Cover Image: Bones Behind the Wheel

Bones Behind the Wheel

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Member Reviews

I really enjoyed this story! It’s my first time reading this author and I’ll be looking forward to more.
Alison is the owner of a vey unique guesthouse on the beach. The thing that makes it especially unique is the fact that it came with a detective ghost whose name is Paul. Paul comes in very handy when a very old car is uncovered buried deep in the beach right on Alison’s property. And there’s a dead body in the car!!
Paul is immediately intrigued and wants to investigate. Alison has apparently gotten roped in Paul’s schemes before and is wary of her ghost houseguest. However, Josh, her fairly new husband wants to try to help Paul. There ensues a classic detective story with a ghostly twist.
This was actually a fun and interesting read. There is lots of humor but also the subplots are very interesting. It’s like watching a cold case file show. I see a Netflix series in the future.

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I wasn’t able to finish this book. Because of this, it is my policy not to review the book on my site or on Goodreads/Amazon. I also didn’t mark it DNF.

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A good book. Well written with great characters and a good plot. The storyline flows and the mystery is enjoyable. I highly recommend.,

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I have really enjoyed binge listening to this series! I have loved visiting with Alison, Melissa, Josh and of course Paul and Maxie! To me Amanda Ronconi is Alison, I have loved listening to her narrate each story.

Although I received this book as an ARC, I ended up buying them all as audiobooks. It felt as if this was the last book in the series and I will miss these characters.

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Another great Haunted Guesthouse mystery, this time featuring a mysterious corpse inside a car buried in the backyard of the guesthouse. Copperman does a great job balancing the mystery and supernatural elements.

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After finishing Bones Behind the Wheel, by E.J. Copperman, I was so intrigued by the characters and plot lines that I read every other book in this series. It is an unusual series. Alison, a pragmatist who absolutely does not believe in ghosts, owns a guest house by the ocean in New Jersey, where she lives with her young daughter Melissa and two ghosts. The ghosts, Paul, Maxie and, on occasion, Maxie’s husband, came with the house, having been murdered there. Paul is a private detective, and Maxie is a young designer with extreme decorating ideas. Alison’s deceased father also visits from time to time.

Having made her peace, sort of, with the ghosts, Alison has found that having a haunted guest house is good for business. What is not good for business, however, is the 1977 Lincoln Continental found buried in the sand behind her house that happens to have a skeleton in it. Alison, her daughter, and the ghosts, must solve the mystery of the car and the skeleton before there are more murders.

I enjoyed this book, and the series. Copperman has created a close-to believable mystery series while avoiding the cliches that a series involving ghosts could easily invoke.

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Allison Kerby Innkeeper, Newly Married, Mom. Did I mention she sees, talks to and helps solve crimes with ghosts? Allision with the help of her husband Josh, daughter Melissa and Mom help ghost to solve crimes in their little town in Jersey Shore. This is the 10th book in the series. I really liked this book and was captured by the characters. Paul, Maxie, Everett and Allison's Dad all added comedy and fun to the book. Allison's town has ordered renovations to the beach outside her Inn. Lo and behold there is a 1977 Lincoln Car buried in the sand nearly at her backyard. To make it worse it has a body in it. And sure enough the body has been murdered. With all this Allison has to put up with no kitchen (beam has to be replaced due to gunshot hole), Maxie the ghost trying to redecorate her kitchen, a love sick tenant at the inn and a police detective who is afraid to go into her house because of the ghosts. You will laugh and be pulled into this book as it is different and very enjoyable.

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I did not care for this book. I may try and read,it again sometime. But for now it would not hold my interest and was very slow and dry for my current tastes.

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E.J. Cooperman find Bones Behind the Wheel in this Haunted Guesthouse mystery. Innkeeper Alison Kerby is rehabbing her kitchen and the town is fixing the shoreline behind her guesthouse. What could go wrong? First the workmen find a buried car in the hole in her back yard; next she finds an emerald hidden in the house along with a gun buried under her fridge. Alison and her ghosts set out to find whodunit. The plot is a little too convoluted for a cozy, but the characters are interesting.

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This is the 10th book in the Haunted Guesthouse Mystery series. I really like this series, the characters, including the ghosts, are fun and quirky and the plots are well thought out and well written.

In this installment, an old car is discovered buried with a body in the front seat behind the guesthouse. Alison is done investigating but her resident ghost is raring to investigate. When her husband Josh wants to get involved, Alison has to agree.

I highly recommend this book and the entire series.

Thanks to Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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The tenth in the Haunted Guesthouse series and still one of my favourite paranormal series.

