Reviewed by Jack Magnus for Readers' Favorite

The Curse of Arundel Hall: A Yellow Cottage Vintage Mystery, Book 2 is a paranormal, sleuth/murder mystery novel written by J. New. Ella loved her yellow cottage on the island of Linhay. It was the perfect place for her after the tragic death of her husband, John, so soon after their marriage. Her marriage was a love match; an unusual happenstance considering the efforts her mother had put into marrying her off to a suitable gentleman. Aunt Margaret, who became Ella's defender and mentor, had staunchly supported Ella's right to resist being married off, but she was, oddly enough, reticent on the subject of John upon meeting him. Ella had stayed with her mother and Aunt Margaret at the beginning of her mourning phase, but a chance visit to her brother in Oxford, where he was a student, led to her deciding to take up residency in the cottage she loved. It had been five months since she moved in when she decided it was high time she investigated the history behind the female ghost who shared her cottage and the hidden dining room she had discovered behind the pantry. She had also adopted Phantom, a feline ghost, who seemed to come with the cottage, though no one else could see him. Ella was used to seeing ghosts and considered it a gift, one which only a few family members and Sir Albert Montesford, the Police Commissioner at Scotland Yard, knew about. Sir Albert and Ella were old friends, as it were, having worked together in the past. Who was this young woman, Ella wondered. And why was she still haunting the cottage?

The Curse of Arundel Hall gives a supernatural spin to the classic British drawing room mystery. There's even a butler who may have committed the modern-day murder that Ella and Sir Albert must solve. J. New's detective is intriguing and not at all uncomfortable about her special gift for seeing the departed, nor does she let others' concerns about what's proper for a young lady to be involved in dissuade her from sinking her teeth into a puzzle or a mystery. I love classic British detective novels and had a grand time watching as Ella and Sir Albert parsed through their clues, interviewed suspects, and set up the time-honored meeting where suspects and detectives gather together and the guilty party is unveiled. New's story is brimming with red herrings, secret passages, and enough English meals to stir up the appetite of any reader. And don't let the fact that this is the second book in the series keep you from reading The Curse of Arundel Hall. New gives just enough background to allow this book to be read on its own, without giving spoilers that would ruin the first book if you should decide to backtrack after this one. If you enjoy British sleuth mysteries as much as I do, you probably will be seriously considering doing just that. The Curse of Arundel Hall: A Yellow Cottage Vintage Mystery, Book 2 is highly recommended.