Review: The Girl on Legare Street by Karen White

Melanie, I heard again, and I pressed the receiver closer to my ear, fighting the impulse to hang up. The voice was soft and airy and most likely female, assuming it was even human.

"Hello? Who is this?"

The black hole began to pop and crackle, erupting something vile and unholy through the telephone line. I held the phone away from me, then slammed it down. But not before I'd heard the voice again. I am coming for you, Melanie. I am coming for what is mine. [ pg 35]

The Girl on Legare Street by Karen White
New American Library, 2009
Fiction; 335 pgs

Source: Many thanks to the publisher and TLC Book Tours for the copy of this book and the opportunity to be a part of this book tour.

Rainy days seem to be particularly perfect for a ghost story, and so what better time to dive into The Girl on Legare Street by Karen White than a stormy evening? I first met Melanie Middleton a year ago, when I read The House on Tradd Street, when she inherited an old house and met true crime author Jack Trenholm. A realist and practical minded person, Melanie tried her hardest for years to ignore the voices of the dead who were speaking to her, but events in her life have made that impossible.

Melanie finds herself in the middle of another mystery, this one involving her own family. After 33 years, the mother that abandoned her as a child has returned and is seeking to re-buy the family home. That is not all Melanie's mother is after, however. A vengeful ghost is growing more powerful and is targeting Melanie and her family. Neither Melanie nor her mother could stand up to the ghost alone, but perhaps together they might be able to. The search to uncover the identity of the ghost and the ghost's rage reveal family secrets long kept buried.

The Girl on Legare Street is the kind of book I enjoy curling up with when I am looking for something light and suspenseful. There is a lot I like about the book. The author's writing style flows smoothly and I just love the Southern setting, especially being able to step inside these grand old houses, rich in history--not to mention the ghosts. The mystery itself intrigued me as family secrets and history often do. I've long been interested in genealogy, tracing my family tree and learning about the lives of my ancestors. Melanie's ancestry is rich in the area's history and I looked forward to uncovering each clue to the family's past as the story unfolded.

Melanie is as infuriating as ever. She's extremely stubborn and there were times in the book when I wanted to shake her and tell her to get over it, especially when it came to Jack. As she did in the previous book, she continues to fight her attraction to Jack Trenholm who is finishing up his book on the mystery surrounding the house on Tradd Street and helping her with her current predicament. Melanie's had to deal with a lot in her life, having been abandoned by her mother at a young age and then living with an alcoholic father. Trust does not come easy for her nor does relinquishing control. She's worked hard to be successful in her career as a realtor and to reach the point she is at currently in her life. Underneath her tough exterior, lies a more vulnerable, softer side to Melanie. Even for the times that Melanie may grate on my nerves, I do like her. She has spunk and a good head on her shoulders--at least when it comes to things other than men. And, in the end, she does the right thing.

Melanie has all her defenses up when her mother returns to her life, but as the ghost of her grandmother has tried to tell her, "we are not what we seem", so her mother's reason for leaving all those years ago may not be as cut and dry as Melanie believes. Her mother has her own secrets. Melanie and her mother have a lot of healing to do if they are to have any sort of relationship. While Melanie's relationship with Jack never seems to go anywhere, her relationship with her mother does in fact evolve over the course of the book. I could see the subtle changes in Melanie's relationship with her mother, as well as in her mother and father's relationship, the two of them having been estranged for a number of years as well.

I enjoyed my time with The Girl on Legare Street overall, even if I quickly grew tired of the back and forth between Melanie and Jack. My interest in ghost stories has increased in the last year or so and the world Karen White has created is good for a quick fix.

Rating: (Good)


You can learn more about Karen White and her books, including The Girl on Legare Street, on the author's website. Be sure and check the TLC Book Tours website for a list of Karen White's other tour stops!

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© 2009, Wendy Runyon of Musings of a Bookish Kitty. All Rights Reserved.
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