Their relationship issues are pushed aside, however, when longtime nemesis, Marc Longo, comes to them with a proposition: allow their Tradd Street house to be used as the filming location for the movie adaptation of Marc’s bestselling book, and he will help Jack re-establish his stalled writing career. Despite Melanie’s hesitation, Jack jumps at the chance. But Melanie’s doubts soon prove to be well founded when she uncovers ulterior reasons for Marc wanting to be back in their house—reasons that include a hidden gem so brilliant that legend links it to the most infamous jewel of all, the Hope Diamond.
But Melanie has an unexpected ally in protecting the house and its inhabitants—the ghost of a Civil War era girl warns her of increasing threats to her family. But she’s not the only spirit who is haunting Melanie. A malevolent ghost seems determined to stop Melanie from investigating the decades-old murder of a friend’s sister, and this spirit will stop at nothing to protect its secrets—even from beyond the grave.
Melanie and Jack must work together to find the answers before evil spirits of past and present destroy everything they love.
Comment: This is the seventh and final installment in the Tradd Street series by author Karen White. I have had a great time spending time with these characters and even though there are details I'd change to suit my personal taste, I could ignore some of the less appealing things because the characters were captivating and I was quite invested in their lives.
In this final story, things are a little tense after the events of the last book. Jack thinks Melanie (Mellie) didn't trust him, didn't confide in him enough and he asked for time away, so he could process what it meant. This leaves Mellie devastated but she her her children and her job and she wants to take things slowly so he can come back. At the same time, her friend Veronica is still eager to find out what happened to her sister Adrienne, whose ghost is still around and Mellie often is aware of her presence. Then Marc Longo and Rebecca show up with a proposal and a request regarding the movie being filmed in Mellie and Jack's house and everything seems to be even more complicated. Is there any possibility of peace and quiet for them?
It is true that I will be a little sorry to say goodbye to these characters, after seven books and some months having being invested in them. I like the series because Mellie is a practical woman who is still vulnerable and when she let her guard down, she is able to accept and to forgive and to love. I did like to follow her emotional journey throughout the books. As with any sort of realistic portrayal, of course she isn't perfect and a lot of the conflict was sometimes because of her own vision of things being biased on her past, but I think the development of her character was done well enough.
Since part of the plot is heavily set on Mellie's ability to see ghosts, something hereditary from her mother's side, the slight paranormal content is obviously less realistic but I was still on board with this element and I feel it added interesting dynamics to the stories. The fact Mellie is reluctant to use her ability is understandable but after a while I also feel it got a bit annoying, especially once her life changed after her marriage.
In this book, the paranormal content was focused on how Mellie and sister Jayne help Veronica finding out what happened to her sister, murdered when she was in college. After all this time Veronica still can't move on without knowing what truly happened and the fact her ghost is around means she still has something to say. This element of the story has started a few books ago and once in a while in the previous books we have had hints about it. I will be blunt: it's incredibly obvious who murdered Adrienne and more than predictable and my only curiosity about this was the how. There's a conclusion regarding this which worked out but that I feel was a bit too bland, after several books dangling the issue.
As for the movie situation and the sub plot around it, I must say this was something I didn't pay as much attention to, and it was clear the intention was to never redeem Marc Longo. He hasn't always been an active character but his actions have affected everything important since the first book. This and the ghosts related to the house was solved in a very easy way.
Mellie and Jack do work out through their marital issues and, again, I liked seeing how they talked to each other and so on after some time processing things on their own, but I wish they also had gotten a more definite or stronger decision about their feelings. I loved that they got their HEA without doubts by the end of the novel but this could have been reinforced better by the author.
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