Bücher der Reihe Ghosts and Tea

A peaceful spell falls on Hoary Plimpton following a rowdy time around Jonathan Beverly's birthday. Unfortunately for the residents of St. Grimald priory, a peaceful spell means the inevitable unleashing of ghostly drama, family drama, and culinary drama that will shake the foundation of a venerable sanctuary.As summer draws to a close, bringing with it Freddy Bisset's much-anticipated twentieth birthday, Prudence Honeysett finds herself neck-deep in household troubles with her housekeeper taking ill and unable to follow through on her plans for a celebratory banquet. Then here comes the perfect Jonathan Beverly and his insidious news of more ghostly hauntings needing Freddy's special touch as a medium.Two gentlemen haunt two different places, but there's more to them than meets the eye, and it's up to Freddy, Mr. Beverly, the hapless Brody, and the ever-noble Velasco the horse to unearth the answers to a tragic mystery. In the meantime, family drama continues to brew in the background as Freddy's father emerges from the shadows of psychic hoaxes and justice. And a guilt-ridden housekeeper is determined to overcompensate for missing her beloved master's birthday. A collection of humorous journal entries and letters continue to recount Prue and Freddy's adventures in the first sequel to the Ghosts and Tea epistolary series.

The dust never really settles in a haunted priory, and Prudence Honeysett learns that valuable lesson all too quickly. An idyllic stretch of quiet passes following the disaster in the priory's garden, and normalcy hints at a return with the final stages of the priory grounds' beautification and the upgrading of the interior with newly purchased antiques and - well - "antiques". Trouble once again brews when Prudence and Frederick go on a shopping spree, and they unwittingly purchase an item that's apparently haunted by a dead letch. But ghostly warnings tend to come in riddles, and a frenzied search for the mystery item turns into yet another dip in the waters of frayed nerves, late night tipples, and terrified young servants being harassed by the image of a lascivious dead man in the mirror. In the meantime, Freddy gets whisked off to help a neighboring French gentleman whose Medieval hall is haunted by a lost servant who, literally, can't find her way around the maze of passageways and rooms. Freddy's attention is now divided, leaving Prudence to sort out priory troubles with a bit of help from an overly zealous friend. Throw in a generous dose of a young man's clumsy sexual awakening, a visiting dandy who's also a purveyor of literary smut, and a servant suddenly allowed a note-book into which he can share his energetic accounts (and marvelous art) of the madness within St. Grimald priory's walls, and readers are in for another madcap epistolary adventure over tea.

The winter months finally give way to the promise of spring. Likewise, St. Grimald Priory's residents emerge from the shadows of a dreary winter to face the world-or, in this case, Hoary Plimpton-with hope and excitement. But the living aren't the only ones determined to enjoy the shifting seasons. A new ghost encroaches on the tranquility of the priory grounds, intent on offending the cats and attacking every person who still breathes with prayers and curses. Another haunts the footpaths, seeking out a particular kind of person on whom to lavish his attentions. And poor Frederick Bisset, being the only medium around, finds himself the center of both hauntings as one ghost curses him for his nature, and the other chases after him for being young, male, and quite agreeable. No one else sees the ghosts this time, and Frederick is forced to resort to drastic measures to rid Hoary Plimpton of two unsavory specters. Prudence Honeysett has a trick up her own sleeve as well to ensure the preservation of her lovely garden and her nephew's sanity, though it's a trick that has backfired before in the worst possible way. She is determined, however, for no one, living or dead, ever crosses a Bisset.

