Dead and Kicking by Wendy Roberts is the third and final book in the “Ghost Dusters” mystery series. Publisher: Obsidian (Penguin), December 2009

Sadie Novak cleans up crime scenes for a living and often finds herself face-to-face with the dead. Blessed—or cursed—with the gift of second sight, she can’t seem to finish a job without being visited by an earthbound spirit.

Sadie’s going through a rough time. When her dad passes away, she’s left to juggle her widowed mother, her lying boyfriend, Zack, her struggling business—and the fact that her father’s spirit is reluctant to move on. Now, on top of all that, Zach’s former flame hires Sadie to dig out the home of her hoarder mother…and that’s when things get messy.

Sadie finds some unexpected things in the cluttered house—including the seventeen-year-old mummified remains of an infant, along with a very angry ghost who seems determined to keep Sadie away. Then, aided by a team of her fellow psychics, she unearths something even more terrifying: a host of secrets that someone will kill to keep buried.

Sadie got her hands full: business is slow, her dad recently died and Zach is not himself. When Sadie gets a job, she takes it to keep herself busy and she comes upon an angry ghost who throws things and Zach gets hurt in the process. With her father not passing onto the other side, with jealousy rearing its ugly head when Zach’s ex-girlfriend reappears, Sadie is really at wits end. Then there’s the other jobs that she handles with a mysterious bent: who is the mummified infant, who murdered the janitor and who is threatening her. It was good to see her sister Dawn and her best-friend Maeva, a psychic who helps her deal with her personal issues. The multiple mysteries and the family matters kept me turning the page, right until the end. What a beautiful ending. My rating: 4 stars