GHOST IN THE POLKA DOT BIKINI

A romantic weekend lands a talk-show host in the middle of a 40-year-old murder nobody will acknowledge.

Life is good for Emma Whitecastle (Ghost à la Mode, 2009). The Whitecastle Report, her show on paranormal research, is almost as popular as her ex-husband Grant’s TV spot. Her new squeeze, Phil Bowers, is adjusting to her gift of clairvoyance, and her favorite spirit, Granny Apples, has agreed to respect her privacy during those special moments with Phil. Thanksgiving is a challenge because Emma’s daughter Kelly is spending the holiday with Grant. So Emma and Phil opt for a nontraditional celebration in Catalina. There she meets Tessa North, splashing in the November surf in the bikini she wore the day of her death, which Emma dates shortly after Bobby Kennedy’s assassination. Tessa doesn’t seem to know she’s dead; she’s just waiting for Curtis to come get her. Trouble is, nobody else seems to know about Tessa’s demise either. There’s no police report. Emma’s ex–father-in-law, director George Whitecastle, can’t remember the starlet from Beach Party Prom. His buddies, Paul Feldman and Worth Manning, have developed a similar amnesia, even though Tessa’s ex-roommate Denise Dowd shows Emma a picture of the three with a bevy of beauties including Tessa. Which convinces Emma that Tessa’s death involved foul play—if only she could get someone to admit Tessa was dead.

Adding two paranormal series (Granny Apples and Fang in Cheek) to her long-running paralegal series doesn’t take a bit off Jaffarian’s edge.