Death By Haunting

Josiah Reynolds Mysteries #7

by Abigail Keam

Terrence Bailey awakes one night to find his mother-in-law standing in a corner of his bedroom.
The only problem is that his mother-in-law has been dead for seven years.
Several weeks later Terrence dies of a heart attack . . . or does he?

Josiah's nose starts twitching in a bad way when Terrence goes to the "Great Beyond" and she thinks his death has something to do with Jean Louis, an internationally-known portrait artist who has come to the Bluegrass to paint Lady Elsmere's portrait. 

She just doesn't like Jean Louis and does some digging on him.  What she finds will involve Detective Goetz and almost get her daughter, Asa, shot.

Again, Josiah blames the black earth of Kentucky for spitting back secrets that should have remained buried in the dark and bloody ground. 

Genres: Mystery, Cozy, Cozy Mystery, Fiction

212 pages, ebook

First published September 15, 2014

About the author

Hello Gentle Reader,

I am Abigail Keam, the award-winning author of the Josiah Reynolds Mystery Series and the 1930s Mona Moon Mystery Series.

I am a professional beekeeper and have won 16 awards for my honey. I live in a metal house overlooking the Kentucky River. I have the great fortune to live near some of the most beautiful horse farms in the Bluegrass.

In addition to the Josiah Reynolds Mysteries, I also write the Princess Maura Tales (Epic Fantasy) and the Last Chance Motel Series (Sweet Romance).

I love animals, Kentucky bourbon, and chocolate. Now if they could combine bourbon and chocolate together, I would be in heaven.

I come from a family of storytellers, so it was only natural I would put my stories to paper. I do so hope my tales give you some pleasure and enjoyment. I would certainly love to hear from you. Signing off now to get back to writing. Yours truly,
Miss Abigail

AWARDS
2010 Gold Medal Award from Readers’ Favorite for Death By A HoneyBee: A Josiah Reynolds Mystery

2011 Gold Medal Award from Readers' Favorite for Death By Drowning: A Josiah Reynolds Mystery

2011 USA BOOK NEWS-Best Books List of 2011 as a Finalist for Death By Drowning: A Josiah Reynolds Mystery

2011 USA BOOK NEWS-Best Books List of 2011 as a Finalist for Death By A HoneyBee: A Josiah Reynolds Mystery

2017 Finalist from Readers’ Favorite for Death By Design: A Josiah Reynolds Mystery

2019 Honorable Mention from Readers’ Favorite for Death By Stalking: A Josiah Reynolds Mystery

2019 Murder Under A Blue Moon: A 1930s Mona Moon Mystery voted top ten mystery reads by Kings River Life Magazine

2020 Finalist from Readers' Favorite for Murder Under A Blue Moon: A 1930s Mona Moon Mystery

2020 Imadjinn Award for Best Mystery for Death By Stalking

2022 Finalist in Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Finalist for Best Historical Category - Murder Under A Full Moon

2022 Finalist the Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award for Best Historical Category - Murder Under A New Moon

2022 Death By Chance: A Josiah Reynolds Mystery Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Finalist for Best Cozy Mystery

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another enjoyable read! Love the Nazi WWII art theft plot. This is a subject I have been interested in ever since watching George Clooney "The Monuments Men" and Helen Miran in "Woman in Gold." I'm also enjoying Josiah's new love interest.
Now I'll cut this review short because I can not wait to fix myself a mint julep and head on out to the patio to read Death by Derby!

[April Tanner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a fan!

Well I thought the series was over but happily found that it isn't! Good book and love Josiah but her daughter Asa deserves a series of her own! She rocks!

Love Josiah and her quirky bunch- Franklin, Lady Ellesmere, Detective Goetze, etc, and her mastiff Baby and his cats! But always a good story line with lots of action involved too and can't have Josiah without bunch of dead bodies!!

This time we have ghosts, art thefts, a tornado, love affair and more. Lady Ellesmere is at her finest and Josiah is nosy as usual. When a neighbor dies and it turns out that he was a guard at the famous robbery of the Gardiner Museum! Then we have a shady artist painting Lady Ellesmere's portrait and what you have is a rollicking good story!

[Valorie Hunter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Check out painting you buy!!!!

