The Séance Garden

by Juliet Blackwell

After a cheesy ghost tour in one of California’s oldest towns stumbles upon an actual haunting, a skeptical historian of the occult becomes entangled in solving a murder case.

When Professor Harper Grae loses a bet with a friend, she finds herself on a local nighttime tour of “haunted” locations in Monterey. Harper’s a lifelong non-believer in the occult, though her academic career is devoted to the historical and societal significance of witchcraft, ghosts, and medicinal poisons of all sorts. But her skepticism immediately gets tested when the tour stumbles on the body of local artist Delilah Mason—who’s found murdered on the grounds of a nearly two-hundred-year-old mansion, once home to the infamous Perles family.

On the night Mason’s body is found, Harper catches sight of something in the house that she can’t shake, something that’s impossible to explain, at least not rationally. Soon the murder investigation reveals that this is the second time a woman has been found murdered beneath a sprawling cypress tree in the gardens of the Perles Mansion. And when Harper’s closest friend is questioned by the police, Harper fears the authorities will fail to uncover the real killer.

As Harper asks questions around town and digs deeper into the supernatural speculation and rumors surrounding the murders—two women killed in similar circumstances, separated by nearly two centuries —she sees evidence she can’t ignore that the notorious mansion truly is haunted by the ghost of Isabel Perles.

What will it cost Harper to rethink everything she’s always believed to admit that the veil between the living and the dead might actually be crossed?

Genres: Horror, Mystery, Paranormal, Gothic, Contemporary, Fiction, Paranormal Mystery

392 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 28, 2026

About the author

Juliet Blackwell (aka Julie Goodson-Lawes, aka Hailey Lind) started out life in Palo Alto, California, born of a Texan mother and a Yankee father. The family soon moved to what were, at the time, the sticks of Cupertino, an hour south of San Francisco. Walking to and from kindergarten every day she would indulge in her earliest larcenous activity: stealing walnuts and apricots from surrounding orchards.

By the time she graduated middle school, the orchards were disappearing and the valley at the southern tip of the San Francisco Bay had become the cradle of the silicon semi-conductor. A man named Steve Jobs was working in his garage in Cupertino, just down the street. Juliet's father advised his daughters to enter the lucrative and soon-to-flourish field of computers.

"Bah" said Juliet, as she went on to major in Latin American Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz (they had, by far, the best parties of any department). Rather than making scads of money in computers, she read, painted, learned Spanish and a little French and Vietnamese, lived in Spain and traveled through Europe, Mexico, and Central America. She had a very good time.

Juliet pursued graduate degrees in Anthropology and Social Work at the State University of New York at Albany, where she published several non-fiction articles on immigration as well as one book-length translation. Fascinated with other cultural systems, she studied the religions, folklore and medical beliefs of peoples around the world, especially in Latin America. Juliet taught the anthropology of health and health care at SUNY-Albany, and worked as an elementary school social worker in upstate New York. She also did field projects in Mexico and Cuba, studied in Spain, Italy, and France, worked on a BBC production in the Philippines, taught English as a second language in San Jose, and learned how to faux finish walls in Princeton, New Jersey. After having a son, moving back to California, and abandoning her half-written dissertation in cultural anthropology, Juliet started painting murals and portraits for a living. She has run her own mural/faux finish design studio in Oakland, across the bay from San Francisco, for more than a decade. She specializes in the aesthetic renovation of historic homes.

Finally, to round out her tour of lucrative careers, Juliet turned to writing. Under the pseudonym of Hailey Lind, Juliet penned the Art Lover's Mystery Series with her sister Carolyn, about an ex-art forger trying to go straight by working as a muralist and faux finisher in San Francisco. The first of these, Feint of Art, was nominated for an Agatha Award; Shooting Gallery and Brush with Death were both IMBA bestsellers, and Arsenic and Old Paint is now available from Perseverance Press.

Juliet's Witchcraft Mystery series, about a witch who finally finds a place to fit in when she opens a vintage clothes shop on Haight Street in San Francisco, allows Juliet to indulge yet another interest—the world of witchcraft and the supernatural. Ever since her favorite aunt taught her about reading cards and tea leaves, Juliet has been fascinated with seers, conjurers, and covens from many different cultures and historic traditions. As an anthropologist, the author studied and taught about systems of spirituality, magic, and medicine throughout the world, especially in Latin America. Halloween is by far her favorite holiday.

When not writing, painting, or haranguing her funny but cynical teenaged son, Juliet spends a lot of time restoring her happily haunted house and gardening with Oscar the cat, who ostensibly belongs to the neighbors but won't leave her alone. He started hanging around when Juliet started writing about witches...funny coincidence.

Reviews

[Saltygalreads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Harper Grae is a historian and folklorist specializing in the history of the occult at a college in Monterey, California. After losing a bet with her friend Tariq, she reluctantly goes on a ghostly walking tour of the town. One of the tour stops is the historic, haunted Perles Mansion, where the shocked tour group stumbles across the body of the homeowner and local artist, Delilah Mason. As the police investigate, Harper has chilling experiences she cannot explain. Will the police get to the truth of Delilah Mason’s murder? Is Harper endangered by supernatural forces or does someone associated with Delilah or the mansion have it in for her?

The title and description for this suspense novel hooked me and I had to read it. It checks so many boxes for me.

√ Haunted historic gothic mansion
√ Dark academia
√ Mad scientist basement
√ Poisonous plants
√ Ghostly mirrors and visitations
√ California coastline

The action moved at a steady pace and I can honestly say that I was never bored while reading this. The setting is perfect and I loved the descriptions of the mansion. Harper is a very likeable protagonist and there is an abundance of suspicious characters with potential motives for her to scrutinize. My only complaint would be that I wish the author had written a little more about the various suspects and their backstories because they were well conceived and interesting.

Overall a cracking read! Thank you to Berkeley.

[Janalyn, the blind reviewer · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Séance Garden by Juliette Blackwell is a story about a historian professor Harper Gray who recently moved to Monterey California and after losing a bet to her college friend Tariq is on a tour of local ghost. It isn’t long after the tour begins that they find a local artist buried in her own front yard. The tour guide Joel is devastated in Harper is in shock but everyone has to speak to the police. on the tour Joe talked about a witch hunt in Monterey and while looking for proof of that she inadvertently also starts looking in to the murdered woman’s life in the life of previous owners of the home. as the official investigation goes on Harper is hearing more and more that they believe Tyreak did it despite the fact she knows there is no way he could’ve done it but is there friendship has only become close since moving to Monterey Harper does leave room for doubt. As someone who doesn’t believe in ghost it seems every time she turns around something spooky is happening from seeing someone in the artists home when no one should be there to finding strange people dancing in her yard. someone doesn’t appreciate the historian digging up the past but this doesn’t stop Harper. It isn’t until someone else is murdered that she starts to believe her own life may be in danger.
OK let me just say this was an awesome mystery but I was not at all happy with the suspect I mean OK I get it but I felt as if I barely knew anything about them they were mentioned previously in the book once or twice and then damn their the perpetrator… I guess. I still give this book four stars for such an interesting premise storyline in a great execution of the story but wish someone else would’ve been the perpetrator. I know that is weird but I don’t like when the perpetrator turns out to be someone barely mentioned in the book. I also didn’t like that she was someone with such a high level of education and yet was still so certain there is no such thing as ghost. I am absolutely going to read the next book if this becomes a series because I really dig her writing style and found the book to be so readable even with the flaws I’ve mentioned which are all my opinion I still absolutely recommend this book. #NetGalley, #TheBlindReviewer, #MyHonestReview,

[Kamryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an easy-to-read, supernatural mystery that kept me turning the pages.

