A fun mash-up of urban fantasy and mystery with a dash of Ghostbusters! Looking forward to the next book in the series.

I cannot figure out which genre that this book belongs in. I am sure that it should be paranormal young adult, but there are a couple of parts, that come across more grown-up. Nothing that a teen should not be reading, but a bit out of place from the usual.

On his mother’s dying bed, 22-year-old pale pudgy academic Kester Lanner is directed to find his father. A father that Kester never knew about - actually, never even questioned since it had always been his mother and himself. Turns out that mom was keeping quite a few secrets and when he tracks down Dr. Rubio and his Agency of the Supernatural in Exeter, Kester’s world is literally shaken, or whatever it is called when a ghost will not let him go.

Spirit hunting is not a job that a nervous scholar would seek out, but as it turns out, his mother had her own talents and apparently, that gift did not fall far from the tree. With the help of his father and his merry band of psychics, Kester is in for quite the battle with a mysterious lady in green that is trying to sink her claws into him and any woman that is nearby.

I am still not fully sold on this series, I see interesting potential, but a clearer line needs to be drawn when it comes to the genre. I do hope that Lucy Banks continues to include folklore and legend, not to mention humor, in the next books in this series, since it was interesting to see a new take on one of my favorite ghost stories of the past.

I received a free ARC copy of this book in return for an honest review

Not sure I would have qualified this book as a mystery or thriller, more like a paranormal story with a side of mystery. In the forefront is the story of a man who finds out that he has an “ability” to hunt ghosts, and that most of life was a lie, including who his father was.
The story was interesting enough but could have been written tighter. The conversations are way too long drawn out, and often unnecessarily laced with an attempt to showcase the quirkiness of the cast of characters. Okay, I did like the characters, but after highlighting their uniqueness, it would have been nice if the author would have moved on to the meat of the story.
Despite my occasional boredom I finished this book, not seeing any surprise in plot twists or turns, something that would make me go – interesting, I did not expect that. Still, it was an interesting enough read, for those days when it is cold outside, and there is nothing else to do. Kind of reminds me of a lazy Sunday afternoon movie, that is passable for entertainment because it is better than doing nothing.
With a little bit tighter writing and a lot less fluff, this book could have been an entertaining ride. Instead, I felt like I had to force myself to continue to read the story and hope for those parts, like the ghost encounters, that were actually interesting

Who you gonna call? Ghostbusters!! This was a fun take on a team of supernatural spirit catchers. I enjoyed watching Kesker step out of his comfort zone to find his calling. It was a fun adventure that would definitely be appropriate for young adults too. I did get a little tired of the banter between Serena and Mike and Kesker could be a tad whiney but I am looking forward to the nest installation to see how he grows into his new role in his father’s Agency of the Supernatural.

But I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Case of the Green Dressed Ghost gets kudos for charm and character development.   But while  Lucy Banks’s characters are vibrant, the novel’s plot is simplistic.  In accordance with his mother’s final wishes, Kester, a practically minded academic seeks out Dr. Ribero.  Much to his surprise, his father runs a business devoted to removing unwanted spirits. Kester has never believed in the supernatural, so the situation definitely takes him out of his comfort zone.  The company is facing a particularly difficult task - removing a malevolent spirit from a painting, and Kester just might be the key to their success.

The story behind the painting’s spirit is an interesting one, but the rest is standard ghostbusters fare.  It is neither particularly humorous nor particularly tense.  It falls in the middle - the area of death, the completely unexceptional.  Kester is a unique lead, unassuming and just a bit cowardly, but easy to like.  Characterizations, however good, don't make up for the lackluster plot.

3 / 5

The Case of the Green Dressed Ghost is available for preorder and will be released March 7, 2017.

I received a copy of The Case of the Green Dressed Ghost from the publisher and Netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.

-- Crittermom

An outstanding paranormal that caught my attention on the first page. I found myself unable to put it down until I finished. All I could say is WOW! It has everything you could want in a story. There is a mystery, quirky characters, myths, and action.
Kester Lanner on the death of his Mother honors her dying request to find Dr. Ribero and tell him his name. You will feel Kester dismay when he does. He learns that Dr. Ribero is his Father and owns an agency that catches and removes unwanted ghosts from their locations. Kester is scared but determined to handle himself when he sees his first ghost. His despair when is unable to control his actions. Kester must learn to manage his life if he is to survive. I highly recommend this debut story and look forward to reading many stories of Dr. Ribero's Agency of the Supernatural.

Disclosure: I received a free copy from Amberjack Publishing through NetGalley for an honest review I would like to thank them for this opportunity to read and review the book. The opinions expressed are my own.

RATING: 3.5 out of 5

Kester Lanner is a 22-year-old young man who follows his mother’s dying request to go to Dr. Ribero’s Agency. Not knowing who or what Dr. Ribero is, Kester discovers that a whole new world that he never knows before, the world of supernatural investigations, including catching them and such. Not only that, Kester also learns a lot more about his family and the secret that his mother keeps all these years. Then Kester is thrown to the business when he is roped to help with a case of haunted painting of an apparently very viscious lady in green-dress…

—

I couldn’t help feeling curious with The Case of the Green-Dressed Ghost because of the GORGEOUS cover and the blurb that said “family business: catching supernatural spirits”. Look, British Ghostbusters! *smile* And well, I quite liked this debut…

Kester is definitely the youngest addition to the supernatural agency; all of the other characters are a whole lot older than he is. Maybe because of that, at first I didn’t feel a cohesive and welcoming team towards Kester. Especially coming from Serena, the extinguisher on the team.

