3.5
Old Ghosts
ByPublisher Description
Notorious crime boss Saoirse Kennedy finds herself entangled in a web of mystery when she receives orders to eliminate a detective and faces the resurgence of her haunting past.
In the midst of this city plagued by crime, Detective Lily Rose sets out to apprehend Saoirse, but their paths intertwine when a new, sinister force emerges, prompting an uneasy alliance to protect their city.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesOld Ghosts Reviews
3.5
“*Thank you to Crimson Fox Publishing and NetGalley for the eARC of this book. All opinions are my own.”
“I'll be the first to say mysteries are not my top genre. I enjoy them; I love a Women's Murder Club book as much as the next person, but it's not a genre I actively seek out. That being said, this one is solid and a casual, fun read.
The woman of the hour, Saoirse Kennedy, is what (or who) makes this book. She is lovable, fun, and an easy protagonist to root for. She's a queer girl boss who treats her employees incredibly well - what more could you ask for in a crime boss? If the author intended to make her a Nancy Drew type, then they planted the seeds well. The ending, in general, did a good job of wrapping up the mystery in a complete way while also nurturing those seeds for future books. I can easily see readers being hooked by Saoirse and wanting to read about her next adventure.
[minor spoiler ahead, anything mentioned here is mentioned in the first 25% of the book] My one qualm with the book was the way Natalia (Saoirse's lover) was described. Her role in the story in general confused me; I never knew how I, as the reader, was supposed to feel about her and her relationship with Saoirse. Even though Natalia's presence and role in the story confused me, I still wouldn't have qualms about it if I knew more about her. I felt like I knew nothing about her, except that she obviously cares for Saorise, is important to a relevant character, and helps with some part of the business. Besides that, it felt like she had no personality traits whatsoever. Where's her standalone? I hope that if and when whatever continuation of this story manifests, we get more of her. I left the book wishing and hoping for more of her story and of her as a person and character.
Overall, it was a solid book. I don't really have strong opinions on it. I think that if a fun, badass, lesbian crime boss being a mastermind is what you're looking for, then this is perfect for you. I feel this book plays strongly to that audience and only loosely plays to adjacent audiences (like mystery readers as a whole). So if the former audience is you, I’d recommend this book.
Thanks to NetGalley, Xpresso Book Tours, and Crimson Fox Publishing for an advanced copy! Received a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own.”
“🌟4🌟 I loved this start to this series!!
Thank you to NetGalley and Crimson Fox Publishing for this ARC!
This was certainly a gripping mystery book and I loved how interconnected each character was to the criminal underworld - and I’m very excited to see how everyone’s involvement is explained in later additions to the series! At times this interconnectedness was a tad difficult to follow (which I’m well aware may just be a personal difficulty), but the writing style was clear enough and easy to follow, so the plot wasn’t entirely confusing. Speaking of writing style, I loved how each character felt very distinct from one another. Not a single character felt one dimensional and they all felt very real. The diversity presented in the book was introduced and sustained so effortlessly and by no means did it feel forced in any way, which made for a much more pleasurable reading experience.
The only qualm I have is that I believe the writing may need one round of editing to fix errors such as typos, misspelled words and missed grammar. In my copy, I also had some minor formatting issues at the start of 3 different chapters where sentences started on one line and suddenly jumped to the line below randomly - it only occurred 3 times, but is still something to note.
I’m most definitely excited for the next book in this series should it be released!!
TW: Murder, Death, Blood, Injury/Injury Detail, Gun Violence, (Minor Mentions of:) Kidnapping; Vomit”
“From the start I was pulled into the different lives of Saoirse and Lily, who walked opposite paths but weren’t so different after all.
Saoirse is an Irish woman who has an empire in this mysterious city, but I wouldn’t compare her to typical other “Mafia” bosses, as she wanted to be hands on with everything. She was extremely cheeky, making it easy to love her character.
Lily transferred to the city with the intent to follow a trail on a case she had, and was met with a lot of resistance in her new precinct. There was a LOT of sexism happening, not only for her but also Saoirse.
I was a bit disappointed with Lily’s character though. For her being one of the MCs, you don’t really get to know much about her backstory, and you don’t hear anything else about this previous case from where she transferred from.
There was a large build up of what was to come for about 65-70% of the book, which did make me lose my focus a bit, but the push through was worth it.
I noticed a few small errors, but nothing that would affect the storyline at all. Another little disappointment I had was the ending, which for me felt a little anti-climactic. I can only assume that this is to lead into another book, but with the whole build-up I was expecting a bit more.
Overall, I very much enjoyed this read! I will add that there is little to no romance in this book, and was mainly about the two MCs solving mysteries.
Thank you NetGalley and Xpresso Book Tours for the ARC!”
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