The Ghost and The Haunted Mansion: A Haunted Bookshop Mystery

finally slow down enough to maybe hear my ghost’s voice when a hip, young, bohemian crowd descended on us. They’d just exited a showing of Mulholland Drive at the Movie Town Theater’s David Lynch retrospective and flooded the aisles to check out the stock. Even after viewing the surreal Lynch film, however, the sight of an overexcited Fiona Finch rushing through the front door in an atomic yellow pantsuit managed to attract a few stares.
    Fiona’s eyes flashed wildly as she began to shout, “Pen! Pen!” while waving her arm so frantically she scattered the pack of teenage boys that had gathered around the Zara Underwood dump.
    “Where’s Sadie?!” she asked breathlessly after finding me behind the check-out counter.
    “Sorry, Fiona,” I said, ringing up the next customer. “Sadie’s at the Seafood Shack having dinner with Bud. What’s got you so excited?”
    “I just heard about Miss Todd’s legacy! She left you mystery and true-crime first editions dating back to the 1950s?!”
    Frankly, I was surprised it took Fiona twenty-four whole hours to uncover what was supposed to be completely confidential information.
    “I simply must see that list!” Fiona gestured so suddenly that the crested cockatoo brooch pinned to her lapel nearly took flight.
    “It’s upstairs, Fiona. Sadie’s still going over it. I’m sure she’ll share it with you when she’s ready.”
    “So is it true what else I heard? Has Seymour Tarnish actually inherited the Todd place?”
    I handed the change back to my customer, bagged up her purchases, and turned to Fiona. “Miss Todd left him her house, everything inside it, the land around it, and the two outbuildings.”
    “That place is a wholly unique Second Empire. I’m dying to see the interior. You’ve been there. Do think the furniture is authentic Victorian?”
    “Looks like it to me, but I’m no antiques expert. I’m sure Seymour will be happy to show you around once he takes over.”
    Fiona turned her eyes to the ceiling. “Now what is that silly mailman going to do with a fine old Victorian treasure, I wonder? Sell it?”
    I leaned closer. “It’s better for you if Seymour keeps the place.”
    She blinked. “What have you heard, Pen? Tell me.”
    I called Bonnie over and asked her to handle the check-out line. Then I spoke to Dilbert, who was assisting customers on the floor. “I’m going to set up the events room for the Feline Friends reading group. Keep an eye on the counter and help Bonnie if she gets jammed up.”
    “No problem, Mrs. McClure.”
    I turned to Fiona. “Okay, follow me.”
    I led her through the archway to our events space, turned up the lights on the darkened area, and took down two folding chairs from the stack.
    We sat down face to face, and I began to tell Fiona all about the Lindsey-Tilton group’s offer to purchase the Todd place, with an eye toward transforming it into our town’s second bed-and-breakfast—in direct competition to Fiona’s already established inn.
    “That’s the trouble with being a pioneer,” Fiona said. “You end up getting scalped! It took Barney and me fifteen hard years to establish Finch Inn, and now some international bunch with a big war chest is going to try squeezing us out!”
    “Take it easy. Seymour probably won’t sell. Or at least that’s what he told Mr. Stoddard.”
    That did little to reassure Fiona. “A million bucks is a lot of money to a mailman who thinks a wise investment for thirty thousand in Jeopardy! winnings is an ice cream truck. Do you think he’ll hold out?”
    I took a deep breath. “Well . . . there’s another reason Seymour might sell. One that’s got nothing to do with money.”
    “What?” Fiona snorted. “Is the place supposed to be haunted?”
    I let her quip hover in the air for a moment, and then I said, “Yes.”
    Fiona’s eyes widened and (no surprise) the true-crime reader in her instantly came out. “Do you think Miss Todd’s death is connected to the haunted house rumor?! Did you know that some in town are wondering if Seymour had a hand in scaring her to death?”
    “Let me guess: The rumor came out of Chief Ciders’s office?”
    “Of course! I ran into Debra Lane in Leo Rollins’s electronics shop. She talked to her cousin Joyce, who’s Chief Ciders’s secretary. Joyce told her the chief nearly arrested the mailman for murder, and Ciders hasn’t given up yet! He’s waiting for the state forensics and the medical examiner’s final