Murder in D Major and Death in D Minor

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 268 

Publisher: Henery Press 

Released: 13th of September 2017 

With few other options, African-American classical musician Gethsemane Brown accepts a less-than-ideal position turning a group of rowdy schoolboys into an award-winning orchestra. Stranded without luggage or money in the Irish countryside, she figures any job is better than none. The perk? Housesitting a lovely cliffside cottage. The catch? The ghost of the cottage's murdered owner haunts the place. Falsely accused of killing his wife (and himself), he begs Gethsemane to clear his name so he can rest in peace. Gethsemane's reluctant investigation provokes a dormant killer and she soon finds herself in grave danger. As Gethsemane races to prevent a deadly encore, will she uncover the truth or star in her own farewell performance?

Pages: 220

Publisher: Henery Press 

Released: 11th of July 2017 

Gethsemane Brown, African-American classical musician and expatriate to an Irish village, solved a string of murders, led a school orchestra to victory in a major competition, and got used to living with a snarky ghost. She can rest easy over the Christmas holiday. Right? Wrong. The ghost has disappeared, her landlord's about to sell her cottage to a hotel developer, and her brother-in-law is coming for a visit—with one day’s notice.

She scrambles to call her spectral roomie back from beyond and find a way to save the cottage from certain destruction. But real estate takes a backseat when her brother-in-law is accused of stealing a valuable antique. Gethsemane strikes a deal with a garda investigator to go undercover as a musician at a charity ball and snoop for evidence linking antiques to a forgery/theft ring in exchange for the investigator’s help clearing her brother-in-law. At the party, she accidentally conjures the ghost of an eighteenth-century sea captain, then ends up the prime suspect in the party host’s murder. With the captain’s help, she races to untangle a web of phony art and stolen antiques to exonerate herself and her brother-in-law. Then the killer targets her. Will she save herself and bring a thief and murderer to justice, or will her encore investigation become her swan song?

What I Have to Say 

These books were quick and easy reads, they were a wonderful cross genre between Supernatural fiction and Crime. Gethsemane was a really interesting character to read about and Eamon was just wonderful sarcastic and witty. I really missed him in the second book, even though the new ghost, the sea Captain was also really fun to read, though in different ways. 

I think I preferred the plot of the first book to the plot of the second though. I enjoyed getting to know Gethsemane's brother in law, I just didn't feel as interested in the crime. I'm not really sure why. There was plenty of tension and intrigue, but I didn't get into it. Perhaps because I liked Eamon so much. 

Both books though were thrilling, intense and well written. I loved how Irish everything was because Ireland is a place that I haven't been and really like to read about. I also really liked the fact that Gethsemane was black and American. It was nice to see Ireland through her eyes and her race really contributed to the mystery and crime in the second book.

I really like this series and will definitely keep reading it.

My thanks go to Netgalley and Henery Press for providing me with this copy for review.