What worked for me:
- The murder was genuinely interesting/unique
- Very atmospheric, would be a great October read
- I liked the history professor protagonist
- It's an actual ghost story

What didn’t work for me:
- It felt pretty surface level/shallow. There's not much to think about now that I'm done
- The humor didn't quite land with me, but it might be your taste
- I love romance in my crime—I didn't buy into it this time
- Pretty cut-and-dry mystery, but I had little emotional investment before and after learning the truth

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher!

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⚠️ Content Warnings ⚠️
Spice level: Off page sex, some on-page talk
Graphic: Supernatural/paranormal content, murder, suicide
Minor: Animal death, incest (none on page)

[Micronova · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Séance Garden by Juliet Blackwell
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
3.5. stars (rounded up due to the rule of halves!!)


I was happily wandering through a delightfully creepy Bay Area mansion, muttering, “Yep, definitely don’t look behind the haunted mirror.” The author clearly did their homework because the history, folklore, and California coastal lore felt incredibly authentic and on point. As a West Coaster myself, I fully appreciated all the Bay Area details. West Coast really is the best coast, and this book absolutely leaned into its eerie coastal charm. Add in a witch tree, a supposedly haunted estate and an atmosphere dripping with gothic vibes and I was SOLD.

Harper might have one of the coolest jobs I’ve come across in fiction. She’s a historian and professor specializing in the history of witchcraft and belief in the supernatural. (How is that NOT cool?) Her investigation into what happened to Delilah kept me turning pages, especially once the mysterious ancient journal and that unsettling shrouded mirror entered the picture. Because obviously if a mirror is covered with a cloth in an old mansion, the correct response is to uncover it Immediately. 🤣🤣 Horror protagonists continue to make bold life choices on behalf of the rest of us.

The mystery was engaging and the creepy atmosphere stayed strong throughout, even if the scares were more spooky than outright terrifying. My only real complaint was the ending. It was undeniably sweet but it felt like it wandered in from an entirely different novel. After spending so much time wrapped in gothic gloom and supernatural unease, the ending felt a little too cozy, warm and feel goodish for the haunting journey that came before.

Overall, this was an enjoyable mix of history, folklore, ghostly mystery and California gothic. If you like haunted mansions, mysterious journals, witchy lore and a FMC who’s smarter than most horror protagonists, this is worth a visit. Just, maybe leave the creepy mirror covered. Some home décor choices exist for a reason.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for the digital advance reader copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

Expected publish date: July 28, 2026.

[Nicole Alycia · Rating 4 out of 5]

After discovering a woman buried alive beneath a “witch tree” in front of an old Monterey mansion on a cheesey ghost tour, Harper becomes embroiled in a murder mystery that may or may not involve the ghost of a previous owner.

This was a mix of a murder mystery and a bit of gothic, supernatural horror mixed in. I love a supernatural thriller so I was really excited about the ghosts and history of the old mansion! I do wish we’d gotten a little more of the haunted house and ghosts because it was a really great part of the story!
The murder mystery portion was great! I wasn’t really sure of the whodunnit until the story started unfolding at the end!

If you enjoy a supernatural mystery with some horror aspects mixed in then I highly recommend this one!

[Janereads10 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was with the character the entire time, caught between believing the supernatural or suspecting something more sinister was at play. The constant tension between superstition and whodunit was what kept me riveted. A gripping mix of mystery, paranormal, and history that I couldn't look away from. Xe Sands brought out the academic in the character as well as her constant doubts — a performance that matched the uncertainty of the story perfectly.

Thank you Penguin Random House Audio for my free audio copy for review. All opinions are my own.

[Sophia]

When a skeptic professor of the occult loses a bet and finds herself on a cheesy ghost tour, of course, they find a body buried under a witch tree in the yard of a house with a dark history where she sees something inexplicable. I’ve seen Juliet Blackwell’s books around and had every intention of trying one, but I found one set in old Monterey, California and oozing gothic atmosphere was just the book for me.

My full review will post at That's What I'm Talking About on 9.10.26

[Madd · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for this free eARC in exchange for an honest review.

1.5 stars. Fair warning for the review to come - I'm from Monterey.

The pros: Despite my issues with the setting (see the cons), I admit it was kind of fun to read about Monterey in a genre story. It made me want to write about it, and I hate writing about the real world. The most important thing for a good murder mystery is an interesting case, and I did find this interesting! There's more to it than meets the eye, and I think the mirroring of past events is very neat. The supernatural aspect took a while for me to come around to, as I somehow missed this was a paranormal mystery, but I found it interesting, and I liked the different ways we saw people interact with it. I also liked the ending, I thought everything was wrapped up well, and I especially liked the bit with Pearl.

The cons: Alright I have to start with the more personal-taste things. As I said at the top, I'm from Monterey (or at least, I consider myself such. I finished high school and started college there, learned to drive there, had my first job there, met my fiance there (who IS a lifelong native), my family still lives in the area, etc). Maybe it's because I've never lived in a place that anyone has cared to write about, or maybe because I've had a general aversion to books that take place in real cities in the real world, or maybe it's just dumb luck, but I've actually never read a book that takes place in a town I've lived in (besides some Steinbeck, but I'll talk more on that in a second). In fact, I've long believed people's reactions to reading about their hometown were exaggerated, or people being too sensitive - surely, it's not that big a deal. And overall, I do still stand by that - but boy oh boy if I did not get annoyed reading about Monterey here. And it's not like it's inaccurate! The county was very familiar aside from the few fictional places (the Perles mansion, of course, but also Monterey College, which I assume is a blend of CSUMB and MPC). It's in the details. The author seems to have visited Monterey somewhat frequently but not lived there, I'm not expecting her to know about Candy Cane Lane being such a major place for trick-or-treaters that families from all over the county go there, but I am expecting things like calling Monterey Bay Aquarium by the correct name (literally no one calls it Monterey Aquarium???) or Spanish Beach Bay???? (it's Spanish Bay). Maybe I'm being pedantic, maybe I'm falling into the exact trap everyone else who reads about their hometown is, that's why I'm putting this first. There are two specific instances of Monterey-based irritation that I have bigger and more valid complaints about.

