From Amazon:

and a mysterious drowning, this time she may be in over her head…. THAT SINKING FEELING! Kidwella Castle in northern Wales is rumored to be haunted by a deadly ghost—the Grim Widow, who allegedly drowns unsuspecting guests in the castle’s moat. Not long after M. J. and her crew arrive at the castle to film their ghost-hunting cable TV show, Ghoul Getters, two new victims are added to the Widow’s grisly roster.

Fear ripples through the castle, especially when it’s discovered that the victims may have had help into their watery graves from the land of the living. The local inspector suspects father-son serial killers, but M. J. thinks that theory is all wet. To catch the true culprit she will need to dive deep into the castle’s past and bring some long buried secrets to the surface.

My Thoughts:

The story has a lot of twists and turns and an exciting ending, but for awhile it was hard to get through the book. It got a little Scooby Doo-ish (see the ghost, run, go looking for the ghost and find it, run, etc) and the antics of some of the characters were a little hard to get through. Much of it was predictable and added little to the story. Evil ghostie? Check. More evil than any they'd seen before? Check. Gilley acting like a whiny 2 year old? Check. Yep, it's all there. Gopher steamrolling or blackmailing the others to do what he wants. Check. Yup, it's all there.

M.J.is also losing a bit of her nerve and it's not until the last 1/3 of the book that you start to see the "old" M.J. return. Yeah, she can be pretty tough, but not so much when she's shrieking and running from everything, which she does for most of the book. Between that and the growing cowardice of the crew ("Staying would be suicide!" should have been the subtitle of this book.) you start to wonder why they don't just throw in the towel and go work at Walmart or something. So, a mixed review for sure, but die-hard fans of the series won't be disappointed, just a little put off. It was worth the few hours I spent reading it, but it did dampen my enthusiasm going forward with the series.
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Another book that has me on the fence..... I really like the story, and most of the characters, but the two men Gilly & Gopher, are such self-serving manipulative, attitudinal histrionic characters that I have grown tired of them, so much so, that I was close to putting the book down.

M.J., Heath& the Ghoul Getters, are off to Wales to film a movie and some famous haunted castle. But I've got to tell you, the main ghost in this one was hellishly freakin' horrific and she was backed up by a demon. Along with this ghost was her former husband's ghost that she loved to torment, and her sister's ghost that roamed the halls crying from a severe beating from which she died. Add to all of that, there are the most current murders all of those souls attached to her by chains around their necks......

Although the ghost encounters were entertaining, gripping & interesting, this story was most unbelievable, which is unusual for this author, thus only 3 stars. ( )

I knew from reading other reviews that this is not a book you read in bed at night, so I chose a nice bright, sunny day to crack this book open. While I thought there were definitely spooky-ish moments in the book, I thought perhaps the spooky factor had been exaggerated - until 2 of my chickens (who had unbeknownst to me had escaped their run) were startled by my cats and squawked outside my window during a tense moment in the book - and I had to scrape myself off the ceiling. So, perhaps pretty damn spooky after all.

Once my heart rate returned to normal I found this book a LOT of fun - lots of action, lots of ghosts. I loved the mystery behind the whole thing as well. Ms. Laurie did a brilliant job crafting the mystery plot and the ending was everything it should be. I loved the surprise help they get during the final showdown with the Grim Widow; I thought it tied the story up neatly, with everything coming full circle.

My only complaint, as always, with this series, is Gilley. I find him to be so selfish and whiny it's hard for me to enjoy his silly antics and harder for me to believe he cares about M.J. at all. *However* I was left with hope in this book, about halfway through when Gilley found a love interest. I have my fingers crossed that this new wrinkle will go a long way towards calming down his character and make him a more positive, likeable part of the team (while still keeping a few of his antics).

This book is really 4.5 stars for me - it's not a 5 only because I truly wanted to feed Gilley to the Grim Widow a time or two.

Can't wait for the next one! ( )

In Laurie’s paranormal mystery novel, Kidwella Castle in northern Wales is the destination for M.J. Holliday and her crew of ghost hunters as they prepare to investigate the reported haunting of the Grim Widow—a deadly ghost who allegedly drowns unsuspecting guests in the nearby moat. Their cable TV show, Ghoul Getters, demands great footage of the haunting even as fear ripples through the workers once it becomes clear that the two most recent victims had help from the living before the ghost finished them off. The local authorities suspect a serial killing duo, but M.J. isn’t convinced. To investigate thoroughly, M.J. will need to go deep into the castle and dig up any and all buried secrets that might be confined to those dark depths.

Lots of paranormal chills and thrills coupled with healthy doses of fun and romance. A great installment to the A Ghost Hunter Mystery series. ( )

I wait each year for the new installment of new series and I really do enjoy them. In "What a Ghoul Wants", the Ghoul Getters crew is in Wales investigating the Kidwellah castle. A malicious female ghost haunts part of the castle and there have been many deaths in the moat over the years. Even more bodies start turning up during the Ghoul Getters stay. I liked the ghost story here and I also enjoyed the 'second' mystery that was happening at the same time during the story. There were several good suspects and I enjoyed seeing how the plot unfolds. In the previous book, I absolutely adored MJ's best friend Gillie Gilespie. During this one, not so much. I agree with other reviewers who mentioned that his fear of ghosts is becoming over the top and its getting old. He loves M.J. and that still shows but the opening scene where he refuses to leave the plane had me rolling my eyes.

I enjoy M.J.'s new boyfriend Heath, he has been a much better boyfriend than M.J.'s previous boyfriend Steven. He is less annoying and more realistic. I also enjoyed getting to see the character of John fleshed out again. And I love the newest addition to the Ghoul Getter's team. This addition seems like it could add a lot to the series. But I have some pet peeves about these books. The biggest one is that I am so annoyed by how frequently M.J. calls people 'Buddy'. It comes off as condescending and she uses it to address anyone and everyone. Sometimes she uses it three times on a page! This is just a personal annoyance and I am sure it won't bother many other readers.

The series is still enjoyable but I am ready for the team to move onto a ghost bust that is different than the last few. They have all been centered around going somewh ( )