After a while, I understand that it is caused by Serena’s fear of Kester taking over her job, since it turns out Kester has “something” running in his blood that apparently is very useful in the ghost-hunters business. Plus Kester is the boss’s son. But still I didn’t feel that closeness yet between them which influences my enjoyment a bit.

However, I could see that this may be a work in progress. After he welcomes the idea of supernatural world, Kester would be quite helpful for the agency. He has a knack for research — and actually enjoys it! — which will contribute to the other skills that the rest of the team has.

I enjoyed reading about the rest of Kester new co-workers — in addition to Serena, we have Ms. Wellbeloved who is a conversant, Pamela – the resident psychic, Mike who designs all the equipment, and of course the head of the team, Dr. Julio Ribero. Even if they sometimes squabble quite loud; it is also probably due to the fact that they had been together for years.

The ghost case is quite engaging; I loved that this book mixes supernatural beings from legends as well as cultural folklore (we have sighting of a dislocated Japanese spirit who wakes up in a wrong time-zome *lol*)

I’d say this is a lovely debut and I’m looking forward to future sequels

This book was a lot of fun. It was a little scary-ish, but not so bad that I couldn't sleep. I would be interested in reading other books in this series.

I really loved this coming-of-age ghost busting story! It's the first of the Dr Ribero's Agency of the Supernatural, and I hope there will be many more. If you liked the Ghostbusters movies, I'm sure you''ll like this.

thanks you.
enjoyed it.
will get copies for family and friends.

I absolutely LOVE this book! I began reading it and was immediately hooked with the beautifully detailed descriptions then as I delved deeper and met the characters I fell in love. The dialogue between them is fantastic and I actually felt I was watching one of those British comedy/drama shows rather than reading a book. It would be wonderful if this was turned into a serialized show or movie someday because it's ripe for further stories.

Banks is a wonderful author who did a fantastic job taking a ghost story and making it uniquely her own. I wanted to root for the main character, Kester, and hope that he'd be able to find his place in the world. As much as this is a ghost story really the ghost aspect is secondary to the relationships Banks creates between the characters. I just finished and already want to read it again. When you discover the twist towards the end with the ghost I about jumped out of my skin because I of course like many grew up hearing that same tale and will be forever cautious around mirrors because you just never know.....

This was a great start to what will hopefully be a long series. I think younger teen readers and adults will enjoy this book. Kester promises his dying mother he will find Dr. Ribero and when he does discovers he's his father. Set in England, Dr. Ribero runs a paranormal investigation unit and his mother was one of his best ghost catchers. Kester is leery of joining the team and on his first investigation discovers he can open the spirit door. They now have the talk of evicting the Green dressed ghost from a painting in a very ritzy home. She is pure evil and they have their hands full. I enjoyed this story it's unusual approach as a ghost story. Looking forward to more.

The Case of the Green-Dressed Ghost can be described as a paranormal mystery that centers around a lead character discovering himself while being introduced to the supernatural world of ghost hunting. Kester, the main character, annoyed me with his lack of self-esteem and incessant whining. I realize the author wanted to reiterate this to make a reader really understand the character, but I felt this was a little overdone. There was no real connection between the characters, especially considering that there is the whole son reuniting with his long lost father storyline going on. The mystery wrapped up in a ghost story portion of book was interesting enough for me to stick with it until the end.

It has been a very long time since I finished a book in less than twenty-four hours. In fact, I was probably a teenager at the time. A time when responsibilities were few, your folks still gave you dinner every night, and free time was pretty much constant. Anyone else feeling nostalgic? Now we all have a to-do list a mile long and a pile of dirty dishes in the sink. Unless you have a maid. If you do I'm incredibly jealous. In any case...

After my last read, which was an utter disappointment of a story that lasted 200 pages too long, I wanted an easy read. A slam dunk. Needed to get my reading mojo back. So, I went with what appeared to be a nice sci-fi mystery. Even the title reminded me of a Scooby-Doo episode and what heathen doesn't like Scooby? There is even a mystery solving gang with a van! Fun, right?

We begin with Kester Lanner whose mother has recently passed. The last thing she said to him was a request to find a fellow named Dr. Ribero. Following his mother's last request he manages to find Dr. Ribero in a dilapidated old building. Now, Kester is a lovable wuss and does not want to investigate in this building even though this is where he tracked Ribero to. Being loyal to his mother's final request, he ventures into the building and finds himself thrown into what he previously thought was only fiction. The group of folks he finds inside hunts ghosts and banshees and all sorts of paranormal things. He also learns that the mysterious Dr. Ribero is his father. *dramatic music*

Kester finds himself pulled into this world of the supernatural and watching his discovery is just, well, fun! He has always been an awkward fellow and has very little confidence or courage in himself. Still, he joins this group of folks in their hunt (granted they sure pressured him into it) and discovers he has a rare power that significantly helps his father and the rest of the team in capturing these otherworldly creatures. Of course, it scares the pants right off of him. The reader gets to watch this young man with no confidence start to discover himself and his place in the world.

I very much enjoyed this book. It was simple and fun. After my previous read being such a let down this is exactly what I needed. The author states that this is the first book in a series featuring our paranormal fighting group and I am looking forward to reading more about them.

Kester Lanner didnt know what to expect when he followed his mothers dying request to contact the mysterious Dr. Ribero, but he wasnt expecting to find his long lost father. Nor was he expecting to join the family business: catching supernatural spirits. Kester is intrigued despite his fear, and finds himself drawn into an ancient ghost story that will test the entire agency. He soon becomes enmeshed in a struggle with the spirit, who is so malevolent and haunting that his first real case might just be his last.

An very good read by an author I had never seen before - Although for the younger audience I really enjoyed it and look forward to more.