The first is right in chapter one. Harper's on the ghost tour, it starts at the Customs House at Old Fisherman's Wharf. The next location is the Monterey Hotel, off Alvarado St. This is fine, these are both common locations on ghost tours - but they're about a ten minute walk apart, and we cross that distance in maybe a paragraph. It's treated as if it's across the street. At base, that's not a horrible issue, but there was truly just no indication of time passing, no telling what's happening during that ten minute walk with no ghost stuff, not even just a "we walked for a while" or something. This is indicative of a bigger issue throughout the book, which is pacing, especially in the small-scale. Things happen with little transition, the passage of time is often shaky at best, and honestly it gets worse when real-life locations get involved.

The other Monterey-based issue is the infodumping. People love to talk about this town and the random lore they know. Maybe it's more fun for people who don't know the town, but I already know about the history of Monterey Jack cheese, and Fort Ord, and the aquarium's conservation efforts, and so on. I actually don't have an issue with this conceptually, but good god was the execution annoying! Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE has something to loredump about. People do not talk like this. Not even to someone new in town. Maybe if they asked, then people would probably have specific things they know, or things they learned in school, or whatever, but most of the time Harper doesn't even prompt people. They just start infodumping to her, and to us the readers. There is a better way to do this. For example - Steinbeck! Monterey is Steinbeck Country, he and his work get mentioned several times. Part of it is the century-or-so difference between when he was writing and now, but when Steinbeck starts expositing about Monterey County, he's not just namedropping places or giving fun facts. He's painting a picture of the area, giving you an idea of what it's like there not just from facts and locations, but from feelings and atmosphere. There's a purpose to it. Here, it's like the author doesn't know how to put the county's identity into the story, and thus feels the need to have the crutch of Tourist Fun Facts and namedrops and so on. Not to mention that the same goddamn facts/rumors about the fictional lore of the Perles family gets mentioned by every goddamn character.

Now, I got very annoyed at all of the above and considered DNFing - when I tell you nothing related to the mystery happens between the first like three chapters and the 40% mark, that is. only a very slight exaggeration - but I pressed on, because I was interested in the murder! And honestly, while there are aspects of it I liked as I mentioned before, I don't think it was worth all of the headache that was the rest of this book. There were too many aspects to the case and we did not spend enough time on any of them. Truly the least suspicious suspect is the one the police decide to pin it on initially and we never ever hear why, we have really no indication of a suspect at all until more than halfway through, we never really go searching for clues or doing any detective work about the actual case, and just. Harper is a very bad lead for a murder mystery. I understand the book was trying to be realistic, have her focus on other things while the police investigate the murder, but that's just not how the genre works! And it makes it feel like nothing is happening. Also, I did not like the romance subplot. As a matter of fact, I only liked one character at all, and that was Ellen. And even she got on my nerves sometimes.

Also, sorry, last thing that's vaguely Monterey-related but not really, I hate how the college works. Even the name. Maybe I'm crazy, but colleges in California are always either [county] State University, or Cal Poly [county], or University of California [county], never just. [county] State. Sometimes for community colleges, but community colleges don't have student housing. It just irked me, and furthermore, you're telling me a college big enough to have student housing doesn't have a history teacher? I have to assume they mean that there's no full-time faculty and it's all adjuncts, because I think that might even be just impossible, even if it's a science-oriented school, because at least one history class is required to get a degree in California. I also didn't get the rivalry between Harper and Naomi - hell, Harper's got some weird ideas about female friendship in general that I didn't like.

Overall, augh.

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Séance Garden is the first book I've ready by Juliet Blackwell. I would definitely read more of her work. This haunted house/mystery and thriller kept me on the edge of my seat for most of the story. Do you find that mirrors make you feel uncomfortable at times? Were you one of those kids (I'm probably showing my age here) who had friends who stared into the mirror saying "Bloody Mary" 3 times? I remember avoiding the bathroom when I was a Brownie because some of the girls would go in the bathroom and try it. Not me. No way. Did I believe in it? Not really...but why risk it?! You never really know what may happen, do you?

When Professor Harper Grae loses a bet with a friend, she finds herself on a local nighttime tour of “haunted” locations in Monterey. Harper’s a lifelong non-believer in the occult, though her academic career is devoted to the historical and societal significance of witchcraft, ghosts, and medicinal poisons of all sorts. But her skepticism immediately gets tested when the tour stumbles on the body of local artist Delilah Mason—who’s found murdered on the grounds of a nearly two-hundred-year-old mansion, once home to the infamous Perles family. On the night Mason’s body is found, Harper catches sight of something in the house that she can’t shake, something that’s impossible to explain, at least not rationally. Soon the murder investigation reveals that this is the second time a woman has been found murdered beneath a sprawling cypress tree in the gardens of the Perles Mansion. And when Harper’s closest friend is questioned by the police, Harper fears the authorities will fail to uncover the real killer. As Harper asks questions around town and digs deeper into the supernatural speculation and rumors surrounding the murders—two women killed in similar circumstances, separated by nearly two centuries —she sees evidence she can’t ignore that the notorious mansion truly is haunted by the ghost of Isabel Perles. What will it cost Harper to rethink everything she’s always believed to admit that the veil between the living and the dead might actually be crossed?

This description is a bit misleading. The tour members didn't come across a murdered Delilah Mason. They saw a hand coming up out of the ground, and they dug her out. She was still alive! That's actually way more creepy, isn't it? She did die shortly after; it was discovered later that she was stabbed before being buried. It was quite a start to the book! Harper Grae didn't want to be on the cheesy "ghost tour" to begin with, but she lost a bet with Tariq, her best friend. Harper was an interesting character. She was 40 years old, recently divorced and lost her last job when she did not get tenure. She is now a professor at a school in Monterey, California. Her academic work is devoted to the historical and societal significance of witchcraft, ghosts, and medicinal poisons. She doesn't believe in any of that stuff, mind you. But after seeing an unexplainable vision in the window of the Perles mansion where Delilah was found, she had to begin to question her beliefs. Between chapters, there were some journal entries from Soren Perles, who lived in the mansion with his sister Isabel almost 200 years before. They were quite disturbing. Not only was he digging up bodies to study (he was a doctor), but he was way closer to his sister than siblings should ever be. The relationship between Delilah and her brother seemed to be a reflection of Soren and Isabel's. (With the exception of digging up dead bodies, of course.) Harper is determined to find out what actually happened to Delilah. Every time she was in the Perles mansion, unexplainable things happened. She got her hands on a journal written by Soren, which Delilah had written in as well, making notes and writing recipes (microdosing of poisons to make cures for illnesses). Strange things began to happen when Harper was in her home at night: Why did the door open at night even though it was locked, and who was the woman outside dancing in the dark? When she heard some things that her friend Tariq had done in the past, she began to wonder a bit about him. Just who could she trust? Let's not give any of the surprises away; I don't want to ruin the book for you. The only thing I found wrong with the book is that the ending seemed a bit, well, old-timey ghost story, not the horror I was expecting. Yet it was well worth reading, as your apprehension will increase as the story goes on. I definitely recommend this story.

I received an ARC of this book courtesy of the publisher and NetGalley. I received no compensation for my review, and all thoughts and opinions expressed are entirely my own.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4 Stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for providing me with an early copy of The Séance Garden by Juliet Blackwell.

