Murder Buys A T-Shirt by Christy Fifield is the first book in the new “Haunted Souvenir Shop” mystery series. Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime (Penguin), March 2012

Glory Martine has inherited her great-uncle’s souvenir shop, Southern Treasures–along with a supersize headache. Nestled in Keyhold Bay, Florida, the shop is stuffed not only with collectibles and mementos of times gone by, but with ghost who, like her customers, refuse to let go of the past.

Glory always dismisses ghost stories–until she inherits her great-uncle Louis’s souvenir shop, where items seem to rearrange themselves and her pet parrot, Bluebeard, is suddenly uttering phrases he couldn’t have picked up from customers. If Glory told anyone the shop was haunted, they’d think the fresh sea air has gone to her head.

Then, at an end-of-summer party, local football hero Kevin Stanley dies, and the store starts to go haywire. Glory finally shares her secret with her best friend, who takes it seriously–and is convinced the ghost is trying to send a message. Kevin’s death was no accident, and it’s linked to Glory’s very own great-uncle Louis. Now Glory must dig through the junk to find the truth, before someone leaves her with a deadly souvenir of her own.

I love this book. Glory lives in Florida with her parrot Bluebeard. When one of the local sports player is killed in a car accident, Bluebeard has something to say and it’s not “Polly want a cracker”, instead it may be a message from her long-dead uncle. This was a fun read and I enjoyed meeting Gloryanna and her friends. The mystery was good as it kept me guessing in this page-turning and well-crafted novel. The tone of the story was very comfortable and the setting of a souvenir shop was a perfect backdrop to this lighthearted tale. With a fun-loving cast of characters and entertaining dialogue, this was a great read and I can’t wait to read the next book in this charmingly appealing series. Also includes recipes based on traditional Southern cooking.

Full Disclosure – The publisher sent me a copy of this book