Fiction
Released November, 2008
Bottom Line: Read it.
Link to this book on Amazon
Plot Summary
When ambitious real estate agent Melanie Middleton inherits an historic Charleston home with the requirement that she restore it to its former glory and live in it for a year, she is forced to confront a local mystery and its ghosts.
My Thoughts
The House on Tradd Street is the first installment in a four book series…and the last installment, Return to Tradd Street, just came out this week. In honor of the final book’s release, I thought I’d post some quick thoughts on the original. I will say that this is a series where you should start from the beginning, as each book builds off the previous one. I have also read the second installment (The Girl on Legare Street – not as good as the original) and am currently reading the third (The Strangers on Montagu Street – am thoroughly enjoying it).
It kind of reminded me of a more fun Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. You just need to suspend reality for a bit and let yourself fall into the world of Civil War era mysteries, haunted houses, and communing with ghosts.
In addition to Charleston, restoration of historic homes, mysteries, and the paranormal, there is a suspenseful romance storyline with “witty banter” type flirting. And, I actually became pretty invested with these characters and their fate.
This whole series is a great pick for Southern fiction lovers…that don’t mind a little kookiness. It’s a light and fun, but has more depth than a Dorothea Benton Frank novel. It’s on last year’s Annual Summer Reading List.