Harper Grae is a folklore historian of the occult, which immediately made her such an interesting main character to me because despite spending her academic career studying witchcraft, ghosts, folklore, poisons, and the historical significance of the supernatural, she does not actually believe in ghosts herself. She is a skeptic surrounded by the very subjects she has devoted her life to studying, and I really enjoyed that contrast.

After losing a bet with a friend, Harper ends up on a nighttime ghost tour in Monterey, California. What should have been a cheesy evening of local legends and supposedly haunted locations turns very real when the tour comes across the body of local artist Delilah Mason on the grounds of the old Perles Mansion. The mansion already carries its own dark history, but things become even more unsettling when Harper learns that another woman was found murdered beneath the same sprawling cypress tree nearly two hundred years earlier.

And then Harper sees something she cannot explain.

That was where this book really grabbed me.

I thought the pacing was perfect. This never felt painfully slow to me, but it also did not rush through the atmosphere or the mystery just to keep throwing twists at the reader. The story gave everything enough room to build. The present day murder investigation, the history surrounding the Perles family, the earlier death, and the possibility that Isabel Perles may still be haunting the mansion all slowly begin pressing against one another.

The gothic feeling was one of my favorite parts of the entire book. I love gothic stories, and even though this is also a contemporary mystery and thriller, there were moments when it absolutely gave me that dark, old, haunted atmosphere I crave. The descriptions of the mansion especially worked for me. The old house, the grounds, the cypress tree, and the history surrounding everything created this sense that the past was never completely gone.

I also really appreciated the amount of description throughout the book. Sometimes heavy description can slow a story down for me, but here I thought it helped build the atmosphere. I could picture the mansion and feel the uneasiness surrounding it. The setting was not just somewhere the characters happened to be. It felt connected to the mystery itself, and that made the story much more immersive for me.

Harper was also a great choice for this particular story because her skepticism gives the supernatural elements more weight. If she had entered the story already believing every ghost story and rumor, I do not think her experience would have been nearly as interesting. Instead, she keeps trying to find rational explanations for what she sees and feels, even as the evidence becomes harder to dismiss. Watching someone whose entire career revolves around the occult begin questioning the line between academic knowledge and actual belief was fascinating.

The mystery itself kept me invested. I liked the connection between two women killed under similar circumstances nearly two centuries apart, and I enjoyed watching Harper dig into the rumors, history, and supernatural speculation surrounding the mansion. Once someone close to her becomes caught up in the investigation, the stakes become much more personal, giving Harper a real reason to keep asking questions instead of leaving everything to the police.

My one real complaint is that I wanted more information and depth when it came to some of the characters. I was interested in them, but there were times when I wished I knew them better. A little more character development would have made certain relationships and moments hit harder emotionally for me. The atmosphere and mystery were strong, but I think deeper character work could have pushed this even higher.

Still, I got completely sucked into this story. I loved the pacing, the gothic atmosphere, the creepy mansion, the historical connections, and the constant question of whether something supernatural was truly happening. This was a really enjoyable thriller with mystery, history, and ghostly elements woven together in a way that kept me reading.

Would I recommend it?

Absolutely. Especially if you enjoy atmospheric mysteries, creepy old mansions, historical secrets, skeptical main characters forced to question what they believe, and stories where the past refuses to stay buried. The Séance Garden gave me the gothic feeling I love while still delivering a compelling modern mystery, and I had a great time reading it.

[Kristi Lamont · Rating 4 out of 5]

BOOK REPORT
Received a complimentary copy of The Séance Garden, by Juliet Blackwell, from Berkley Publishing Group | Berkley/NetGalley, for which I am appreciative, in exchange for a fair and honest review. Scroll past the BOOK REPORT section for a cut-and-paste of the DESCRIPTION of it from them if you want to read my thoughts on the book in the context of that summary.

⭐ 4 ⭐

I do love me a creepy mirror-based mystery/paranormal story that involves academia and the ocean (however ancillary), and Juliet Blackwell delivered with this one. As she did on descriptions of Carmel and Monterey, parts of California I actually _do_ like in books (unlike Los Angeles, which I really hate in real life and mostly don’t like in books). Her writing made me want to visit the area, for sure.

It does strike me as amusing, though, when anybody talks or writes about somewhere being the oldest town in any West Coast city. I guess that’s because I’ve lived in the Deep South (and Florida and Tennessee—yes, they’re that different that they need to be singled out) for my whole life. And because I can trace my ancestry through my maiden name back to about 900 AD. So, “old” means something different to me, I guess.

Anywhoodles, if the description of this book speaks to you as it did to me, you’ll probably enjoy The Séance Garden. I recommend reading it at one sitting, as I was fortunate enough to do yesterday afternoon. Also, I’m looking forward to reading more by Ms Blackwell.

A PS About Mirrors
I can totally get why people have been weirded out by mirrors, especially in darkening light, pretty much throughout the history of time. ESPECIALLY if they had been eating ergot-laced bread, if you know what I mean?

I asked My Beloved Husband if he thought mirrors could be creepy, and he said yes—and that he’d heard somewhere along the way that under the right circumstances you could see your ancestors in them. My reply was, “Well, of course you could, you look like them!”

While I have never seen anyone I don’t know in a mirror, at night or in the light of day, I often do see other people. Mother, Daddy, Mama Ruthie and Aunt Jo (my maternal grandmother and her sister), my cousin Becca, one of my cousin Josh’s granddaughters (Josh is Becca’s uncle) whose name I cannot for the life of me remember. When this happens, it’s quite startling, to be honest. Also, during some really dark times in my life, I saw who I call Mean Kristi in the mirror, and she was quite unkind in what she communicated to me. (For the record, I was not eating ergot-laced bread at the time. If, again, you know what I mean.)

So, yeah. Give me a good creepy mirror story any day of the week!

DESCRIPTION
After a cheesy ghost tour in one of California’s oldest towns stumbles upon an actual haunting, a skeptical historian of the occult becomes entangled in solving a murder case.

When Professor Harper Grae loses a bet with a friend, she finds herself on a local nighttime tour of “haunted” locations in Monterey. Harper’s a lifelong non-believer in the occult, though her academic career is devoted to the historical and societal significance of witchcraft, ghosts, and medicinal poisons of all sorts. But her skepticism immediately gets tested when the tour stumbles on the body of local artist Delilah Mason—who’s found murdered on the grounds of a nearly two-hundred-year-old mansion, once home to the infamous Perles family.

On the night Mason’s body is found, Harper catches sight of something in the house that she can’t shake, something that’s impossible to explain, at least not rationally. Soon the murder investigation reveals that this is the second time a woman has been found murdered beneath a sprawling cypress tree in the gardens of the Perles Mansion. And when Harper’s closest friend is questioned by the police, Harper fears the authorities will fail to uncover the real killer.

As Harper asks questions around town and digs deeper into the supernatural speculation and rumors surrounding the murders—two women killed in similar circumstances, separated by nearly two centuries —she sees evidence she can’t ignore that the notorious mansion truly is haunted by the ghost of Isabel Perles.

