Ghostly Echoes ~ William Ritter (earc) review [@Willothewords @AlgonquinYR]

Ghostly Echoes (Jackaby #3)
Algonquin Young Readers
August 23, 2016
352 pages
add to Goodreads/buy from Book Depository/or Amazon

My reviews of Jackaby (#1) and Beastly Bones (#2)

Jenny Cavanaugh, the ghostly lady of 926 Augur Lane, has enlisted the investigative services of her fellow residents to solve a decade-old murder—her own. Abigail Rook and her eccentric employer, Detective R. F. Jackaby, dive into the cold case, starting with a search for Jenny’s fiancé, who went missing the night she died. But when a new, gruesome murder closely mirrors the events of ten years prior, Abigail and Jackaby realize that Jenny’s case isn’t so cold after all, and her killer may be far more dangerous than they suspected.

Fantasy and folklore mix with mad science as Abigail’s race to unravel the mystery leads her across the cold cobblestones of nineteenth-century New England, down to the mythical underworld, and deep into her colleagues’ grim histories to battle the most deadly foe she has ever faced.

I really, really, really love this series. This third book does a great job keeping true to the characters we got to know in the first two books while also allowing them to grow and develop. Jackaby is still so very Jackaby but we get a few more peeks at just who R.F. Jackaby is (or was) in this third installment - and it definitely left me wanting to know even more!

While it may be a small thing, I was glad to have Jenny talking to Abigail more this book than (at least it seemed) in the first two. It helped me to think of her more as Abigail and not only as Miss Rook. I liked seeing her more settled into life as Jackaby's assistant and seeming a bit more sure of herself and maybe more forthright, too.

It was the perfect time for everything in regards to Jenny's case and their investigation of it to come to a head. Things readers already know that seemed unconnected are worked together with new information (some even new to the characters) for a mystery that's satisfying but keeps you guessing, as well.

There is more of the supernatural world involved in this story and it's great fun seeing what's 'real' in New Fiddleham and with Jackaby and how it either matches with the lore we already know or where it differs.

There was an instance where we receive Jackaby's opinion on a very current (but still relevant during the time of Ghostly Echoes) topic delivered with his usual manner. It's approached differently but you can't deny the logic (and no, I won't say what the what is exactly but I loved the inclusion).

As much as I hate that the fourth book will be the last in this series, Ia m really excited to see how everything all wraps up, to learn ore about Jackaby, Abigail and Jenny, and have one more trip into that world. Ghostly Echoes is another fun, creative, imaginative and smart novel the Jackaby series and a fabulous read.