Ghost Ups Her Game

Bailey Ruth #9

by Carolyn G. Hart

New York Times bestselling author Carolyn Hart's warm-hearted sleuth returns in the ninth Bailey Ruth Ghost Novel, with a case that will test even her Heavenly powers. After a busy morning dispatching emissaries from Heaven's Department of Good Intentions to those in need, Bailey Ruth Raeburn is feeling flush with success. So when an urgent call for help comes through from her old hometown, she can't resist taking on the mission herself. After all, what could go wrong? With the shouted warning of her boss, Wiggins - "Irregular! Problematic!" - ringing in her ears, she arrives to face a shocking scene: Professor Iris Gallagher leaning over the corpse of her colleague Matt Lambert, the murder weapon clutched in her hand. Bailey Ruth is only sent to help the innocent, but things are looking very black for Iris. With Wiggins breathing down her neck, and her old friend Police Chief Sam Cobb casting doubt on her every theory, Bailey Ruth must uncover the truth - or this could be the last trip to earth she's ever allowed to make.

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Audiobook, Cozy, Fiction, Adult Fiction, Paranormal

214 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2020

About the author

Also writing as Carolyn Hart.

An accomplished master of mystery with 46 published books, Carolyn Hart is the creator of the highly acclaimed Henrie O,Death on Demand, and Bailey Ruth Raeburn series. Her books have won multiple Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity Awards. Letter from Home (2003), her standalone mystery set in Oklahoma, was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Her latest book is Dead by Midnight (William Morrow/HarperCollins, 2007). She is one of the founders of Sisters in Crime, an organization for women who write mysteries. She lives in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma."
New Books: Dead By Midnight Carolyn Hart


DEAD BY MIDNIGHT by Carolyn Hart On Sale March 29

The police say suicide. Annie Darling suspects murder. Max is unconvinced until Annie follows a trail behind the dead woman's house.

Annie unravels the mystery of a towel hidden at midnight in a gazebo, the interesting lack of fingerprints on a crystal mug, blood on a teenager's blue shirt, and the secret of a lovers' tryst. Max plunges deep into the woods to find incriminating evidence.

Annie sets the perfect trap for a merciless killer, but her cell phone rings and Death is on the line.

www.CarolynHart.com

And for cat lovers:

DEAD BY MIDNIGHT by Carolyn Hart

I love to have fun when writing a mystery. If I laugh, I think a reader will laugh. In the Death on Demand series, I especially enjoy writing about Annie Darling's ditzy mother-in-law, Laurel Roethke. Laurel is usually excited about a new interest, something that surprises and often confounds Annie.

In Dead by Midnight, Laurel creates Cat Truth Posters, which she wants Annie to hang in the bookstore. Annie thinks books should be the store's focus, but the posters enchant her.

Each poster features a cat's photograph with a caption. Here are three of the Cat Truth posters;

. . . a silky furred, mitted, and bicolored Ragdoll stretched out on a red silk cushion, looking as comfy as Eva Longoria in a Hanes ad: Go with the Flow.

A rectangular-muzzled, green-eyed, cholocolate colored cat appeared as brooding as a Gothic hero: Always Say Yes to Adventure.

. . . a thick-furred, piebald Siberian forest cat, its white front a brilliant contrast to a charcoal back and head. Its face appeared almost angelic: Always try a Smile First.

And yes, one of the posters points to a killer.

Fun for me and fun, I hope for readers

Reviews

[Kristina Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ghost Ups Her Game by Carolyn Hart is the 9th A Bailey Ruth Ghost Novel. Bailey Ruth Raeburn is a delightful character. Bailey Ruth is a woman who loves her heavenly job as well as fashionable clothes. When an urgent call from Adelaide arrives at the Department of Good Intentions, Bailey Ruth knows the assignment is for her. I always enjoy the Bailey Ruth novels because they have humor, mystery, and a fashionable female sleuth from Heaven. I thought Ghost Ups Her Game was well-written with steady pacing. I do not believe this would make a good standalone book because some key details are missing for new readers. I suggest beginning with Ghost at Work. The mystery was fun to solve. I can always count on Bailey Ruth to diligently search for clues and question witnesses. I like that she keeps Sam Cobb, the Adelaide Chief of Police, up to date. They get along for the most part. It is great how they bounce ideas off each other when they are not eating unhealthy food. The mystery is not hard to solve, but that did not diminish my reading pleasure. Ghost Ups Her Game is one of those books that you just sit back, start reading, and enjoy the ride. My favorite line from Ghost Ups Her Game comes from Bailey Ruth when she says, “A ghost must do what a ghost must do.” The only thing I dislike about the book is the descriptions of every outfit. I do not need to know what each and every one of Bailey Ruth’s outfits look like especially since she changes so often. I look forward to Bailey Ruth’s next adventure. Ghost Ups Her Game is an entertaining tale with a mystifying murder, a curious clue, a weighty weapon, a careful cop, a pushy politician, and a heavenly emissary riding the rails to the rescue.