What will it cost Harper to rethink everything she’s always believed to admit that the veil between the living and the dead might actually be crossed?

[Cornerofmadness · Rating 4 out of 5]

This stand alone (or maybe not) mystery toes the line of also being a paranormal gothic horror. Professor Harper Grae has lost a bet to her graduate school friend, Tariq and they're going on a ghost tour that concludes at the infamous Perles Mansion now owned by the eccentric artist Delilah Mason and this begins the one problematic theme for me (more on that later). Naturally being a mystery, you know where this is going: the tour ends up stumbling over Delilah murdered in the garden.

Harper, fearing Tariq who turns out to have know Delilah will be blamed, starts helping with the investigation unofficially. It doesn't help that her PhD was in witchcraft/death rituals and folklore because there is a ritual element. She's also written papers on poison which da da daaaah, plays a role.

Other suspects include the contractor (Delilah's current lover), her ex-husband, Sigrid the witch who was helping her with herbal healing, Highbaugh the gallery owner who showcased her work, and her overprotective brother, Asher. And oh, right, the ghosts of the house. Into this mess are two of Harper's students, Blanca and Jenny, who also have a true crime podcast and have an interest in Delilah's death but also the contaminated grounds of the defunct army base Delilah's ex is trying to turn into exclusive housing.

Dovetailed into this is Soren and Isabella Perles' history which is something of a mirror to Delilah and Asher. I think it worked quite well. I liked the characters and the resolution made a lot of sense. Harper is forty at the beginning of the book and having to start all over after her partner left her and her not getting tenure at her last college so she's at a small college in Monterey Bay reconnecting with Tariq who does jellyfish research (cool).

The detective in this seemed a bit under developed but on the other hand, he's not ridiculously pig headed about blaming her or super solicitous of getting help like you see in some amateur sleuth mysteries. The paranormal aspects have a good gothic feel to it. Is it ghosts? (Harper isn't a believer) Is it psychology? Time will tell. Over all I really liked it so why not five stars? It's not much of a spoiler so I'll put it here.

Also content warning - murder (naturally), mentions of incest, mentions of child death

So what bugged me is how Harper's college handled the ghost tour. The author isn't an academic but her sister is (almost afraid to ask where given how academia is portrayed here). As for me I was a medical doctor and is now a professor (who does research herbal medicine) and I can honestly say I have never heard of a college threatening a professor's job because they went on a ghost tour. It would be one thing if it was just her 'nemesis' saying it because whatever but the dean isn't happy either. I have been on my college's tenure committee for over a decade and I can tell you never once have we cared that someone went on a ghost tour. I give ghost tours and I'm a tenured school of science professor. No one cares. Maybe there's an uptight university that might (I'm thinking religious ones but that's not this) And what bugged me most about it, is Harper fears this so why in the world would she ever agreed to go on a ghost tour? If you wanted to threaten her tenure, her being in the off-limits army base or being around crime scenes would be much more believable. And since nothing comes of it, it felt utterly unnecessary but that was my only big problem with the book

[Krystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

When first stumbling upon Juliet Blackwell's Secondhand Spirits a cozy mystery featuring fun characters, witches, and vintage clothing galore I found that her style was imaginative and entertaining. So, when I saw this gothic cover art and found out this would be a horror novel my curiosity was piqued. All the elements of a good mystery are accounted for with plenty of intrigue and red herrings.
☠️☠️☠️
Professor Harper Grae loses a bet with her friend Tariq and with much reluctance agrees to take a ghost tour of California's local "hauntings". The guide is certifiably cheesetastic going overboard at every opportunity. It seems like a night that will become a joke between affable Tariq and the skeptical Harper until they arrive at The Séance Garden to see Deliliah Mason has been buried alive under a huge cypress tree. Harper looks up and sees a silhouette in the window of the two-hundred-year-old Perles mansion, but the owner is the woman found buried and when police search the home they don't find anyone. Harper has made a career out of studying the occult and remains skeptical, but she knows what she saw and after digging into the home's past she discovers that Deliliah isn't the first woman to be buried under that tree in the garden at the Perles's mansion. Two women buried in a similar fashion two centuries apart. It's chilling and the town whispers about supernatural happenings as the police search for a very real killer.
🪞🪞🪞
There is quite a bit of interest regarding the history of the Perles family and diary entries take readers back in time. The story was an easy one to picture in my mind as I read with an atmosphere alive with uncertainty and dread. I like how Harper was written as a flawed individual who was searching for the truth giving her a grounded more realistic feel. I liked her more because she made mistakes, stumbled, and apologized willing to own her behavior. The mysteries both past and present were intriguing with this huge gothic mansion at the center. The haunted vibes of the house were top tier and as someone who's read plenty of horror it delivers with nuance. I appreciate that style because less is more when it comes to creating creepiness. Going overboard cues my eyeroll when it comes to scare tactics. Maybe it's because giving the reader's brain enough breathing room to fill in the blanks provides the bigger shudder. This is a good one if a little long. There's plenty going on and clues everywhere, but it is easy to get pulled into the side plots and the dash of romance.
🧙🏻‍♀️🧙🏻‍♀️🧙🏻‍♀️
Grab your flashlight, pull the shroud off the mirror, maybe take a can of mace and get ready to see what the ghosts of Monterey have to say. 👻👻

Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group for providing an ARC via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[Wren · Rating 5 out of 5]

After losing a bet to an old college friend, Professor Harper Grae finds herself on a cheesy nighttime tour visiting the haunted houses in Monterey. Something she finds completely annoying as a self proclaimed skeptic. Even if her field of study/research is the history of ghost tales, witchcraft, and poisons. Accompanied by said old college friend, Harper hopes to learn a little more about the city she just moved to.

What she doesn’t expect as they arrive at the ‘most haunted’ house on the tour is to find a person buried alive at the base of what is known as the ‘witch tree’.

As Harper starts to dig, at first to just understand the history and significance of the house and grounds, she starts to realize there is something more hidden within the walls and mirrors of Perles House.

I only just recently finished a horror novel so I wasn’t expecting to get into this one that much. However, I was hooked from page one. Not only do I think the pacing was well consistent and picked up when it needed to, keeping you engaged with the story. (A coworker had started talking to me while I was in the middle and I unintentionally ignored them cause I was so entranced.) I also think they managed to keep the mystery well hidden. They followed the rules about making sure you had all the hints and clues to solve it but I totally anticipated the murderer being a completely different person.

I will say this was the first novel I’ve read that addressed the pandemic that didn’t make me grumbled. I thought the author did a good job addressing it and acknowledging it without falling face first into it making it their story.

I loved the characters, I thought they were well fleshed out and unique to themselves. Everyone that was introduced clearly had their roles to play and weren’t just added to be added. I enjoyed learning all the new terms from Harper and Tariq from their professions. I did think I would get annoyed but I really liked it.

All in all, I really enjoyed this story and am eager to read something else from Blackwell.

