the author

aka Carl Ramm, Randy Striker

Randy Wayne White (born 1950) is an American writer of crime fiction and non-fiction adventure tales. He has written best-selling novels and has received awards for his fiction and a television documentary. He is best known for his series of crime novels featuring the retired NSA agent Doc Ford, a marine biologist living on the Gulf Coast of southern Florida. White has contributed material on a variety of topics to numerous magazines and has lectured across the United States. A resident of Southwest Florida since 1972, he currently lives on Pine Island, Florida, where he is active in South Florida civic affairs and with the restaurant Doc Ford's Sanibel Rum Bar & Grill on nearby Sanibel Island.

Series:
* Doc Ford Mystery

Reviews

[Doreen Fritz · Rating 1 out of 5]

Definitely not one of White's best efforts. I just never cared about the characters, and most of them were glossed-over outlines of characters anyway. I felt like White had an outline of a story prepared, but never went back and fleshed it out -- he just typed up the outline, added some flash and "thrill," and sent it in. Since I read it at Halloween time, the allusion to a ghost, the sleeping-in-a-haunted-house, and the creepiness factors of the scorpions and chimps-gone-wild were intriguing, but the story itself just didn't hold together. Hannah's (main character, center pin for White's spinoff-series of his Doc Ford mysteries, i.e. same location, different main character) friend Birdy, who got her involved in this haunted house thing in the first place, just serves the purpose of introducing the situation. But we never really understand whether Hannah and Birdy have been friends for a long time, whether they hang out regularly - and she disappears from the story midway, unexplained. A disappointing toss-off effort.

[Barbara Mitchell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some Randy Wayne White fans haven't been impressed by his Hannah Smith series but personally I love it. Hannah comes from a historic Florida family. She's a fishing guide and a private investigator too, having inherited her uncle's boat and business after he taught her everything he knew. Hannah is at ease out of doors but she's also feminine and even a sometime lover of White's Doc Ford character.

As usual in a Randy Wayne White novel there are funny and strange characters but also some very real danger. Think venomous snakes and murderous chimps, alligators and vicious humans. You may just cancel that planned trip to Florida.

Hannah's friend Birdie, a deputy sheriff, introduces her to Birdie's wealthy aunt who hires Hannah to investigate a supposedly haunted house that sits on land the aunt has invested in. When Hannah and Birdie try to spend the night there, they discover the place is full of scorpions and that someone is watching them. They meet a strange archeologist who is conducting a dig on the property. He introduces them to people in a campground nearby and they turn out to be carnival people. There is also a rumor of attacks by chimp-like animals from a snake venom business at the edge of the campground.

I liked this different location and plot for the series. Also, Hannah is researching her family's history and one great-great-great-uncle seems to be involved in Civil War crimes in this area. This is my favorite book of the series so far; I look forward to the further adventures of Hannah Smith.

Highly recommended
Source: Amazon Vine

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hannah Smith is a fishing guide and part time investigator in the Sanibel Island area of Florida. She's invited to her friend, Birdy's wealthy aunt's home.

When Hannah meets Aunt Bunny, Hannah is asked to check out a home called the Cadence House, named for the first owner of the home who died there.

Aunt Bunny is locked into a real estate investment that includes this home. Due to the owner's death in the house and other mysterious happenings, the home is said to be haunted. Thus, the home and property it's on, are difficult for Bunny to sell.

Hannah and Birdy arrive at the house and soon a nest of spiders fall on Birdy and one of them stings her. Thereafter, a string of unexplainable events occur.

There is also interest in a Civil War battle that was fought in the area. Heather finds her uncle's diary. He had been active in the area of the Cadence House during the Civil War. Hannah reads from her uncle's diary and it's as if events of the Civil War that took place in Florida are being described again.

A colorful cast of characters are introduced, from an eighty-year-old archaeologist looking for his son and civil war relics, to a number of women who claim to be witches and to a con-man who has trained two large chimpanzees to do as he commands.