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bailey Ruth grabs the assignment in her old home town of Adelaide, OK, even though she doesn't know what type of heavenly intervention is required. But there she is, watching two mortals try to deal with a murdered body. She finds woman, professor Iris Gallagher, stand-offish, at first, and also--annoyingly--one of the few people who can see her when she's supposed to be invisible. As she realizes that Iris is trapped in a web of circumstances that makes her look guilty, she gradually warms up to her task and tries to find the real murderer. If you haven't read the earlier books in this series, you may find it rather confusing.

[S.J. Higbee · Rating 4 out of 5]

First, let’s get the fact that this is the nineth book in the series out of the way – it isn’t an issue. While initially I was a bit adrift and do feel that there could have been just a little bit more context as to exactly how Bailey got this particular job, once the investigation got under way, it was fairly easy to work out what was going on. And the fact that this is Bailey’s home patch, where she lived when she was alive made it sufficiently plausible for me to suspend my disbelief.

Besides, I like Bailey. She is generally a very chirpy, upbeat character who seems to thrive on a bit of excitement and chaos going on around her. Although there was a point when everything was going wrong that she became overwhelmed and had a crisis of confidence – I liked that, too. While it was a pleasant change to have a confident protagonist, who wasn’t particularly angst-ridden, I felt Hart successfully avoided her also coming across as unduly smug, which wouldn’t have worked during this particular investigation.

What you won’t get with this one is a foot-to-the-floor action-filled adventure. It’s a steady accumulation of clues, as the suspects are each lined up and eliminated. I very much enjoyed the murder mystery aspect of this story – it was well handled with a reasonable number of suspects. And unlike some cosy mysteries, there was a real sense of loss and outrage at the death of a couple of the victims – at the cutting short of their lives and the waste of what they had to offer. Overall, this is an entertaining, enjoyable murder mystery written by an experienced author who knows what she is doing – recommended for fans of cosy mysteries with a paranormal twist. While I obtained an arc of Ghost Ups Her Game from the publisher via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
8/10

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another fun addition to the Bailey Ruth series. This one gets a bit messy and it is disconcerting for one of the living characters to always see Bailey Ruth. At the end it almost seemed like Hart picked straws for who the villain would be and could have written it to be any of the top suspects as not enough clues pointed to one over the other. Still fun to read.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the only Bailey Ruth mystery I have read. It was fun, but I am not sure I will seek out another.

[Anna Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first book in the series that I've read so I was a little lost to begin with. There is a lot of descriptions about clothes so that also didn't catch my attention to begin with. However, I did end up enjoying this book, since I do enjoy paranormal cozies. I liked the secondary characters and the mystery kept me guessing.

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

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

After a long break from the Bailey Ruth series, Carolyn Hart is back with The Ghost Ups her Game. Though the novel seems to get weighed down in the middle, with little forward momentum, Carolyn Hart does pull it all together by the end even though she needs to do too much recapping to bring her excessive number of characters together.

Bailey Ruth Raeburn, called in by the Department of Good Intentions, is sent back to her much loved Adelaide, Oklahoma to help Iris Gallagher after she is discovered holding a murder weapon over a dead body. Bailey Ruth must rally the troops, much to Wiggin’s dismay, to prove the innocent are innocent even if they need a little heavenly help.

Though there are murders and a ghost, there is also a wholesomeness to this series. No offensive lines are crossed, no bits or parts that would make a person blush, just a well-dressed ethereal spirit that comes in to help those in need.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

After a three-year absence (due to change of publisher), Bailey Ruth Raeburn is back in an all-new amateur detective mystery from Carolyn Hart. Hart like to throw little twists into the exploits of her dearly department sleuth, and the twist this time is that Chief Sam Cobb believes the evidence against the person Bailey Ruth is trying to protect, is overwhelming enough to not assist his ghostly investigator -- in other words, Baily Ruth is on her own to prove a college professor is innocent of the violent death of a less-than-scrupulous college fund-raiser.

As always, this is a fun, relatively light-weight mystery, with interesting/sympathetic new characters, and some old favorites back again. If you're not interested in a bit of paranormal mixed in with your mystery-solving, you'll want to avoid this one. But if you don't mind a perky red-headed "ghost" from Oklahoma on the case, this is enjoyable. Also as always, I enjoyed this as a book-on-CD, where narrator Ann Marie Lee is absolutely perfect for this series!