Details:
Format - eBook
Page Count - 384
Sourced- eARC from Netgalley
Rating - 5/5

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

In The Séance Garden by Juliet Blackwell, what starts as a lost bet turns into more than Professor Harper Grae bargains for on what was supposed to be a night of fun on a ghost tour of Monterey. When they stumble upon a body buried below a tree on the grounds of a mansion with a horrific history, Harper gets pulled into the investigation.

The Perles mansion has a dark history, but local artist Delilah Mason purchased it and was slowly making repairs and modifications until she was found buried at the base of the large cypress tree, much as had happened to Isabel Perles hundreds of years earlier. The similarities are ignored, but Harper can’t shake the feeling that there is more going on than meets the eye, especially after seeing the shadow of a woman watching from the window of the mansion and the surreal experience she has when she enters the mansion to look for her. Her work and academic career have involved researching and debunking historical occult experiences. But the more she digs, the less of a logical explanation she can give for what happened, and is apparently still happening at the mansion.

The mystery develops at a steady pace, while the paranormal elements add tensiontension without overwhelming the detective work. Each clue leaves you wondering whether there’s a rational explanation or something far more sinister at work. The author also does well with the actual history of witches and hauntings and avoids resorting to macabre examples while still giving the reader a lingering sense of unease. Add to that well-rounded characters and a disturbing atmosphere, and you have a book you can’t put down.

The Séance Garden is an engaging mystery with just the right amount of supernatural intrigue to keep the pages turning. Whether you enjoy haunted houses, historical mysteries, or stories that leave you questioning what is real, this book delivers an entertaining and atmospheric read, making it a book I highly recommend.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. The opinions expressed in this review are my own. Many thanks to the publisher, Berkley Publishing Group, the author, Juliet Blackwell, and NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC.

[Laura Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Paranormal mysteries always intrigue me so when I was offered an advanced reader's copy of The Seance Garden by Juliet Blackwell, I jumped on the chance.

Professor Harper Grae needs a change of life after being denied tenure at her former University. As a historian specializing in the historical and societal significance of witchcraft, ghosts, and medicinal poisons of all sorts, being taken seriously by her colleagues has been a challenge. Harper ends up with a docotrate position at a university in Monterey California and it seems like the perfect opportunity to start anew. A dear friend from graduate school reconnects with Harper. After Harper loses a bet with her friend Tariq, she must pay the price by going on a hokey ghost tour of Monterey. Little did she know that she would be a part of digging up one of the tour's home owners who had been busied alive under a famous Cyprus tree. Harper then becomes tangled in a murder investigation that puts her historian's skills into use.

Harper finds that she is "sensitive" to the supernatural entities involved in the mystery, and she becomes haunted by more than her nightmares as she works to find out what really happened to Delilah Mason and who else had been buried beneath the Cyprus tree at the Perles Mansion where Delilah Mason lived.

Blackwell wrote an engaging novel filled with subtle creepiness that kept me involved with the story until the final page. I continually felt I had solved the mystery, just to find out I was wrong once again. Her characters were well written and came off the page into my imagination. The setting was particularly fun for me because last summer my husband and I visited Monterey on vacation so I could picture many of the scenes.

I enjoyed how Blackwell was able to build the intrigue of the plot as she built the suspicion in the reader's mind. I was surprised by the ending and happy I chose to read the book. I give The Seance Garden 4 stars!

Look for The Seance Garden when it is published July 27, 2027 by Berkley Publishing Group.

#TheSeanceGarden #NetGalley

[M. L. Valard · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars

This was a really fun and entertaining mystery with just a few touches of the supernatural. It was a very easy and enjoyable read to get into. Along with an intriguing and spooky mystery with a dash of romance I got a very strong sense of setting. The Monterey area was so vividly written it felt rather like paying a visit.

The book drops the reader right into the middle of the mystery and of main character Harper's life. This was pretty artfully done and drew me right in. It was easy to read in large chunks because I was interested in everything that was going on. There were a lot of threads and a number of potential suspects, but not so many that it was ever overwhelming.

Both the past mystery and the much more pressing present day one were handled neatly. It was a very satisfying resolution, though it did feel almost rushed after the slightly more leisurely pace of other parts of the book. Still, I did quite enjoy this. The spookier bits were definitely interesting, whether the eerie part was supernatural or human, and indeed that question was well handled enough to be another mystery until the end.

Harper was a genuinely likeable protagonist. It was easy to both like and sympathize with her. Aside from Harper I also really liked some of the other characters. Ellen was particularly lovely and I really enjoyed the moments with her. There as a real sense of coziness gently woven in with some really creepy things that made this a particularly delightful read. It also made some parts of it far more concerning and tense. This was my first book by this author but I immediately went to see what else she might have written because I did quite enjoy this.

Overall, this was a solidly enjoyable read, a really good mix of history, ghost story, and mystery. For anybody else that likes that particular mix of things I would readily recommend this one.

I received a free eARC through NetGalley but my opinions are entirely my own.

[ReadTheHotline · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Séance Garden | Juliet Blackwell

🖤🖤🖤🖤/5 (3.5 rounded up)

There’s just something about a coastal ghost story with a side of academia that immediately has me clocking in. And when you toss in mirrors, séances, and a deeply cursed-feeling mansion? Please. I’m already seated, snacks in hand, ready to haunt myself a little.

The Séance Garden by Juliet Blackwell delivers exactly the kind of eerie, slow-burn mystery I tend to gravitate toward (one where skepticism meets something that refuses to stay neatly explained). We follow Harper Grae, an academic who studies the idea of the occult but absolutely does not believe in it… until a very real dead body (and some very unreal happenings) crash her carefully constructed worldview.

Set against the misty, salt-stung backdrop of Monterey and Carmel, the story opens on a ghost tour that turns from kitschy to catastrophic when a local artist is found murdered on the grounds of an old mansion with a history. And not the charming kind. As Harper digs deeper (partly out of curiosity, partly out of loyalty), she starts uncovering a pattern that stretches back nearly two centuries, all tangled up with the Perles family, a restless spirit, and a garden that definitely keeps secrets.

And listen—where there’s occult lore, witches, and weird reflective surfaces, you already know your ghoul is showing up with bells on. That’s just facts.

The vibes here? Delicious. Blackwell paints the California coast in a way that makes you want to book a trip immediately—fog curling through cypress trees, old money estates hiding rot under the surface, ocean air carrying just enough unease. It’s moody, atmospheric, and quietly sinister in a way I really enjoyed.

But here’s where I wanted just a little more bite.

For a setting that feels this haunted, the characters don’t always get to do enough within it. The bones are there: creepy mirrors, an old journal tucked away in a laboratory, rich threads of spiritualism and séance culture, but I kept waiting for the story to dig deeper into those elements. Give me more obsession, more unraveling, more time spent lingering in the weird. It’s all so close to being deliciously unhinged, but pulls back just before it fully commits.

Still, I had a genuinely good time with this one. It’s the kind of mystery that’s easy to sink into, especially if you love a rational protagonist being slowly nudged toward “okay but what if ghosts are real and also mad about it.”

Tropes of course!

