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Reviewed by Anne-Marie Reynolds for Readers' Favorite
Down Ballantyne Road (Alice and Porkbelly) by Jane McBride is a ghost investigation story with a touch of humor. Alice Gregg took over the running of the diner when her husband died, but she has no real purpose or direction in life anymore. It’s just her and her trusty cat, Porkbelly. One day, Alice returns from work and sees a little girl sitting on her porch swing. It soon transpires the girl is a ghost who wants to know how she died. She’s called Fanny, she disappeared without a trace 64 years before, and her body or whereabouts were never known. Alice hopes she will go away, but when things start happening at the diner, she has no choice but to acknowledge Fanny’s presence. Enlisting the help of her best friend, Della, and Porkbelly, the three of them set out to solve the mystery of what happened to Fanny more than half a century earlier.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading Down Ballantyne Road (Alice and Porkbelly) by Jane McBride. I like ghost stories anyway and this one contained everything to make it into an excellent start to what I believe is a series of books. It is one of the more unique takes on a ghost story with a touch of humor to give it a bit of an edge. A well-written story with excellent characters (love the cat!). No loose ends, the whole story was wrapped up nice and tight. I look forward to reading the rest of the series at some point.