Alison is determined to stay out of the latest investigation which arises from the discovery of a car buried on her beach - with the skeletal driver still behind the wheel! She is thwarted in her attempt by the involvement of her husband, who teams up with Paul - a ghostly PI, one of her resident ghosts - to look into it. Eventually, she caves to her own curiosity and joins in the hunt for the murderer.

Alongside this, Maxie - another of Alison's resident ghosts - is creating designs for a kitchen redo, one Alison has reluctantly agreed to entertain. As well, the support beam damaged by a bullet is being replaced and strange things turn up behind it as well.

The characters of this series are fantastic. Alison is snarky and outspoken; her daughter Melissa is smart and mature; her new husband Josh takes everything in his stride, and the ghosts all have their own characteristics and habits as well. I often find myself laughing at something Alison has said or done.

Having said that, however, I did find the numerous asides a bit tedious in this one and the mystery took a bit longer than usual to unfold. Regardless, it's a series I definitely recommend and am already looking forward to the next one in the series.

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I found the first half of this book to be annoying. Alison keeps saying that she doesn't want to be involved over & over again every time something happens or is said. Finally she decides to help investigate and the book starts moving smoothly from there. I enjoyed the plot. #BonesBehindTheWheel #NetGalley

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Unusual, and thought-provoking, if I do say, imagine a bed and breakfast where the ghosts are the star attraction and are among the living as if they were alive what an interesting concept. Old cars with a skeleton and modern-day jewelry pouches with emeralds, what’s really happening, in Alison’s backyard. As things began to unfold, slowly the pieces began to fit and I do mean very slowly, Alison tried her best to stay out of the investigation, which was a bit childish on her part I find since everything was occurring on her property and in her house. A mildly intriguing cozy.

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This was the first book I'd ever read in this series, and now I want to start at the beginning! This one was so funny in places, and I just love the author's style of the narration by Alison, the main character. Her sarcasm and quips were cracking me up!

When a body was found inside a Lincoln Continental on the grounds of Alison's guesthouse, her resident PI ghost Paul was excited that they now had another case to work on. For the longest time, Alison refused to have anything to do with the case, but surprisingly her husband Josh was anxious to work on it. He and Paul worked out a texting way of communicating, since Alison, her daughter Melissa and Alison's mom were the only ones able to see the ghosts. The other ghost, Maxie was a hoot! She could be moody and snarky, but in this book she was more interested in decorating Alison's kitchen which was being put back together from a bullet in the kitchen beam.

This was really interesting because there wasn't a current day murder to solve, just the cold case of the guy buried in the car that was in the hole in the yard. I loved how Melissa helped with cases even though she was 13, she was more like the maturity of a much older teen. Since I hadn't read any of the other books, I really had no idea what Josh was like before he started helping out with this case, but apparently he was never interested, so it was pretty cool that Paul thought he would make a good operative, lol. I had definitely not guessed how the man had been killed, what a twist! I thought that the detective in charge was as accommodating as she could be. I got a kick out of Paul going into her office and observing how she worked--along with picking up tidbits about the case. I've got a lot of catching up to do before another book ever comes out.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book provided by the publisher via NetGalley, and my opinions are my own.

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Bones Behind the Wheel by E J Copperman was an enjoyable story about a haunted guesthouse owned by a woman names Alison. There are 4 ghosts in this story that can only be heard and seen by her. Contractors find a buried car in sand in the guest house backyard. After they drag up the Lincoln Continental, they find a skeleton behind the wheel and determine it was murder. Alison and her ghosts try to solve this decades old mystery. Good plot, funny characters, and takes place at the Jersey Shore. Thank you to Net Galley for allowing me to read an advanced reader’s copy of this book for a review.

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Bones Behind the Wheel: A Haunted Guesthouse Mystery
By E.J. Copperman
Crooked Lane
January 2019

Review by Cynthia Chow

When a bucket of drywall compound landed on Alison Kerby’s head, it activated her family’s matrilineal ability to see and communicate with ghosts. After a rocky period of adjustment, Alison has successfully negotiated an arrangement with her two live-in ghosts to perform for scheduled appearances at her Harbor Haven Haunted Guesthouse. Resident ghosts Maxie Malone and Paul Harrison tend to get bored though, which is why Maxie is insisting on redecorating Alison’s kitchen while Paul is more than anxious to take on another private detective agency client. While Maxie is distracted by her plans to renovate Alison’s guesthouse without regard to functionality, practicality, or budget, Paul sees an investigative opportunity right on their doorstep. Or more accurately their beachfront, as New Jersey’s project to repair beach damage by moving around sand has unearthed a vintage Lincoln Continental, which is remarkable not just for its ability to disappear and reappear the next morning, but by the body stashed inside.

