Anytime I start a Jaya Jones book I know I'm in for a fun adventure involving treasure and history. This was no different as we quickly learned of the lost art of a possible apprentice of Michelangelo who had ties to India. Jaya stumbles upon a mystery, a possible murder and lands in Italy exploring the Park of Monsters. I absolutely loved that Jaya's brother, Fish, is a main character in this book and enjoyed the interactions between brother and sister. The mystery kept me guessing until the end and the ending had me absolutely hooked even if it was a bit farfetched. Because of the complicated relationships between several of the characters this is a series best read in order but each book has been lots of fun so it hasn't been a hardship!

A cosy mystery book in a series you do really need to read the others i feel

Thank you Netgalley for a copy for an honest review

In my defense (and in the book’s defense) I am NOT a history buff. I have always disliked history so with that in mind; I had a hard time getting into the book. I felt it was a little slow where I like more action packed, quick paced mysteries.

I will say, the suspense started off almost immediately; but I for much of the beginning, I felt like I was waiting for the adventure to begin.

Although this was the fourth book in the Jaya series; I didn’t feel left out of anything that was pertinent to this book.

If you like a good who done it mystery, history and or art; this will be a great read for you!

MICHELANGELO'S GHOST, A Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mystery by Gigi Pandian is #4 in the series. I love a good art history mystery and this is one. I missed Jaya’s hunky bad guy boyfriend, but there were new characters to entice. I loved it and can’t wait for #5.

This is the fourth Jaya Jones mystery, yet the first I read. I think I will go back and read the first three as there were some things that I was not sure of and I am sure they was information in the previous books. Having said that, I was able to follow the story. In this book, Jaya, aka JJ, is contacted by her old mentor to ask her. She went to visit and found out that the professor had some clues to finding a lost group of paintings by a little known Rennaisance Painter, Lazzaro Allegri. Jaya is not sure whether to believe her due to her reputation of being an alcoholic who is looking for her last claim to fame. Jaya takes the three journals with her and talks to her doctorate advisor about the situation. Before she can do anything else, the mentor dies, leaving Jaya with what are, presumably sketchbooks of a student of Michelangelo. With brother Mahilan and his new flame Ava in tow, they all head to Italy to see if any of this is true and to see if they can find these hidden paintings.

I enjoyed meeting Jaya, her brother and best friend. They are real characters and their relationship is wonderful. Their dialogue with another is witty and shows their comfort with one another. I loved the descriptions of the various settings. I had never heard of the Park of Monsters, yet I could almost picture it when they were visiting. Pandian has given us another riveting mystery based loosely on historical fact and smartly woven fiction. There was an alternate mystery regarding who the mysterious thief with the calling card really was and how that thief was involved in the search for the paintings. There were some twists, some cliffhangers and some red herrings all thrown in, to take us on a journey with Jaya, Mahilan and Ava. Of course, I can't forget the ghost that flies around and screeches in the night, trying to scare people in the Park of Monsters. This is a very hard to put down mystery series and Michelangelo's Ghost is a wonderful book that I highly recommend to mystery lovers, cozy mystery lovers and those who enjoy the search for lost or hidden antiquities.

Once more we are treated to a rich mix of fiction loosely based on fact, as Jaya Jones goes in search of the mysterious link between Mughal India and Renaissance Italy.

Atmospheric, entertaining, another enjoyable outing from Gigi Pandian.

Are you a fan of mystery books? I’ve been reading mystery books since I was a little girl! I can’t remember the first mystery I read, but I do know that one of my favorite series as a tween was Nancy Drew! What girl didn’t want to be Nancy Drew solving cases and traveling to exciting places? I still want to travel to exciting places and solve mysteries!

Jaya Jones gets to do those things too. She never sets out to solve mysteries, but she ends up doing it anyway. This is the first Jaya Jones book I’ve read, but it is the fourth book in the series. I haven’t read the others, but after having read this, I will be reading them!

Michelangelo’s Ghost is a cozy mystery book with such fun characters and a plot that will keep you guessing! I had no idea who the “bad guy” was until Jaya did! The setting in Italy and the Park of Monsters is written so vividly that you’ll feel like you are really there!

I highly recommend Michelangelo’s Ghost to any fans of the cozy mystery genre!

Every year there is a book that I consider to be a hidden gem, a book from which I wasn't quite sure what to expect that turned out to be one of my favorites of the year. This time, Gigi Pandian's latest treasure hunt mystery novel happens to be my hidden gem.

Jaya Jones is a treasure-hunting historian (I grew up watching Indiana Jones' movies) so her character really appealed to me. In this fourth instalment Jaya travels to Italy after she studies some manuscripts that point to the possibility of finding lost art, in particular paintings from a Renaissance Italian artist that lived for a time in India. I loved how the author connected two cultures. Jaya is of Indian descent and she links the current story (lost Renaissance art in Italy) with Indian art too. The flavors of Indian and Italian culture are interspersed throughout the novel.

