Haunting and Homicide

DEBUT Burke’s first mystery stars Tallulah “Lou” Thatcher, who leads ghost tours and runs a gift shop in New Orleans’s Garden District. She’s seen ghosts since she was a child, and now her tours even include one specter who cooperates and occasionally produces orbs for astonished visitors. Adam Brandt, a rival tour guide, has accused her of faking the apparitions, and even tried to have her license revoked. When Lou stumbles over Adam’s body, she’s the prime murder suspect. She wants to clear her name, but she’s also under pressure from Adam’s angry ghost. Investigating a murder is almost too much for a business owner juggling a complicated personal life. A suspect even attacks her, and she’s on the wrong track looking for the killer. She bumbles through the investigation, though she has no idea how to conduct one, and continues to irritate suspects, as well as the lead detective on the case (who happens to be her best friend’s brother, Lou’s longtime crush).