The story displays Hannah's fear after dealing with one of the chimpanzees named Oliver.

There are good descriptions of the Florida swamps, lots of action and good characters.
However, the story was longer than it needed to be and there were times that the suspense lagged.
I enjoy Randy Wayne White and await his next Florida adventure story.

[Ghost in the Stacks · Rating 1 out of 5]

Honestly I was bored. Didn’t like the story or the characters

[Dy · Rating 2 out of 5]

*** I received a digital ARC of this book as part of Penguin's First To Read program ***

I was unfamiliar with the author or the character when I found out I was getting an ARC of Haunted, so I tracked down the first two books in the Hannah Smith series from my library so I wouldn't be going in blind.

I needn't have. There wasn't much in this book that harkened back to the first two volumes and it did avoid most of the pitfalls of the first two books.

That said, Hannah's obsession with her own self-image still weighs heavily on the character and makes her feel particularly false to me as a female reader. If she was a real person I'd want to smack her and tell her to act like an adult and get over it already.

Otherwise, honestly? This thing was a muddled mess. There was no satisfactory resolution to any of the mysteries. There was technical resolution, but the book just stopped cold at the height of the action. I read a lot of mysteries, and while the tidy wrap up at the end is a trope of the genre, it's there for a reason. I want to know who the woman in the red blouse was, whether Birdy's aunt came away from her legal battle unscathed, and how Hannah managed to explain it to the authorities. Not having this resolution irked me -- I'm still left wondering if my ARC file was corrupt or missing a chapter at the end.

I enjoy an author who knows and loves the geography where their novel(s) are set, but there is a fine line between enough geography to give readers a feel for the environment, and so much that it overwhelms plot and character. Mr. White obviously loves his home state and it's history and heritage. That's great, and I'm glad he's found an outlet for sharing that in his nonfiction work, but that's where he should have left it. All three books in the series suffered from this issue, sadly.

All in all, a solid two stars, which GoodReads tells me means, "It was okay." It was. But it wasn't great and I don't anticipate reading any more of this author's work.

[wade · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too many plot lines in this one that don't tie together all that well. There is the possibility of a ghost haunting a house. There is the search for caches of hidden gold and silver. There is the unearthing of a little know Civil War battlefield. But the plot line that most sustains to the very end is two murderous chimpanzees that are on the loose killing innocent people and endangering the life of the heroine in Florida no less. I was never sure which of these plots was the most important till the very end of the book. Kind of muddled in my opinion.

[Melinda Brooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one is good but also so weird!!

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a step back into Florida history. As Hannah does an investigation job for a friend, she traces some of her own history, and the history of Florida during the Civil War, and puts herself in jeopardy. This book has it all, snakes, gators and monkees. I felt the book was a little muddled, with so many characters, not all well defined, and a bit too many dangers. Ultimately, Hannah did what she needed to, to survive. It was an interesting read, but not my favorite Randy Wayne White book.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I agree with my friend's review, a little slow getting started, but then it was off and running! Hannah is a friend and sometimes lover of Doc Ford, and you gotta love doc Ford. Good characters, believable and scary.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

With a little twicking it would have been a five star. It was a little slow but when it got going it was like a freight train coming at you. This was a Hannah Smith novel, Doc Ford's sometime love interest. Hannah is a Florida fishing guide but this time she is hired to investigate an old rundown mansion called the Candance House owned by a friend. She ends up finding more trouble than a girl should find in the swamps of Florida. Damn!

[Sandra Jackson - Alawine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked it much better than the second book in the series.

Hannah has been hired to stay at an old house that one of her relatives (Irene Jameson Cadence) used to live in. The first night they are there Birdy gets bit by a scorpion, they also meet some interesting characters; Theo Ivanhoff is pretending to be the archeologist assigned to the Battlefield but he is actually a treasure hunter who lives on a nearby snake farm; Carmelo is posing as a semi retarded tour guy to Belton Matas, who wants Hannah's help looking for his missing son. And they all want a look at the Diary of Ben Summerlin, Hannah has.