I also loved that this book was set in the little-known Park of Monsters (Parco dei Mostri) also known as Gardens of Bomarzo in Italy. I have never been there although it's not far from Rome and now I really want to visit it! Jaya explores the park, and although the villagers warn her about the ghost that has been haunting the area since the 16th century, this does not deter her. The author cleverly builds on people's superstition (Italians are very superstitious) with art history, in particular that of Michelangelo's to create a suspenseful mystery with a gutsy heroine. Very clever plot!

I thoroughly enjoyed this mystery novel, its characters and the tone of the series. The story was fun, had some romance, lots of mystery and suspense and a great brother/sister relationship. It's fast paced with short chapters that makes the reader want to read just one more because of the cliffhanger endings of each one. Yeah...I read well past my bedtime.

Although this is the fourth book in the Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mystery series it's a stand alone novel and can easily be read on its own. It did make me want to read the first three books when references were made to Jaya's past adventures in other countries. Reading this book made me a fan and I will be looking up Gigi's past three novels in the series.

Tremendous!

Although I have more than a couple of books in my to-be-read queue written by Gigi Pandian, I haven't read a lot of works by this author yet. But given how much I enjoyed this particular book, I will be eager to another "Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mystery" as well as other works by Ms. Pandian.

Jaya Jones is an Indiana Jones type of person. She's a historian who actively goes out and researches. But she gets caught up in a murder mystery along the way. Here Jaya gets a manuscript that suggests a link between Michelangelo and Italy's Park of Monsters. The connection is too much for a historian like Jaya to ignore and she begins to investigate. But a ghost haunts the park and murder makes the stakes very high. Jaya is on the path to more than just a cultural and artistic revelation.

Author Pandian has clearly done some tremendous research and brings to life the unusual Park of Monsters (a location I've long wished to visit). She writes intelligently and creates unique and very real characters. Jaya, particularly, is a character I want to read more about (and fortunately, I can, since there are three previous books in the series).

Everything about this is appealing to me - from the topic of tracking down art, to the location (Italy's Park of Monsters), to the characters, to the mystery itself. Pandian really weaves a wonderful tale.

Two little moments keep me from giving it a full five stars (and I don't want to give too much away) but the fact that Jaya manages to lose a shoe/boot while running and is not aware of it until after strikes me as slightly convenient for the story but quite authentic (but perhaps it's simply that I can't imagine not knowing when I'm running without a shoe on my foot).

The other is a little more integral to the plot. The idea that machinery ... MACHINERY ... has remained hidden for centuries, despite people looking for it, requires some willing suspension of disbelief. Surely there is machinery that has remained hidden for centuries, but usually it's a case where no one knew about it and no one was looking for it. Something this specific, within a rather specific area, definitely required some willingness on my part to accept, but the rest of the story and the writing makes it worth it.

Looking for a good book? Gigi Pandian's <em>Michelangelo's Ghost</em> is the fourth book in the Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mystery series and is well worth the read and will likely have you wanting to read all the books in the series (if you haven't already).

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

A great addition to a funny, mysterious series with great characters.

Are you a fan of mystery books? I’ve been reading mystery books since I was a little girl! I can’t remember the first mystery I read, but I do know that one of my favorite series as a tween was Nancy Drew! What girl didn’t want to be Nancy Drew solving cases and traveling to exciting places? I still want to travel to exciting places and solve mysteries!

Jaya Jones gets to do those things too. She never sets out to solve mysteries, but she ends up doing it anyway. This is the first Jaya Jones book I’ve read, but it is the fourth book in the series. I haven’t read the others, but after having read this, I will be reading them!

Michelangelo’s Ghost is a cozy mystery book with such fun characters and a plot that will keep you guessing! I had no idea who the “bad guy” was until Jaya did! The setting in Italy and the Park of Monsters is written so vividly that you’ll feel like you are really there!

I highly recommend Michelangelo’s Ghost to any fans of the cozy mystery genre!

The author has grown as a writer and book 4 shows it. Michelangelo's Ghost is full of mystery and history. It has detailed history about the Renaissance period in Italy. And the protagonist is just is well written and intriguing

If you've always had a thing for history and a love of cozy murder mysteries, then the Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt series is just for you. Think of it as a female Indiana Jones with more of the historical details but no less exciting action/adventure aspects. There is chasing, there is treasure, there is murder/mystery and of course there is a little bit more than a dash of romance. Jaya Jones is one protagonists that readers will definitely like plus her love of beautiful shoes is something most female readers will definitely appreciate. In Michelangelo's Ghost, Jaya once again goes on a hunt and at the same time gets embroiled in murder mystery, this time involving a beloved professor. The historical facts involved in the story is simply fascinating and its another aspect why this series is pretty popular. Michelangelo's Ghost is another hit for our intrepid hero Jaya and her equally talented author, Gigi Pandian.