10 stars!!!!
Josiah and Lady Elsemere got caught in a big mess that has everyone puzzled.
Detective Goetz and Interpol where involved in this catastrophe of events in Lady Elsemere's mansion. She hired a somewhat famous painter to do her portrait, and that's when stuff hit the fan.
People dying, blackmail, theft of art work, hidden stolen masterpieces and violent attacks against town people.
You know Josiah gets an itchy nose, things start really happening.
You will love this book.
I didn't sleep much.

[Kay (Brigidsmomma) Compton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was excellent! It was kind of amazing to see Josiah in action, finding the stolen art and affecting the capture of the thief. It was kind of weird in that the deaths were by natural causes, but predicated by the visits of a ghost. As Josiah says, there may be no such things as ghosts, but that doesn't mean one can't see one occasionally...

[Patti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Josiah Reynolds rocks! As does June, Bess and the rest of the cast of characters! You can't help but fall in love with them. Them mysteries are fun to try and solve and the story lines that flow through the series are wonderful. Can't wait to start Derby! Thanks Abigail for such wonderful, bright characters!

[Carolyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Busy as a Bee, as usual

Another great Blue Grass mystery. It helps if you've read the previous books but doesn't keep from enjoying the charters if you haven't. Another mystery for Josiah and more deaths. Even a bit of romance.

[Jill James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like an onion, layer upon layer

Mystery, history, life lessons...these stories have it all. A handful of characters keep it simple yet there is so much to them to make it interesting. Always a new character to add spice but not confuse the story and background.

[Donna Ann Sutcliffe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love these books

These books are like a glass of red wine and a blanket. Curl up and enjoy. I love Josiah and all her friends. This was a clever plot and a few deaths that come to a great crescendo at the end. Great stuff.

[Caz · Rating 5 out of 5]

And they just get better and better

Wow love these books and the feisty ladies within such page turners and so hard to put down now trying to resist next book as need to sleep so inconvenient argh

[Jennie Bellatti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it.

Abigail, never fails. I have enjoyed each and every book in this series. Suspense, tiny bit of romance, mystery, Whodunit.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, at least Goetz is still in the story. Missed all the old characters but being that it is short, this was a good read for traveling on I80 for miles and miles.

[Liza · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this series. Josiah is a hoot and a half!

[Rebekah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoy all the books in this series. I find the main character funny and relatable.

[Lisa Norvell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome

I really enjoy this series. I grew up and live in the Bluegrass. The wonderful description of the area reminds me of just how interesting and beautiful it is.

[Kris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great Josiah Reynolds mystery! It is a must read!!!

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was there really a ghost? Josiah investigates and ends up discovering Nazi art thefts. She also finds out about Miss June's amorous activities. One of her greatest discoveries was about Goetz. What a delightful themed party idea to have everyone dress as a famous art work; love Asa as Madame X.

[reader 1085 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Art theft. ghosts, and murder. Another fun read with Josiah and her gang of quirky characters. A little too much Kentucky history but still an enjoyable, quick read. I was given a free copy by the author. My review is freely and honestly given

[Shelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick light read!

[Maureen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent story...not much to it....only reason I finished it were the references to KY, my state and the various references to places and things I kno in KY.

[Chris Blackton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this series but this particular book was rather predictable.

[Kat Lebo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Death by Haunting, A Josiah Reynolds mystery, Book 7
by Abigail Keam

Keam's writing in this series is rich in Kentucky flora, fauna, and history. She refers regularly to a quote from Dragging Canoe, a Cherokee chief, who purportedly warned Daniel Boone "We have given you a fine land, Brother, but you will find it under a cloud and a dark and bloody land." I admit to being a bit of a skeptic as to authenticity, so, of course, I had to look the quote up. The Cherokee chief did exist and was prominent in the time of Daniel Boone. I'd say the quote Keam uses may be a paraphrase of what Dragging Canoe said. Here is a page where I found what I take to be the original quote: http://smithdray.tripod.com/draggingc.... Whatever the original quote, Keam uses the depiction of Kentucky of being a fair, yet dark and bloody ground well in crafting her Josiah Reynolds stories.