Despite having caved into Paul’s insistence on earning her own private investigator license, Alison declares that she wants nothing to do with the mystery of the corpse in the sand (she basically doesn’t feel like it). Instead, it’s her new husband Josh who eagerly enlists as Paul’s apprentice investigator, tracking down missing persons, pirate treasure, and uncovered bullet casings. Whatever concerns Alison had about Josh’s being introduced to her spectral world are completely put aside – and replaced with new ones – as while still unable to see or hear ghosts, he is delighted to learn that he can text them. The completely put upon Detective Lieutenant Anita McElone is still not thrilled with the knowledge that ghosts exists, but she really saves her sarcasm and barbs for Alison. For no matter how many times Alison declares that she’s not a part of the investigation, she somehow always finds herself up to her armpits in mayhem and corpses.

This continues to be a mystery series that delights in acknowledging and subverting amateur mystery tropes, which guarantees for a genuinely hilarious and surprising novel. Just when readers will think they have the puzzle solved the unexpected occurs, which should delight even the most jaded and experienced mystery fans. The real reason this series has become so beloved though, are the characters and the witty dialogue, a trademark of the novels by Copperman (AKA Jeff Cohen). As hilarious and relatable the exchanges between Alison and her thirteen daughter may be, just as rewarding has been the often tempestuous relationship between Alison and the eternally young Maxie. That the ghosts are as vulnerable and sympathetic as the “real” characters is a testament to the writing, which has allowed them to grow along with the living. The eminently satisfying conclusion promises a new avenue of adventures for the Haunted Guesthouse family, and the next installment can’t come soon enough.

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It's always a fun visit to the Jersey shore in E.J. Copperman's Haunted Guesthouse series and this is the 10th story. I always laugh aloud with B&B owner Allison and her husband as they interact with their resident ghosts. It's winter and the community is doing a big beach replenishment project when they unearth a car with a skeleton in the driver's seat right by Allison's back door. With ghost gumshoe Paul and husband Josh taking on this investigation Allison has problems with ghost Maxine who wants to redecorate the Inn. Funny and fast moving, this cozy can be read as a stand alone. I received a copy of this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

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BONES BEHIND THE WHEEL is the tenth book in E.J. Copperman's Haunted Guesthouse paranormal cozy mystery series. It's a common thing, in a mystery, for a character to discover a skeleton in the backyard. For Alison, she has the misfortune to have a Lincoln Continental discovered in her beach-bordered backyard. Alison is determined to stay out of the investigation, no matter how hard her resident ghosts, family, and husband try to lure her back in. I love this series and this pragmatic amateur sleuth. The living and the dead bedevil Alison as she tries to run her guesthouse. She eventually resigns herself to helping her crew solve the decades old murder mystery.

In BONES BEHIND THE WHEEL, Alison doesn't go looking for a mystery, but it is brought to her door when a beach clean-up crew stumble upon it. The humorous edge in BONES BEHIND THE WHEEL is reminiscent of the classic Hitchcock film THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY and helps break up the tension when things take a sinister turn. When the Lincoln disappears and reappears, Alison is drawn into the mystery more so to stop an annoyance rather than anything else. Everyone around her is fascinated even when things heat up and get a little more dangerous for this ghostly detective crew. As a reader, I find this to be one of the more perplexing yet enjoyable mysteries in this Haunted Guesthouse series. In this installment, Alison's resident ghosts have diverging interests. Maxie is obsessed with displaying her decorative skills around the house, while Paul busies himself with the cold case - aided by Alison's eager hubby Josh. E.J. Copperman builds the tension as the mystery goes from an amusing or annoying occurrence in the lives of Alison's family, to something that may hurt them.

BONES BEHIND THE WHEEL evokes Hitchcock with an equal number of laughs and thrills. The living and the dead are an equal mix of friends and foes with an entertaining story. The great supporting cast of characters created by E.J. Copperman has me coming back to this series every time. I look forward to E.J. Copperman's Haunted Guesthouse series.

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I really liked this book. I must say it is not your tipical scary ghost storry. It was written really well. This was my first book in the series and I am really hooked to read the rest of it. Even though is not my go to genre I really liked it. If you love a good mystery ghost book with dose of humor you might wanna read this one. Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for this copy I really enjoyed it reading.

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Bones Behind the Wheel is the tenth book in E.J. Copperman’s Haunted Guesthouse Mystery series and this one does not disappoint!

Alison has made up her mind to focus on her guesthouse not the mysteries that her resident ghost Paul wants her to solve. Then she looks out her window to see a vintage automobile being unearthed, complete with unidentified body! Looks like her resolution might not see the light of day.

E.J. Copperman written another winning cozy and I’m already anticipating the next in this series!

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