[Patricia Romero · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Bailey Ruth Ghost Novel #9

Bailey Ruth Raeburn is back in Heaven's Department of Good Intentions. Busy dispatching heavenly emissaries to those in need of a bit of help. Satisfied with herself for doing such a heavenly job matching everyone up, she suddenly gets an emergency call for help from her hometown of Adelaide, Oklahoma. 

Bailey wastes no time jumping aboard the train engine, she heads out quickly with Wiggins yelling in her ear!

All she knows is Iris Gallagher is in trouble and Bailey must help her.

A fun twist in this one is that Iris can see Bailey! All the time. And while Bailey Ruth tries to stick to the rules, she is barely skating by on this one. And when her good friend Sam arrests Iris for murder, Bailey does whatever she must to find a killer before he kills again!

Oh, Bailey Ruth! I do love this ghostly character. These characters are so well written and I can't wait for the next one!

NetGalley Reviews/August 4th, 2020 by Severn House Publishers

[Kelly Denton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first time reading this series. When I picked the book up at the library, I didn’t know it was a ‘series’. I enjoyed reading all the shenanigans that Bailey Ruth got herself into. It was a very well written mystery. It almost felt like ‘Clue’, in a sense.

I love the thought of being a ghost and being able to appear, when you can. Also, to be able to eat food and play dress up. Lol. I adored Bailey Ruth.

I hope to read more novels in this series. It definitely kept me guessing the entire length of the book. I will say though, I didn’t get ‘into’ the book until page 7. But once I kinda understood how it all worked, I was hooked!

4 stars for me, because the author went into such descriptive detail with the outfits and all that at times it took away from the story, just imo.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bailey Ruth, an emissary from Heaven (think ghost) is back, in the ninth book in the Bailey Ruth Ghost Novel series by Carolyn Hart. This time Bailey Ruth has returned to her hometown in Oklahoma. When she arrives, she discovers that a murder has been committed and a professor from a local college is the prime suspect. Once again, Bailey Ruth finds herself in the middle of a dire situation.

The Ruth Bailey mysteries are great fun. She is a gentle ghost who enjoys fashion and helping others (not necessarily in that order). Carolyn Hart has created a series that is easy reading and, even when murder is involved, makes the reader feel good. I always enjoy the time I spend with the heavenly Bailey Ruth.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book for review.

[Kathleen Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bailey Ruth is a ghost who is supposed to be sending other ghosts to help those in trouble but when she sees that her old friend Iris Gallagher might be in trouble- she's found with the corpse of Matt Lambert- she opts to return to the town of Adelaide, Oklahoma. And what a return it is! Her boss Wiggins is upset that she's gone, Sam Cobb is about to arrest Iris, and there's lots of unrest in the atmosphere. This is a cozy- paranormal though it may be- and you now that Iris didn't do it, that Matt had more than one person who didn't like him, and that Bailey will solve the case. Bailey is a terrific character- she may be new to me but she's got a long track record. This was fine as a standalone and now I'm going to look for others. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A fun read!

[Eydie sanders · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoy the Bailey Ruth series. It's fun, it's enjoyable, though I do wish we could know a little more about the person BR was when she was alive and maybe even a "throwback" story about Wiggin's days as a living person. But the stories are good if a little bit of a reach at times. My only complaint: If she doesn't stop describing every.damned.outfit. I'm going to scream. It simply has nothing to do with the story and sounds boastful, which has to be against one of the precepts. Also, she's started another annoying thing in this book, "mama always said..." Knock it off. Other than that, it's a great series.

[M · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fun light cute cozy mystery. This is the 65th book Carolyn Hart has written. She is prolific.
Mystery series about a ghost who comes back to her home town after death to help people there.
This is the newest book in the series and though the story stands on its own it would be nice to have some background information written into the story to let a new reader better understand the reason she is doing what she does. Otherwise, though obviously impossible, reading a story about a ghost who can dress up in whatever fashionable outfit she wants to by just thinking about it and be seen or not seen on demand is an entertaining way to spend an afternoon.

[Ashley Cate · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was so excited when I saw there was a new Bailey Ruth mystery! I thought this series had for sure ended, but happily, that was not the case. I thought Ghost Ups Her Game was just as enjoyable as the previous Bailey Ruth mysteries and was happy to see that all my favorite characters showed up! We even got to see a brief return of a character from a previous book, which I loved! I thought the mystery was solid and I enjoyed all the twists and turns that the story took on the path to figuring out who the killer was. This is such a fun series and I’m thrilled that there will be more books coming out soon!

