Giving up the Ghost (Brilliant Series)

Rating:
Summary: Play it agaim Sam, this may be your last.
Review: Helen really out did herself with this entry in the Hollis Ball/Sam Wescott mystery series. And she couldn't have selected a better subject to do it with. It is high time someone poked some honest fun at all the Elvis impersonations. But Helen is still slow in giving her readers the depth of characterization that both Hollis and Sam deserve. This isn't to say she isn't trying or that she isn't making progress. Somewhere along the line she just seems to be missing the boat.

It appears this could easilly be the last in the Hollis Ball/Sam Wescott series. Chappell stated in an interview she was having problems finding a publisher for entry number 5 in the series. Chould it be that even Hollis and Sam are giving up the ghost? I would be disappointed but I could easily get over it if Hollis doesnt' stop wallowing in the mud so much.

Rating:
Summary: Fun ghost mystery
Review: Hollis is dragooned into judging an Elvis impersonator contest by her no good godfather Albie Lydekker. Her ghostly ex-husband and most of the people she knows think it is a bad idea, so does she. But, Albie is in debt to Bang Bang Devine, mafioso and Elvis impersonator and he wants a contest. Then, Bang is discovered dead in Elvis drag at the seedy Lock and Load motel, and Albie is a suspect. Things get really involved between all of the different Elvii, the real E, Sam the ghost, Snow White the grunge rocker hooker, and all of the usual Eastern Shore characters. It is all alot of fun however. I really didn't even try to figure out who the murderer was, I wasn't surprised, but the characters were so much fun, I didn't really care.

Rating:
Summary: Fun ghost mystery
Review: Hollis is dragooned into judging an Elvis impersonator contest by her no good godfather Albie Lydekker. Her ghostly ex-husband and most of the people she knows think it is a bad idea, so does she. But, Albie is in debt to Bang Bang Devine, mafioso and Elvis impersonator and he wants a contest. Then, Bang is discovered dead in Elvis drag at the seedy Lock and Load motel, and Albie is a suspect. Things get really involved between all of the different Elvii, the real E, Sam the ghost, Snow White the grunge rocker hooker, and all of the usual Eastern Shore characters. It is all alot of fun however. I really didn't even try to figure out who the murderer was, I wasn't surprised, but the characters were so much fun, I didn't really care.

Rating:
Summary: A top notch entry in a great series.
Review: Hollis, reporter on Maryland's Eastern Shore is back. What bothers many people is that her gambling godfather, Albie is also back. Albie played one year with the Orioles,but his life style and gambling ended his baseball career abruptly. He lives from opportunity to failed opportunity. This time he is setting up an Elvis interpreter contest for a mobster to whom he owes money. When these Elvis impersonators begin to turn up murdered, Albie is the logical suspect. Hollis must clear him with the help of her ghostly ex-husband Sam, accompanied by stern warnings of her policeman boy friend to stay out of it. This book will keep you trying to come up with the solution while laughing out loud. A wonderful concept for both comedy and mystery that Chappell handles with a light professional touch. Great reading especially for those of us who grew up with George and Marian Kirby in the Topper series.

Rating:
Summary: I like this series....but this book is not nearly as good or
Review: I like this series....but this book is not nearly as good or funny as the first two, or even the third, for that matter. Either way, I'm waiting for the next one. I hope the author takes her time on it.....I need somemore light and fluffy read on vacation books....

Rating:
Summary: Play it agaim Sam, this may be your last.
Review: Or, "this Elvising is hard work."

Every small townprobably has a Lock and Load Motel on its outskirts. A haven forprostitution, drugs and unwary travelers who are looking for a cheap night's sleep. In Helen Chappell's mystery Giving Up the Ghost it also comes complete with the corpse of one minor mafioso, a superannuated doper ex-prom queen and a whole clutch of Elvis impersonators (or Elvii as Uncle Albie calls them).

Forget about the mystery it's not that important, just sit back and enjoy a great ride with Hollis Ball, her dead ex-husband, Sam, and all the other denizens of Watertown, living and dead.