Any historical that has the heroine seeing dead people definitely gets my attention. I had high hopes for this book, but overall it ended up being only slightly above average.

Susan Stanton is an disgraced Regency miss confined to her rooms because her propensity for gossip resulted in a scandal that cut short her London season. After the river Thames freezes over, London’s Frost Fair comes to life. Not about to miss this once in a lifetime vision, Susan rebels, and circumvents the servants guarding her so that she can see the sights. Taking a short cut across the ice, she technically dies after taking a plunge in the river, but ghosts save her. After recovering, she is sent to stay with her father’s fourth cousin thrice removed in Bournemouth, a small town on the coast with less then one hundred occupants. Arriving at Moonseed Manor, she is met by a scarecrow butler and a giant called Ollie who claims she is his guest, with no sign of the mistress of the house. In her chambers, she meets her first ghost. The next day she meets Red, a ghost who just wants her to tell his family that he is dead.

Evan Bothwick is at the manor, trying to get information from Ollie about the whereabouts of his brother, Timothy, when Susan arrives. Timothy went off without his brother on a mission because Evan wasn’t quite ready to leave the bed of his current bit o’muslin. Now his brother, the more punctual, responsible one, and his friend Red are both missing and Evan is worried. Frustrated with Ollie’s unconcerned demeanor, he leaves and as he is walking toward the beach, he sees a ship. Swimming out to the unanchored vessel, Evan finds it empty of crew and smuggled goods, containing only the body of his brother who has been shot between the eyes.

With Susan holding one piece of the puzzle while Evan searches out the other and both living in this small community, they spend a lot of time running into each other. Susan has no interest in Evan, since her plans only include going back to London, and taking her place in Society with the right sort of husband. Evan is highly allergic to debutantes of any type but Susan has definitely gotten under his skin.

First of all, I found the book original and this definitely earned bonus points with me. The book is quirky, making it stand out from some of the other historical books out there. So, what didn’t work for me? The lack of depth in the characterizations as well as the frenetic action throughout the book all got on my nerves.

All I know about Susan is that she is an Original, wears glasses, loves gossip which caused her downfall in London, and now wants to rejoin society. She knows that getting caught with the local lothario is the one way to ruin all her plans but sticks with him anyway. Otherwise, the books jumps from one scene to another such as the heroine following the hero, to passing out in the local watering hole, to speaking with ghosts, to finding a long lost cousin. I wanted an explanation of why Susan didn’t see ghosts in London or on the trip to Bournemouth, and I wanted to know how she thought. I wanted to spend more time in her head. And what did I know of Evan? He’s untitled, but not poor and joins a smuggling gang with his brother just to eliminate the tediousness of his life. After finding his brother dead, little time is actually spent on his grief, and Evan has entered into a partnership with Ollie the giant, without seemingly knowing the man. Why?

The setting and secondary characters almost seem right out of a Tim Burton movie, which made things seem a little cartoonish at times. Also, while there is a mystery, the identity of the true villian in this story is not really a surprise. There is much that I liked about the book, but it left me wanting to know more about the characters and their motivation. If you prefer books that are quirky and more on the lighter side and can overlook some of the flaws I mention, then this book might appeal to you more then me.

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