When Hannah returns to the house alone to take some pictures she catches some teenagers in the house smoking a hallucinogenic they leave behind a terrified teenage girl. Hannah manages to get her out of the house but the terrified girl runs into the woods near the snake farm. Where she is killed by Theo's pet ape Oliver, before Hannah can get there. Belton is also injured by the ape. Theo captures Hannah and Belton and tries to force Hannah to tell him where her Uncle's Diary is. A mysterious stranger has removed it from Hannah's SUV. With the mysterious strangers help Hannah and Belton escape but they are pursued by Theo, Carmelo, Oliver and his mate Savvy. Hannah and Belton have to outrun the man killing apes or they will be eaten alive. And Belton isn't the sweet old man he pretended to be. With danger all around Hannah needs all the help she can get to survive.

[Cynde · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great Hannah Smith book! This is the third book in his new series featuring Hannah Smith, a fishing guide/ private investigator in Sanibel area of Florida. This series is a spin-off of sorts to his Doc Ford series. Hannah is an interesting character; she comes built-in with a lot of interesting family history. Her uncle was a retired cop and owner of the Private Investigator business Hannah inherited and he was a fishing guide in his spare time. Uncle Jake taught her everything she needed to know about both. In this book, Hannah and her friend, Deputy Sherriff Bertie Tupplemeyer, are investigating claims of a haunted house on property owned by Bertie's aunt. There is also an archeologist assigned by the state of Florida to look into claims of a civil war cemetery on the land. What the girl’s find is a whole lot of curious trouble all around this property. Rumors of lost civil war payrolls, missing persons, a strange campground filled with ex-carnival people and a creepy snake venom seller make for lot of edge of your seat thrills.
This book kept me up late, I couldn’t put it down!!!

[Ed · Rating 3 out of 5]

#3 in the Hannah Smith series. Smith has had an affair with author White's other series character Doc Ford. In the current entry she makes several references to her biologist friend and ex-lover, she never refers to Ford by name although she does talk about Tomlinson, the biologist's friend. It's enough to make the reader regret that this isn't a Doc Ford novel. Hannah isn't bad, but she does suffer by comparison so White should either get them back together or cut the cord completely. Haunted has a plethora of characters and plot lines and has a hard time getting the story moving with all of the necessary introductions.

Hannah Smith - Things are a bit slow in the fishing-guide business, so Hannah Smith dons her PI hat and is hired by a wealthy Palm Beach widow to prove there were salient facts undisclosed when she bought a piece of property years earlier. The land includes a house that may have been the sight of two murders, and the surrounding land may hide a heretofore undiscovered Civil War battleground. As it happens, Hannah is in possession of a Civil War ancestor's journal that may have insights into the battlefield history of the area.

[GB reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been reading RWW for many years and have read all his fiction, non-fiction, and some of his novels under his pseudonym Randy Striker so I'm very familiar with his style of writing. Sometimes in his Doc Ford series the ending is not resolved until a few books down the road. I guess that's just his style. I think he likes to make the reader wonder at the end of some of his books. I will say it probably helps if you have read all of his Doc Ford novels so you are more familiar with the Hannah Smith character. Having said that, I preferred books #1 and #3 in the Hannah Smith series but I would prefer to read Doc Ford novels any day of the week. The end of Haunted definitely leaves you a little confused and really makes you think...don't want to commit a Spoiler faux pas so that's all I will say. I enjoyed the book and look forward to his next Hannah or Doc book!

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

I stayed up until 2:30 am last night to finish reading this book. And then after I turned out the light, I noticed that my pulse was elevated and I was too wound up to sleep.

