Matty Groves

I've always loved ghost stories. I love mysteries and thrillers too and Deborah Grabien has married both genres perfectly in MATTY GROVES. I can guarantee you that if you get a copy of this book you'll be hooked right in. Folksinger Ringan Laine and Penny Wintercraft-Hawkes, who are back from Ms. Grabien's first to outstanding ghostly efforts, are once again involved in a ghostly mystery. The ghost in this story is a pretty malevolent character, some chilling stuff you're going to love to read about. Ringan and his band Broomfield Hill, have been invited to play at the Callowen Arts Festival at Callowen House in Hampshire and a visit to an old manor brings Ringan and his actress lover Penny face to face with a ghost once again, a ghost who can kill and this is not good, well not good for Ringan and Penny, but plenty good for the reader who will not be able to put this book down.

Grabien is a consistently delightful writer, and with "Matty Groves" she not only continues her Haunted Ballad series but improves on it, upping the ante with her scariest ghost yet. When authors produce a series of novels they tend to fall into patterns in their writing, and the action can get very predictable. Grabien avoids that trap in "Matty Groves"; although main characters Ringan and Penny once again run into a ghost connected to an old folk tune, this time around the threat is more serious and the tactics they used to cope before won't work. Grabien's clever solution to the problem of how to get rid of the ghost is unexpected and yet logical. As with the two previous books in the series ("The Weaver and the Factory Maid" and "The Famous Flower of Serving Men"), "Matty Groves" combines historical and contemporary fiction into one entertaining story. You don't have to have read the two previous books in the series to understand and enjoy this one, although I'd still recommend reading them in order if you can.

Musician Ringan Laine returns home to Sommerset, England to find that he and his group Broomfield Hill are invited to perform at the Callowen House Arts Festival. He eagerly accepts the invitation and takes his girlfriend Penny Wintercroft-Howles with him. Residing there is the benign ghost of Lady Susanna who was murdered in August 1629 unlike the two spirits Ringan and Penny exorcised last year who were not as benevolent. When they arrive, Jane, a member of the band, dreams that she is Lady Susana brutalized by her beloved husband's cousin Andrew. Ringan is possessed by Andrew and almost rapes Penny, hurting her ear and mouth. He is a malevolent incubus and can cause death to the living so he must be stopped before that happens. Penny, who is the power source that wakes him up, feels it is her responsibility to get rid of this evil; with the help of her lover they research records to learn the truth about what happened over three centuries ago so they can send him to hell where he belongs. Although the antagonist is a ghost, he is just as evil, malevolent and sadistic as the most deranged mortal killer. He plays a major role in the storyline as the protagonists struggle to stop the evil that he perpetrates. The love between Ringan and Penny is so strong that she knows immediately it is not her lover who is hurting her but someone using his body. The investigation to learn the facts about what happened to Lady Susanna is a journey through historical forensic records and it is fascinating to see the pieces come together. Deborah Grabien has written a great mystery wrapped around a terrifying ghost story. Harriet Klausner

Deborah Grabien has twice led us down the misty lane of the folk song that marks an actual event in history. Her previous two entries in this series, The Weaver and The Factory Maid and The Famous Flower of Serving Men, dealt with a dwelling and a tithe barn in the first book, and an unexpectedly inherited theater in the second. In Matty Groves the haunting takes place at Callowen House, one of the stately homes of England. This is a powerful story, told in Grabien's inimitable style. It will keep the hairs prickling at your nape, and your peripheral gaze sweeping the shadows outside the lighted circle of your reading lamp. Callowen's haunt is malevolent and deeply-entrenched, hidden for long years behind a pale, harmless lady of song and legend. If you liked the first two Penny and Ringan books, this one will leave you breathless, and perhaps late to work because you stayed up to finish it, and then found yourself staring into the dark.