👀 Skeptic meets the supernatural
🏚️ Haunted mansion with a past
🩸 Murder mystery with historical echoes
🌊 Coastal gothic energy
🔮 Occult academia (my beloved)
🪞 Mirrors that are absolutely not normal
🗣️ Small-town whispers & rumors
👻 Ghosts with unfinished business

If you’re here for atmosphere, a touch of the uncanny, and a mystery that brushes up against the veil without fully tearing it open, this one’s worth the visit. Grab your copy July 28, 2026!

Thank you to Berkely Publishing Group, NetGalley and Juliet Blackwell for the opportunity to read and rave about this book.
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#TheSéanceGarden #NetGalley.

[moonlitbookwitch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Juliet Blackwell
The Séance Garden by Juliet Blackwell was my first book by this author, but it definitely won't be my last.

Blending psychological suspense, the supernatural, mystery, and a touch of romance, The Séance Garden is an atmospheric novel set in beautiful Monterey, California. When Professor Harper Grey loses a bet with a friend, she reluctantly joins a local ghost tour that introduces her to the infamous Perles Mansion. A lifelong skeptic, Harper has devoted her academic career to studying the historical and societal significance of witchcraft, ghosts, and medicinal poisons, but she has never believed in the supernatural.

Her skepticism is immediately challenged when the tour stumbles upon the body of local artist Delilah Mason, who has been murdered on the grounds of the nearly 200-year-old mansion. That same night, Harper witnesses something inside the house that defies all logical explanation. As the investigation unfolds, she learns this isn't the first murder connected to the estate. Nearly two centuries earlier, another woman was found murdered beneath the same sprawling cypress tree in the mansion's gardens.

When Harper's closest friend becomes a suspect, she takes it upon herself to uncover the truth. As she digs deeper into the history of the Perles family and the rumors surrounding the mansion, Harper begins to question everything she's always believed. Could the ghost of Isabel Perles truly be haunting the estate?

This book had me turning pages and staying up well past my bedtime. The mystery kept me guessing, the supernatural elements were woven seamlessly into the story, and the slow-burn romance added depth without ever overshadowing the plot. Juliet Blackwell's research is evident throughout, enriching the story without ever feeling like an information dump.

This is a definite five-star read for fans of psychological suspense, ghost stories, and atmospheric mysteries. I'll be adding Juliet Blackwell to my auto-buy list without hesitation.

Thank you Berkley Publishing Group for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

[Hana · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Séance Garden is a contemporary gothic mystery. I am a little new to the genre because I live and breathe fantasy but I ended up really enjoying it. It was a nice palette cleanser to my 500+ page fantasy novels I have been reading recently.

A professor of the occult, Harper (who doesn’t believe in ghosts), loses a dare and has to go on a ghost tour with her best friend. The tour ends very badly as the group discovers a local woman buried alive in her own front yard!!! I will also give you one guess about the topic of Harper’s last paper … yeah … being buried alive … yikes! There is so much more to the mystery of what is happening in this historically haunted town with a less than pristine reputation.

This was a quick, fun, and spooky read! The pacing was good and I liked the order of how different characters and pieces of information were presented in the story. The second I think I might know “whodunnit’, new information is brought up that has me questioning everything. Unlike Harper, I definitely believe in ghosts but I also do believe humans can be way scarier than ghosts. Overall, the occult, ghosts, and historical tie-ins were up my alley and made me enjoy this book even though it is not my usual genre. In short, here are some themes featured in this book:

👻Professor of the Occult
👻Murder Mystery
👻Haunted Mansion
👻Ghost Sightings/Mirrors
👻Small Town Rumours
👻Historical setting

Happy reading!

Thank you to Berkley for providing this book for review via NetGalley!

[Ashley Gillan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Harper is history professor who specializes in the folklore of witchcraft, ghosts, and other occult subjects. But Harper insists she’s a pure historian: she does not believe in the supernatural at all, and thinks everything has a rational explanation. But all of that goes out the window when a friend drags her on a ghost tour and they find the owner of the area’s most haunted house buried alive in her garden. Suddenly, Harper is caught up in one of the town’s oldest mysteries, seeing things, and catching weird vibes. As Harper rushes to find a reason, the body count rises, and suddenly history doesn’t feel so far away….

I loved how this book mixed so many different elements together to create such a unique story: history/legends, the supernatural, academia, a bit of a cozy mystery vibe mixed with thriller elements, family drama - this book has it all! But somehow it works to create a cohesive story that really meshes and flows well.

The ending was really well done, combining a lot of clues and threads that develop well over the course of the story. I found myself thinking “AHA!” a couple times throughout the story as I caught up on clues and began piecing things together.

I think a couple things just need to be tightened up with some editing, perhaps. A couple of little elements that didn’t really go anywhere or were confusing because there was a lot going on. Cutting a character or two would make the book 5-stars, no problem.

Overall, pick this one up for a unique mystery that will keep you enthralled and excited throughout. It’s worth the read!

[ColleenIsBooked · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story opens with Dr. Harper Grae, a new to Monterey history professor at the local college, attending a walking ghost tour of the town after losing a bet to her friend Tariq. Scoffing her way through the tour, Harper nonetheless becomes entranced at the Perles Mansion with new information about possible witch trials in the area in the past when she suddenly notices something strange happening at the base of the Witch Tree. A hand shoots out from the dirt, and the story truly begins. Who has attacked the owner of the house, Delilah? And why?
I found Harper a really interesting character to follow. Newly forty, new job, new city, fresh divorce, possible paranormal occurrences; Harper is kind of going through it. I felt like we got to know her pretty well and I never really felt like 'oh my god what are you doing??' which happens more often than not in mystery stories I read. I enjoyed the historical aspects that were added in addition to the made-up historical facts of the Perles family. A little bit spooky, a little ridiculous in a campy way sometimes, this was a solid paranormal mystery. There was enough for me to come up with my own theories and suspicions. The story moved along at a good pace. Even when we detoured from the main storyline, it tended to have little hints or connections to it.
If you are looking for a paranormal mystery that leans more into the real world, this is a very good option.

*Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for the eARC. All thoughts are my own.*

[Kathy Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Professor Harper Grae is new to Monterey. She's the only professor of history at a tech college. Her field of study is witchcraft, ghosts, and medicinal poisons. When she loses a bet to a college friend, she is forced to take a ghost tour of Monterey. She doesn't expect to find a woman buried alive on the grounds of a historical adobe nor does she expect to see something in a room of mirrors.

When the buried woman - local artist Delilah Mason - dies, a murder investigation ensues. It turns out that her friend Tariq had a relationship with the artist at one time. Of course, the woman also has an ex-husband, a brother, and a dealer for her art and some other intimate relationships that could provide suspects.

It seems Delilah was also experimenting with using microdoses of various poisonous botanicals to try to cure modern diseases. She was using the tour guide and some of Harper's students to distribute her cures which were a lot more dangerous than she was willing to admit. Botanical poisons is one of Harper's areas of expertise which gives her an insider's knowledge.