In this series entry, Mavis and Terry Bailey have a ghost. Mavis Bailey's long deceased mother has been showing up in the corner of Mavis and Terry's bedroom. A few weeks after sighting her, Terrence Bailey meets his maker. Mavis is convinced her mother's ghost came to collect Terry, and fears she will come for her soon. When she talks to Lady Elsmere and Josiah about it, Josiah questions what might have been bothering him in the days leading up to his death -- other than his mother-in-law haunting him, of course. It seems that at a Valentine's part at Lady Elsmere's Big House, Terry, who was an art afficianado, was examining her collection of art works, and became upset and insisted he and Mavis go home. He then set upon an extensive internet search regarding old art thefts. One of the art works he had been examining at Lady Elsmere's party was a painting by John Henry Rouson, which was a gift to June from Jean Louis, the French painter who had come to the Big House to paint her portrait.

Josiah dislikes Jean Louis, finding him too fawning, too clever, and very much too suspicious for her tastes. She begins investigating his art connections, and has a clandestine look at the group of paintings he has brought with him, claiming he cannot bear to be even a day without them. Clues begin to fall into place, but something is missing. She finds a photo that seems to be of Jean Louis's ancestors. But these people aren't French, but German, and the man in the photo seems to be either an SS soldier and perhaps a member of the Kunstschutz, the infamous Nazi group that looted art treasures from across Europe during World War II. She needs more evidence! She cooks up an excuse to stay with Lady Elsmere for a few days. While June and Jean Louis are out for the evening, she does some undercover investigating of Jean Louis's paintings. Surprised when June and Jean Louis return early, she hurries back to her room. Later the same evening, returning to her room at the Big House, Josiah suffers a blow to the head significant enough that she has to be taken to the ER to be checked out. When she receives a frantic call from Mavis saying that someone has broken into her home, Josiah rushes over, only to find Mavis in her bedroom, gravely wounded. And, of course, who shows up but Mavis's mother's ghost. Mavis does not survive.

Josiah is positive Jean Lucas is the cause of both deaths. But how to prove it?

Did Terrence die of natural causes or was he poisoned? Who would want him dead? What is Jean Louis hiding? What does the art work he carries with him have to do with Terry's death?

This novel has it all -- a Midwest Tornado, a dandy mystery, hauntings, Asa antics, and new love interesta for both Lady Elsmere and Josiah.

[Cissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I continue to enjoy this series, though this is not the place to start.

Josiah, and her daughter and friends, are intriguing and worth spending time with; at some point the mysteries became almost irrelevant, though they do add tension.

The hauntings here are pretty inexplicable, and don't have much to do with the overall plot. That plot is a clever one, though! I am not sure that practically, from the criminal's point of view, that the behaviors made sense, but...

Only 2 more books to go! but I am taking a bit of a break from reading them back to back.

[Kathy DeShong · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Death By Haunting" by Abigail Keam was an easy relaxing mystery. I like the method that Ms Keam tells her stories, but this left me with some unanswered questions. I would have thought the coroner would have done a more extensive postmortem considering both the husband an wife died so closely together in their home and what became of the mention of cyanide. It was mentioned, but, not really followed up. I had decided who the culprit was, but was somewhat surprised by his crime.

[Pumpkinpuddy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story was too short. It was cute, but more like a short story than a whole book. It only took up 3/4 of the book and the whole book is only a little over 200 pages to begin with! The rest are previews of two other books. Might have been better to wait until the next story was ready and put them both into one book.

[Mgray · Rating 4 out of 5]

short loved the love story. very little bee time live that part.
spoiler
there was a tornado it is used to further the plot but never learn what the damages from the tornado were. the pov changes a few times. no character development you really need to read past books. even minor characters play a big role in this book.

[moxieBK · Rating 2 out of 5]

Glad I have read all the books I bought in this series. I never did find out Asa past, and Brannon’s girlfriend’s drama about taking over the Butterfly goes unresolved as well, which was a real disappointment.

Strong story, just don’t like the threads not getting wrapped up, and the continual snarkiness of Josiah.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like this series. There isn't any particular reason why I just like it. I must say that I am sure glad that O'nan was finished off in the last book. And really happy Josiah was dancing in this book. This installment seemed a bit calmer than the others. Very enjoyable. Looking forward to the next story.

[Mary Schildman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Number 7 is a winner

Really like the "Death by..." series. Don't think this one was as great as the previous six books...it had a slower pace, but I did read it in one reading session. And looking forward to number eight due sometime this year

[Charlyn]

Ghosts seem to be a part of the Bluegrass tradition, but can they kill someone? Terrence dies and when Josiah learns about his past as a museum guard during an art theft, she begins to put the pieces together to solve a mystery no one else even sees.