a fairly unique plot. Claire is 32 and a bit lost and not doing well at being a grownup. She makes a meagre living as a not-very-good medium. She doesn't wear flicky black eyeliner and lots of scarves and black lace - she's actually a bit of a sad sack. She looks down and says "uhm" a lot. Why a medium, then? Ah, she has a ghostly Constant Companion. She is somehow tethered to her high school chum Sophie, who disappeared at 17 and came back - visible only to Claire - as a ghost. She doesn't remember what happened to her, she just knows she's dead.

In the first book, Claire is the entertainment at a weekend gathering at a posh country home, but instead of being a woo-woo medium, there's a murder or two. She stays friends with two members of the family, and in this sequel they are going on a holiday to an Irish island. Guess what happens?

The premise is novel, the writing is funny, and the characters are a hoot without being Too Much.