The story was quite creepy as Harper is determined to deny the whole idea of ghosts while seeing a number of suspicious and unexplained things. I liked Harper's skepticism but also liked when she came to realize that she might be wrong.

This was an entertaining and spooky mystery.

[Elyrria · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Seance Garden is a beautiful, dark academia/gothic mystery with all of the delightful hallmarks each of those genres has to offer. Harper Grae is a folklore historian of the occult, and she plunges into an old family mystery and murder case while balancing the investigation with her precarious academic career. Honestly, her career choice had me hooked from the very beginning.

One of my favorite things about this novel is that you will learn from it without getting bogged down by the details. I learned a little bit about art, Latin, poisons, librarianship, and history from this book. The author is brilliant and has a diverse range of knowledge across disciplines that is perfectly tailored to this nexus of genres.

The mystery of Delilah Mason's death was engaging and kept me hooked alongside the historical tidbits. The California coastline setting, haunted mirrors, ghostly apparitions, and haunted Perles Mansion were the icing on the cake. The Seance Garden has all the bells and whistles of a good gothic dark academia, but it also has substance, which is why I wasn't bored once, even with the explanatory tone the book often took.

Thank you to the publishers at Berkley and NetGalley for sending me an e-ARC. This is one of the best dark academias I have read in years, and if Harper Grae ever got her own series, I would read every book in the lineup!

[Wall-to-wall books - wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

MY THOUGHTS:
This book was fantastic! It was fascinating, and more than a little creepy! There was some crazy paranormal ghostly stuff happening in this book! And I ate it up! This is exactly what you would want out of a paranormal book.

Harper, the main character - LOVED her! I loved her on every page. I thought her character was perfect and I could definitely see myself being friends with her IRL. Tariq, Harper's romantic interest, was suspicious right from the get go. I was constantly questioning him.

This is a book where the houses is definitely a character itself. A creepy, old, haunted mansion, yep creepy. I don't think I would want to spend any time there! I loved all the ghost appearances. It felt natural and very real.

This book gave me goosebumps a handful of times. But it wasn't so scary that I couldn't read it at night. It was eerie, not necessarily scary.

If you are looking for a very real feeling ghost story that is very well done that makes you fall in love with the characters... THIS IS IT!

This author has a LOT of books and I am adding a few of them to my wish list right now! I will absolutely be reading this author again!


I voluntarily posted this review after receiving an e-copy of this book from Berkley | Penguin Random House. Thank You!

[Cindy Crawford · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Seance Garden reminds me of the lightly scary Barbara Michaels books I read years ago, which means I love it! There's just enough scary to make me nervous, but none of the gore I got tired of in other horror books. This was fun to read, as are all of Blackwell's books.

Professor Harper Grae loses a bet and has to go on a cheesy ghost tour of her new town of Monterey, CA. She's a researcher and historian specializing in how the supernatural is used in different cultures, but she certainly doesn't believe in ghosts or goblins. When her tour group finds local artist Delilah Mason buried alive, she's interested in working with the police to find out who attacked the woman. But the more she explores the old house where the artist lived, the more uneasy she becomes. As more and more happens that can't be explained with science and logic, Harper begins to rethink her opinion of supernatural happenings.

The plot will keep you turning the pages, and the tension and slow buildup of horror (both of the supernatural and all-too-human type) will keep you wanting to learn more about what is going on in the house that seems to be haunted.

Definitely a good choice for those who like a little scary with their mystery!

I received an ARC from NetGalley.

[Janine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Atmospheric mystery with a practical, nonbeliever in the supernatural protagonist investigating a murder and having a romance as well.

Harper Grae, a professor of history at Monterey College, is an expert on the occult, ghosts and witchcraft. The Perles Mansion located in the wind swept Monterey coast (such a great gothic setting) is supposed to be haunted. Harper doesn’t believe it but after losing a bet she joins the Ghost Tour at the mansion only to be part of a group that finds Delilah Mason’s body in the exact same spot where Isabel Perles died years ago. Delilah Mason is a local artist so her death causes local interest. To help a friend who’s a suspect, Harper gets involved in the investigation. A little romance with Harper’s friend, Tariq, adds interest to the story. When Harper starts to see the ghost of Isabel Perles, Harper is deeply confused - has she been wrong all along?

Good twists and plotting make this an enjoyable read - the ending is good (you have to read the book to find out what I mean). I liked that the author included some of Monterey’s history in the telling - adds I think authenticity as well. I liked that the romance interest didn’t have a Beach Boy vibe (it is California). The characters are nicely developed and I could believe this might be the start of a series.

My thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for allowing me access to this ARC.

[Nikki · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Seance Garden was my first haunting read in a few months and I thoroughly enjoyed it. This was my first read by Juliet Blackwell. I really enjoyed her writing style and plotting. I felt frustration with the characters at time, but it made sense within the context of the story. I was give salient points and an understanding of why the characters would behave in this way.

I loved how there was a spectrum of belief and variance of haunting. I would've loved a standalone on Isabel and her history, but didn't feel that things were left unexplained or hanging from the story given. I think my only nit is that, at times, the vocabulary used by certain characters seemed a bit high level for their characterization, but overall I loved the subject matter and how it was presented. There was one instance where I was thinking the dialogue was reading like a textbook explanation, but it was immediately explained why it was coming across in that way.

I'm definitely planning to add more of Juliet Blackwell to my TBR.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Stephanie Dyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dr Harper Grae has moved to California after her divorce and being turned down for tenure at the college where she and her ex both taught. Losing a bet with a friend she finds herself on a Monterey ghost tour that takes a serious turn when she and her friend discover a woman buried alive at a house rumored to be haunted. Harper’s friend is a suspect and she is eager to clear his name but the investigation is making her rethink her skepticism about the supernatural.

I asked for this for review since I had read her cozy paranormal Witchcraft and Haunted Home Renovations books but this mystery is different. A bit darker in some ways, it is a nicely done ghost/murder mystery. The murderer was not who I had chosen. I like Harper as well as the secondary characters of Tariq her maybe-boyfriend, and Ellen her landlady. Oh, and the dog, we can’t forget the dog. While everything concerning this particular murder is neatly tied up at the end I could readily read another story involving Harper and her friends. Recommended

[Caitlin Rydberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

I stuck with this book because I needed to know what happened, not necessarily because I enjoyed it. Some parts were spooky and fun; others just felt repetitive and dragged. I felt like we got to the point where, as a reader, I could predict what the next sentence was going to be before it came. We get it: the main character was only on the ghost tour because she lost a bet. She's a professor at a college where her field of study is in the minority, which was repeated so many times I lost the actual plot. The actual plot of the cursed family was spooky and fascinating. It held my attention, and I wanted to know more. Like, what is this Sirius Black-type dog that keeps popping up, and why was this person buried alive? Why are we returning bones to a dead mother... this is what kept me reading.

For what it's worth, I'm a harsh critic of horror and thrillers. Lately, the ones that don't disappoint are those with a fresh concept. This one, while it had its moments, felt cookie-cutter. But overall, it gets three stars.

Thanks to Netgalley for an advanced copy for my honest review