Recommendation: 'Haunting Violet' by Alyxandra Harvey

Violet’s mother makes her living as a spiritualist – a fake medium who tricks high society Victorians into believing she has the ability to speak with, and channel, the dead.

With such a background, it’s no wonder Violet is bewildered when real ghosts start appearing to her. One in particular – Rowena, a young aristocrat who mysteriously drowned a year earlier.

How can Violet prove Rowena was murdered when the clues given by Rowena are subject to interpretation (who was the fish aimed at anyway?). When Violet’s mother’s trickery is exposed, Violet is taken away from the murder site, making it even harder to solve the mystery. Oh, and then there’s Colin – her mother’s jack-of-all-trades. Romance, danger, ghosts and history.

For a classic ghostly read from New Zealand, check out Margaret Mahy’s The Tricksters.

A 4 star read for me.

- Annie