As with many of Randy Wayne White's novels, the story introduces some interesting, little-known aspects of Florida history and ecosystems. This one did too. But it also offered some real thrills and chills, more than some of the other novels of his that I've read. I don't want to spoil the story, but I will say that the ending of the book offers a relentless series of threats to the heroine.

I like the Hannah Smith character, who is more principled and thoughtful than some of the female proponents in mysteries. Mr. White does a creditable job of describing her thoughts and relationships; male authors often make female characters too one-dimensional and too concerned with their bodies and appearance.

[Nona · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well this is probably my first and last episode with Randy Wayne WHITE'S, Hannah Smith series.

It was rubbish if it was supposed to be a thriller, rubbish if it was supposed to be a mystery, and would get 1/10 if it was a comedy.
It was confusingly baffling in its portrayal of houses, cars, rivers, country side, boats, trees, not to mention the weird people or animals who floated in and out; people who added no substance to the story. And talking animals are definitely a no-no. In fact I think WHITE wrote whatever came into his mind here and there, as it had no structure at all. If it was edited, I would hate to read the original!!
If he is interested in America's Civil War, he should research properly, and write a decent account of one isolated incident or area. Any more would muddle his brain.
Definitely would never recommend.

[ECKane · Rating 2 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook and the narrator had a lateral lisp. Hard to listen to what she said when you couldn't help but focus on how she said it.

This was an odd little story with all sorts of characters who were never fully developed or justified as parts of the story. Can't say that I ever came to like any of them - especially our heroine. The plot was a bit far fetched with its unexplained carny creatures. The ending didn't pull together the plot line.

I won't be reading anyone from this author.

[Peggy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to this audiobook. Hanna Smith is a Florida fishing guide/private eye. A wealthy woman hires her to research the history of a piece of land that the woman purchased. The thought is that there is Civil War history and other nefarious history that would allow the woman to claim that all had not been disclosed before the purchase. Hanna is interested for her own reasons - her great uncle's journal may contain information about the property's history, and Hanna's history. The story unfolds a little slowly, but I stuck with it and it became exciting and intriguing.

[Wanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Constant action is what carries this book.

Constant action is what carries this book.

I love Doc Ford stories and this was just as full of Florida tidbits as any White book. I always feel like I've learned something important about my state when I read a Randy Wayne White book.
I still prefer a Doc Ford mystery, but Hannah is a good way to fill time until a new Doc Ford is available.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hannah Smith, fishing guide and investigator-for-hire, finds herself in Florida's cattle country with her friend Birdy. Hired to look into a property with a supposed haunted house, she soon finds herself enmeshed in Civil war history, and pursued by a motley band that includes gypsy witches and killer chimps.

Although I am still not as taken with this series as much as his "Doc" Ford novels, there is a great, page-turning chase in the last 100 pages or so, that makes it worth the read.

[Georgiann Hennelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hannah has been hired by a wealthy widow to save a historic some say haunted house. The widow wants Hannah to prove the seller didn,t disclose everything about the house Hannah see's it as a win - win situation .She can track her family history while stopping the condo project. She doesn,t believe in ghosts. But some things are more dangerous than ghosts. which Hannah might just find out!

[Peter Fiske · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent as usual.

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Won't read anymore of Mr. White's books. Started out to be interesting and quickly deteriorated.

[Nolan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, but sometimes White causes the otherwise fascinating and attractive Hannah Smith to behave as if she were less intelligent than he seems to want you to believe she is.

About the time I think I’ll begin genealogical research and insist that next week, I’ll start it for sure, I read a book like this, and I wonder whether that kind of research can create more trouble than it fixes.

Hannah takes an investigatory assignment that leads her to an abandoned house. The woman who has invested in the place insists she did so without knowing as much as she ought to have regarding its less-than stellar background. A former occupant haunts the place. She allegedly snuffed out her life there nearly two centuries earlier.

But Hannah takes the case because she has family in the region, and it’s a perfect opportunity to do some family research while she and her cop friend, Birdy, scope out the old house.