[Elsie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bailey Ruth returns to her hometown of Adelaide as part of her job as a Heavenly emissary to help the innocent. Things are a bit complicated when she finds professor Iris Gallagher leaning over the corpse of her colleague, Matt Lambert, with the murder weapon in her hand. Iris refuses to cooperate with Bailey Ann and refuses to answer questions for the police leading Chief Sam Cobb to arrest her after a second murder where Iris is present. Baily Ruth gathers a team to help her clear Iris - Iris' daughter Gage, Gage's boyfriend Robert, and even Sam Cobb after the mayor places him on administrative leave.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

While working as a dispatcher at the Department of Good Intentions,
Bailey Ruth Raeburn, receives an urgent message from her old town. What is she to do? Bailey Ruth grabs a ticket and jumps on the Rescue Express. She arrives in Adelaide to a terrible scene at Goddard
College, a man is found dead downstairs during a banquet. A Professor, Iris Gallagher is standing over the body of Fundraiser Matt Lambert. Bailey Ruth is assigned to her toughest case yet. She believes Iris is innocent, but is she? An enjoyable audiobook, Bailey Ruth is a wonderful emissary, often not following the precepts but always makes Wiggins proud of her in the end.

[Annarella · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's quite a long time since last I read a book in this series and I was happy to meet again the characters and the funny setting.
Bailey Ruth is as quirky and well written as I remembered, the cast of characters is well thought and likable.
The solid mystery kept me guessing and I liked the world building.
It was an entertaining and engrossing read, recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is book 9 in the Bailey Ruth series. Bailey is a ghost that is sent back to earth to help the innocent. Iris is certainly in need as the police are sure she murdered her co-worker. This is an interesting concept for a cozy series. Each book can be read as a stand alone because Bailey goes into a new situation every book. The stories are wholesome and fun to read for young and old alike. I received a copy of this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

[Susanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great Bailey Ruth puzzle to solve.

Bailey Ruth is such an entertaining ghost. I love that her heart gets her into trouble and I'm always thrilled when she gets everything worked out. I was a little surprised at Sam's attitude in this story, although he did come around eventually. As technology changes Bailey Ruth is going to have a harder time catching the bad guys so I'm glad she's learning a bit about it all.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

2020. Read by Ann Marie Lee. Bailey Ruth Raeburn is on a mission to Adelaide, OK where the wrong person is about to be charged for murder. She must use every imaginable means to catch the clever murderer. The Mayor is running for reelection and has cut the Police Chief's budget for help and side lined him. If Bailey ever wants to return and help again, she must find the truth and expose it without having to be a material witness.

[Marilyn Skowron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Raising Funds Illegally

A college fundraiser used an illegal method to raise millions for a college in Adelaide, Oklahoma which ultimately results in his death. Bailey Ruth takes the case to prevent two innocents for being wrongfully accused. Breaking the Precepts left and right per usual, Bailey Ruth solves the series of murders while donning a number of fashionably dressed personas. A truly heavenly mystery!

[k.eleanor.s]

Finally! Someone who believes in spirits without thinking they are having a mental break!
I’d been waiting for this one, but then it was kind of a disappointment because Iris didn’t tell any other stories about spirit encounters. She immediately knows Bailey Ruth is a ghost and then acts like it’s not a big deal. She had a lot going on at the moment, but still, a ghost you can see and touch like a person? So cool.

[Cheri Schaefer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fantastic ghostly mystery!!

I enjoyed this immensely! It was full of drama
and humor. Definitely kept me on the edge of
my seat and trying to figure out who done it
all the way to the end. It had a great story
line and the characters were entertaining.
This is a series I can't get enough of. I just
wish there wasn't so much time between
each book!!!!!!

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Things don't look good for Iris Gallagher when she is found standing over the body of Matt Lambert, holding the weapon with which he was killed.

But Bailey Ruth Raeburn has been sent from Heaven to help prove Iris's innocence. And she will do everything in her power to do so, despite the doubts of Police Chief Sam Cobb.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bailey Ruth is a ghost! She is an emissary from Heaven's Dept. of Good Intentions, but she doesn't always follow the rules. She tries, really. But when she goes down to her hometown, she meets with a very difficult problem. The people she is to help don't think they need help. Bailey Ruth needs to use every power she can to get them out of trouble.

[JESSICA HOLLAND · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love visiting Adelaide with Bailey Ruth!

I very much enjoyed this mystery, as well as all the ones before. If you do not read them in order, you will still enjoy them. I am looking forward to the next Bailey Ruth adventure! Thank you, Carolyn Hart!

[T.L. Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is difficult for me to believe that this is the same author of the Death on Demand series. I love quirky Bailey Ruth and will continue to read this series. I wish I could say the same for the Demand series.

[Jeri]

Another success for Bailey Ruth

I never tire if Bailey Ruth and her adventures and this new adventure was no exception. Carolyn Hart is great at weaving her mystery and then bringing everything together in the end.

[Michele · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the series, but was trying to read during a very hectic time, so I was unable to read as fast as I had hoped. Even with starting and stopping anc leaving the book for days at a time, it was eSy to pick right back up where I left off.