Adele and two of her friends, Maddie, and Harper, live in a small town in California. It's two claims to fame are the wine and the Paranormal Museum. What happens one night when they're out drinking at a bar and Adele asks her friend for $1.00? What does she hand her friend for the $1.00? When Adele takes them over to see the home of her soon to be (hopefully) new business in town and the Paranormal museum, what do they find? Intrigue, murder, and a really weird museum are a very interesting opening for the start of this book. I love a good mystery book, but this one is just weird in some aspects. We have the paranormal museum where the items inside are supposed to be haunted. There is a cat that supposedly sees ghosts. Then of course, there's the murder. Who killed the person and why? Who was the person arguing with? What were they arguing about? Why do they keep trying to throw suspicion on specific people as to them being the person that did the murdering? This is definitely NOT your normal mystery book. You're going to have to read it to find out what is going on. It's fun.

RECEIVED THIS BOOK AS A GIFT FOR A FAIR/HONEST REVIEW and REVIEWER FOR Bloggin' With M.Brennan.

Not too bad

I can't say I loved the book & can't really think of who I would recommend it to, but it wasn't bad, either. I guess there just wasn't enough mystery or paranormal for me. I didn't really try to solve the mystery, just read it to pass time.

I liked this.. somehow I did not realize it was a mystery novel, but that was a nice surprise. I liked the characters, and I also liked that I did not know who the murderer was till the reveal. In fact, I had to backtrack to put it together. My miss, or hers? Not sure, but I liked her writing enough that I am going to hunt for more by Weiss.

This is a cozy mystery set in a paranormal museum, where a reluctant--and non-believer--takes over managing. The author does a decent job with the paranormal gadgetry; however, this is not a paranormal book. It firmly sits in the cozy genre. It was a great debut novel.

Maddie Kosloski lost her international finance job and had to move back to her hometown, where her friend Adele convinces her to take on a temporary job as manager of the Paranormal Museum. Maddie figures it will only be temporary while she searches for another job, so why not. As they go to look the museum over, they discover the body of a woman, the woman who was the reason Adele’s ex-fiance is her ex. When Adele is arrested for the murder, Maddie decides she needs to find the real killer, no matter who it might be. Along the way, Maddie discovers that maybe there is something to the rumors that her new place of employment is haunted. Can she solve the murder and find a killer from the past at the same time?

I was truly delighted with this light, cozy, paranormal mystery. The characters were engaging, the action was amusing, and the book moved along quickly and without any major flaws. I did find it a little lacking in some details, like Maddie’s previous job, her relationships with her family, and a little more about the secondary characters. I understood them, but not as well as I would have liked. It felt like there was a lot more to explore there. Hopefully, they will be in future installments. The book wasn’t too paranormal so if that isn’t your favorite, don’t be afraid to pick it up. Also, if you are looking for a convoluted, in-depth, complicated mystery, don’t buy this book. However, if you do like simple, fun, and delightful books, this one is right up your alley. I highly recommend it, as it was really a great book!

Thanks to NetGalley and Midnight Ink for the free ebook in exchange for an honest review.

"The Perfectly Proper Paranormal Museum" By Kirsten Weiss comes out March 8, 2016. I had never read the author but the premise sounded fun and I felt like adding a cozy mystery to my reading list.

The general outline of the story goes like this... Maddie Kosloski was fired from her high powered international job because she has ethics. She refused to pay a bribe to facilitate an ongoing project. Now, she finds herself back in her small hometown running the local Paranormal museum. Maddie tells herself she's just doing this to help a friend but when that same friend is accused of murdering the woman found dead in the museum, Maddie finds herself with a second job, trying to find the real killer. As the bodies start to pile up, Maddie has to figure out what she really wants before the killer targets her as the next victim.

What I found as I read through this cozy mystery was an unusual growing like of the book. I started out disappointed when a character did something colossally stupid in the first five minutes of the mystery. Unfortunately, that set the mood for the first half of the book. But a weird thing happened as I hit about sixty percent read. I found that I actually did NOT know who was the killer and even stranger, after only experiencing an average amount of joy reading until then, that I really, really wanted to know who did all the killing. I found myself actually enjoying the second half of the book much more than I expected. I'll say, that almost never happens when I start out not enjoying a book.

If cozy mysteries are your thing then you actually might like this one. The writing is tight and the details are so well winnowed out that I really couldn't figure out "who done it" until the end. I have to say the first half of the book was only a three star but by the end I'd give it a four. I think, if I came across this author again I'd try her a second time, I like where she's taking the main character. The book is an easy read, probably perfect for a lazy day cuddled next to the fire to keep warm with a cuppa by your side. Oh, and don't forget the chocolate covered cookies!

3.5 stars - This is a really long book title for a fun new to me series. After an international career, Madelyn finds herself back at home in the CA Central Valley. Her friend asks her to take over the Paranormal Museum which is the second (or third) most famous thing about the town.
There's a murder in the museum, at least partially, also partially in the tearoom of her friend. Mad reluctantly investigates to help get her friend out of jail. There's a lot of odd happenings in the Paranormal Museum, I like how the author chose to present Mad and the paranormal activity (detailed in the author's note). There's also a hunky biker neighbor and maybe some chemistry with one of the detectives. The second detective is a high school nemesis, I found that dynamic to be a little over the top, not in the emotions left over from high school but in the unprofessionalism of the female detective.
Overall I really enjoyed the book and already started book two.