I found this over the top and hard to buy into in places. You meet two evil half-chimp, half-human creatures, and I struggled to get positive about their existence in the book. There are some sexagenarian witches here who are evil to the core, and one of them directs her evil at Hannah Smith in the form of attempting to shoot her full of exotic poisons and introduce her unwillingly to super off-label hallucinogens.

Theres a lot of suspense here, and early in the book, there’s some fine humor as Birdy encounters a nest of scorpions, one of which apparently stings her. Combine the scorpions with some palmetto bugs, and Birdy won’t stay in the abandoned house. Fortunately for her, she finds a Florida cowboy who promises to guard her against such creatures in a pristine hotel room. Birdy is more than appropriately grateful as the sleepy cowboy attests the following morning.

Renée Raudman does a compelling job with the narration. She resorts to differing voices and accents, but none of them are so exaggerated that they sound cartoonish. She is a pleasure to listen to.

[Geraldine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first Hannah Smith book and although the beginning had some slow passages, the ending well made up for that.

I enjoyed the detective work. I’m definitely picking up another one. This one went really fast and gave me a good idea that this genre is very much a great escape.

And yes, I do agree that actually a few characters might seem to need clarification in terms of their motivations and backstories but it is realistic because no one is truly cut and dry easy to understand or know. This made it more believable as people who are complicated and flawed.

I also enjoyed the use of history throughout. I usually put down history novels because I simply can’t finish them in a timely manner. I found the sprinkling of historical bits really like interesting facts or trivia bits. Good enough and not overdone.

[Jake Talmage · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was torn between a 3 or a 4. But, of the Hannah Smith's, I think this was the best so far. I went with a 4 because I tore through this book-- at the beginning I could not put it down. But about 2/3 of the way through, the name should have been "hunted" not Haunted. At this point, some of the main characters dropped out. In fact, I found myself less drawn to the book and the story line was drawn way too far out (could have shortened it). This is the part that would have had a 3. In the end, because of this switch, I felt many of the story lines that interested me relating to FL history and nature were not closed. I really felt it needed one more chapter/epilogue to close out some of these issues. So, I will stick to a 4 because it was a quick, decent beach read that captured me for much of the book.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Hanna Smith character is interesting but I found that I had mixed feelings about her. Somehow she doesn't really come across as one of Randy Wayne White's characters. I can't seriously believe she is that flaky. The story line is good but there is a lot of unnecessary dialog with a lot of characters doing a lot of different things. However about a third of the way through the book that all becomes tempered with a lot of historical background. That is actually what earned the book 3 stars. This is the first book I have read featuring this character and I will have to think long and hard if I will try another.

[Peggy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have read several books by this author including one of the Hannah Smith books and liked them very much. This however is the exception. I’ve never seen such a mish mash of characters and plots. There is a haunted house, an archaeological dig, possible hidden gold bars from the Civil War, a deranged character, several con men, gypsies, lots of poisonous snakes, and a couple of flesh-eating chimpanzees. There were also retired freaks from a circus side show. Probably appropriate since the entire book was like a three ring circus. I can’t recommend this book.

[Leslie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing. I couldn't quite put my finger on what I didn't care for about this book though others have said things that resonate with me, particularly being unable to care about the main character. I renewed it twice (have had it out of the library for a total of 9 weeks and started it soon after I first got it out) and have come very close to DNFing it, but for some reason kept plugging along. Reading it was a chore, however. Maybe some of this author's other books are better, but I doubt I'll seek them out.

[Amy Barnett · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like to read books set in my home state, so that was good. However, this book had 10 chapters of "chase" descriptions and a sudden ending with no resolution. Many unanswered questions/loose ends. I was so disappointed.
The writing was fairly well done, though the setting jumped around - sometimes skipping over how the main characters got to where they were...hard to follow.
I really wanted to like this book. This is my first book by this author. I will try one more by this author . Hopefully the next one will be better.