The attic on Queen Street

White (The Christmas Spirits on Tradd Street, 2019) wraps up her series featuring psychic medium/real estate agent Melanie Trenholm with this spirited final outing. Melanie is reeling from her husband Jack's insistence on a separation, and her focus is on repairing their troubled marriage. But a ghost inhabiting her historic Charleston home is warning of imminent danger to her teenage stepdaughter, Nola, via a creepy Victorian doll and stacks of vintage buttons. Adding to the chaos, Melanie and Jack's nemesis, Mark Longo, is filming a movie in their house--a movie that has the home's resident spirits in an uproar. Melanie is also seeking the help of the ghosts inhabiting her friend Veronica's Queen Street home in an attempt to solve a decades-old murder mystery. There's a lot going on, but White manages the various plot threads skillfully, leading readers to a resolution that ties off all the loose ends neatly--and points to a spin-off series featuring Nola. The blend of supernatural elements, mystery, and Southern women's fiction reads like a combination of Victoria Laurie and Mary Alice Monroe.

Bestseller White's bustling seventh and final Tradd Street mystery (after 2019's The Christmas Spirits on Tradd Street) finds psychic realtor Melanie Trenholm determined to win back her estranged husband, Jack, "a bestselling author of true crime mysteries." Melanie admits Jack has cause to be disaffected, as she broke her promise "to share everything with him. To be a team in all things." Meanwhile, slimy plagiarist Marc Longo, who once stole a book idea from Jack, searches for lost chunks of the Hope Diamond hidden in the Trenholms' Charleston, S.C., mansion, in an effort to disrupt the household. In addition, Melanie must deal with the insistent but frustratingly inarticulate spirits that haunt the place, as well as solve the cold case murder of her best friend's sister. No surprise, Melanie and Jack eventually realize that they can face any challenge, supernatural or mundane, if they get back together. White neatly and efficiently ties up all the plotlines, but new readers will struggle to recognize just who all the people and ghosts are and why they matter. Longtime fans will be satisfied. Agent: Amy Berkower, Writers House. (Nov.)

White finishes her Tradd Street series with panache. Doughnut-addicted realtor Melanie Trenholm's ability to see and converse with ghosts has caused considerable turmoil in her life. The old house she inherited in Charleston has provided thrills, chills, and unhappiness. Her husband, Jack, a bestselling author and father of their twins, is still angry with her for finding a long-lost treasure while he was ill--a treasure that was stolen along with his book idea by villainous Marc Longo. Since Longo thinks more treasure, the mythical half of the Hope Diamond, is still hidden in the house, he's constantly snooping around. Mellie's even more concerned with the spirit of a young woman who died on the property in the 1800s. The ghost appears to Jack's teen daughter, Nola, warning her to beware of a tall man. In addition, a creepy doll in a coffin pops up, along with piles of antique buttons. While Jack blows hot and cold, Mellie researches the identity of the monitory apparition and begins to wonder if the mystical diamond might exist. This last dispatch from Tradd Street is so closely linked to the prior six that readers are well advised to start from the beginning. Charleston and its rich history provide a lovely backdrop to this tale of mystery, romance, and danger. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.