Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts by Kate Racculia

October 11, 2019

Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts by Kate Racculia

With her morbid interest in death and horror, Tuesday Mooney has always had a problem fitting in and making friends (except her home town is Salem, MA, so it's pretty hard to believe that she couldn't find a place there).  Her introverted nature makes her an excellent researcher for a philanthropic foundation.  When an extremely wealthy Bostonian named Vincent Pryce dies unexpectedly at a fundraiser, he leaves behind the clues for a treasure hunt that will reward the winner with a portion of Pryce’s vast fortune.  Another fabulously wealthy Bostonian named Archie approaches Tuesday and wants to team up to try to solve the riddle, promising her several million dollars for her help.  Tuesday isn’t sure about his true motives since he certainly doesn’t need the money, but there appears to be something that Archie wants from Pryce’s vast collections.  When her 13 year old neighbor Dorry figures out the first clue, the three of them decide to join forces.  But the clock is ticking and other teams have almost certainly figured out the clue as well, so time is of the essence.

I had a number of issues with this book – after a good beginning and plot set-up, it just sort of fizzled out.  The author became more concerned with having the main characters hook up with their love interests (which added nothing to the plot - note to authors:  unless you're writing a romance, there does not have to be a love interest for the main character(s)).  Part of the problem is that the author seemed to want to write something that was both The Westing Game and Ready Player One, and ended up with something that was neither.  The treasure hunt isn’t really a treasure hunt, since there are precious few clues and not much game playing.  Early in the game, Tuesday’s team has what could be a huge advantage, but they decide not to use it because “Vincent would have wanted us to play fair.”  Gag me.

(N.B., if you enjoy books about games, Ready Player One by Ernest Cline is a fabulous book about a treasure hunt set in a future time - read that instead.)

Also, the title is incorrect.  Tuesday does not talk to ghosts – she wants to talk to one particular ghost, her best friend Amy, and may actually have succeeded once, but even Tuesday admits that Amy’s voice in her head isn’t telling her anything she doesn’t already know – it’s just responding in the snarky way Amy would have when they were teens.   A better title would have been The Pryce Inheritance or Games with Friends or Girl Seeks Ghost.  Just a suggestion.  

(Amy went missing one night when they were 16.  Amy wanted to go hang out at the local lighthouse and Tuesday stayed home because it was a cold, rainy night.  Amy vanished without a trace, and Tuesday has spent her life wondering if Amy would still be around if she had gone with her, or if she would have disappeared, too.)

The text reads like it is intended for a young adult or juvenile audience rather than for adult readers - you could give this to a 14 year old or your grandma and not worry about offending their delicate sensibilities (wait a minute - I'm old enough to be a grandma - scratch that). There are a lot of implied morals like "play fair," "help others," "work together," "follow your dreams," etc.  There are also loads of stereotypes that are easy for a YA audience to recognize:  the brilliant goth girl who is too cool for words but secretly fears no one likes her, the gay guy who wants to be a singer, the rich guy who hates his family's money and wants to live a simple life, the evil brother who will stop at nothing to get what he wants, the schoolteacher who marries a very wealthy man and can't handle being rich, the super-quirky rich man, etc.  Nothing new here.

Many thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for providing an e-ARC in return for a review.