THE GIRL ON LEGARE STREET (Karen White)

First of all, "Legare" is pronounced le-gree, according to several seemingly reputable Internet sources.  I wish I had looked this up BEFORE I read this novel, because I like to pronounce things correctly in my mind, especially after inwardly saying DE-bacle for years instead of de-BAH-cle!

If you like a little bit if paranormal activity in your reading, you'll enjoy every minute of this story.  Mother and daughter, Ginnette and Melanie Middleton, have been estranged for 33 years, ever since Ginnette deserted young Melanie and her father without explanation.  Now Ginnette has returned and wants to buy back and restore her ancestral home on Legare Street with Melanie's help.  Melanie, a real estate agent, had inherited a historic home on Tradd Street and has developed quite an eye for historic preservation, but is wary of forming any kind of relationship with the mother who stepped out of her life and forged a successful career in opera, seemingly without a second glance back.  There is also the question of both the menacing and protective spirits who inhabit the Legare Street.  As psychics, Melanie (referred to as Mellie by her friend Jack Trenholm in deliciously Gone With the Wind style) and Ginnette have both dealt with unsettled, long-deceased inhabitants of the house.  When a sunken ship is raised and the remains of a body discovered in a trunk on board, things suddenly become dangerous.  Melanie and Jack set out to discover the origins of the locket discovered with the body, eerily similar to lockets in 2 portraits of women who bear a close resemblance to Melanie and her mother.  An overly nosy local reporter from Jack's past also involves herself in the search for answers.

My best advice to you, the reader, would be to read  The House on Tradd Street first.  I didn't realize that this was a sequel, and if I had I would have started with the right book.  I don't think it will make a difference either way with your enjoyment of this series.  Karen White just keeps thrilling me!

MURDER IN CHELSEA (Victoria Thompson)

Murder in Chelsea is Victoria Thompson's 15th gaslight mystery, the first one that I've read.  My mother is a BIG fan, though, and I can see why.

Sarah Brandt, the "star" of these mysteries, is a young widowed midwife from an upper-class family.  Her parents disapprove of their socially non-conformist daughter and her profession but love both Sarah and Catherine, the abandoned child that Sarah informally adopted as her own daughter a year ago.  Because she is not married, Sarah cannot legally adopt 4-year-old Catherine, who was left at the Hope's Daughters Mission with no indication that anyone would ever come back for her.  Sarah is devastated when she hears that a woman claiming to be Catherine's nursemaid has been inquiring about her, so her beau, policeman Frank Malloy sets off to investigate, only to find that the woman has been murdered in her tenement.

Thompson has created an intriguing, well-paced mystery filled with period details and customs.  There is just enough romance and familial love to satisfy those who like a slightly softer edge to their murders.  Even though there were 14 previous books that I haven't read in this series, I had no trouble deciphering the characters and their relationships and quickly felt that I knew them all well.  This is a winner!