St. Grimald priory is now free of invasive ghosts, and everyone's attention turns to entertaining Felicity Smedley, Prudence Honeysett's "witch-like" best friend. Under her gentle guidance, Freddy grows even more as a gifted medium and takes it upon himself to work on things outside priory walls. But while practice makes perfect, it also leads Freddy down an unexpected road involving a ghostly mother's plea. The encounter reopens wounds from the recent past and darkens his idyllic life under his aunt's ever-watchful and protective eye. Meanwhile, Jonathan Beverly's efforts at clearing out his late uncle's hoard unearths an old inkwell, one that comes with its own genie-like ghost. And not just any ghost at that-Mr. Murgatroyd is an obnoxious busybody, a terrible gossip and family chronicler who's determined to annoy the staid Mr. Beverly to distraction with endless accounts of the family's history of wild living. And all that in addition to escalating family drama in the Bisset household, forcing Antigonous to reach out for help from Prudence, Felicity, and the ever-despairing Linford, his unfortunate firstborn. The dust hasn't quite settled yet as more madcap adventures are recounted in letters and journal entries in this installment of Ghosts and Tea.

Excitement over a beloved neighbor's birthday has St. Grimald Priory trembling on its foundation. Then again, that can be because of a number of other things, too.Like, one, a new mystery surrounding old dolls appearing and disappearing at will in a gloomy tower house. Two, the distant rumblings of family drama following Freddy's heartfelt letter to his parents. Three, the sudden appearance of a mysterious ghost who knocks on the front door incessantly. Four, the much-anticipated visit from a garishly dressed smut purveyor. Five, the commissioning of a proper birthday portrait from a talented artist with a reputation for degeneracy and Byronic allure. Or, six, the courgettes.The road to Hell is most certainly paved with good intentions, and Prudence Honeysett is about to test this aphorism yet again as spring draws to a bucolic close, and the promise of a glorious summer beckons. Mysterious ghosts, secret young love, vengeful servants, questionable ghost-guides, and the siren call of the drinks cabinet mark the fifth and final novel of the Ghosts and Tea series. Humorous journal entries and letters recount Prue and Freddy's never-ending, ghost-filled, and questionable fun in the peaceful English countryside.

Prudence Honeysett is a wealthy, aging widow who's also quite done with the world. A hopeless curmudgeon, she withdraws from Victorian society by purchasing an old priory reputed to be haunted, convinced that her desire for peace and quiet would be perfectly met regardless. Fortune, however, has different plans for her, her hapless servants, and her trio of monstrous cats. The sudden appearance of a heartbroken nephew at her doorstep stirs the ghostly waters even more after Frederick confesses to being a medium, and before Prudence knows it, the long-dead residents of St. Grimald priory emerge from the shadows. And they all come with garbled warnings of a murdered girl and the door to the underworld on its way to being torn down. Through a collection of humorous journal entries and letters, the supernatural misadventures of Prudence and Frederick unfold-filled with sordid family drama, swoony romantic entanglements, dodgy attempts at questionable magic, and restless ghosts a-plenty.

Even before things can settle down to the expected calm of a bucolic countryside, another mystery drops into Frederick Bisset's lap. This time it involves a skull, its presence in an otherwise pretty and snug cottage revealing a history of madness and its macabre effects on a mother-daughter bond. The cottage's present owner, Ada Darrow, is an aging spinster, an intellectual who suffers neither fools nor supernatural shenanigans, and she willingly takes on Freddy and Jonathan's (unpaid) help in sending otherworldly energies away and past the veil-thing.However, such an endeavor is easier said than done because the skull doesn't seem to want to cooperate, satisfied instead in filling random hours in the cottage with off-key singing. It will take Freddy more than luck to see through a successful completion of this case.In the meantime, a terrible disaster upends life in St. Grimald Priory: Mr. Brummell, Nicodemus, and Nero the Mad have vanished, and there are no clues shedding light to the cats' whereabouts. And nothing -- absolutely nothing -- will keep Prudence Honeysett from turning the countryside inside out to retrieve her beloved mousers. Elsewhere, family drama keeps everyone on their toes when Lucinda hares off for a fortnight spent with friends and spiritualists, leaving the men of her family sorting out their own haunted mystery at home.Humorous letters and journal entries continue to recount more inconvenient misadventures in otherwise idyllic Hoary Plimpton.