Pushing Up Daisies (Daisy and Rose Mystery Series)

On September 30, 1814 Sophia Meade Long wrote to her mother from her home at Holly Hill regarding her concerns about her husbands gambling debts. The next day, Sophia Long died. When Daisy Forrest encounters the ghost of Sophia Long lurking just outside of Holly Hill, a historic mansion where Daisy is a docent, she is sure that the ghost is telling her something. Perhaps it has to do with the recent break-ins at the mansion or the priceless Revere silver rumored to be buried there. Daisy and her sister, Rose, pay a visit to the former owner of Holly Hill who lives in a small house on the grounds, Miss Adele Long, to find out more about Sophia and the silver. Adele, who is apparently in contact with the ghost, is rather mysterious in her answers. Her nephew who takes great care of her, Leo Walters, is also acting oddly. Another little mystery occurs when the sisters long lost father, Dickie Forrest, returns and begins to woo their mother, Angela Forrest. Using a Ouija board he talks to his recently deceased aunt Lydia Forrest in an effort to convince Angela to take him back. Things become considerably more complicated when Daisy finds the dead body of Wally Stone, the mansions curator, and she instantly falls for Brian Hathaway, lead detective on the investigation. At the same time, Len Rutherford, who has taken over Wallys duties, seems to have a thing for her. Daisy and Rose, in full investigative mode, find a system of tunnels on the mansions grounds and explore one of them in hopes of finding out how the intruder is getting in. Things get out of hand when Daisy is attacked as she is reading an old diary she has found in the dining room of the mansion. She is knocked out, shoved into an elevator, and the diary is taken. In spite of, or because of, Detective Hathaways warnings not to, the sisters and Angela are determined to find the culprit. The three women sneak onto the grounds and into the mansion. They find the entrance to another tunnel in the cellar, its exit in the woods, and the murder weapon. At this point they are suspicious of just about everyone and Daisy is determined to tell Brian Hathaway everything, but circumstances prevent that from happening. A day later Adele asks Angela to come to her home. She is worried about Leo. Meanwhile, Rose is at a friends investigating the Long family on Ancestry.com in the hope of finding out more about Adele and Leo and Holly Hill mansion. Left alone at home with a storm brewing Daisy is uneasy. When Len Rutherford calls to say that someone has broken in to the mansion once again and that he cant stop her mother from investigating, she and her dog, MALCOLM, rush over to Holly Hill. She finds PERCY, her mothers dog, injured and limping outside the mansion itself. Knowing that her mother is in trouble, Daisy enters the mansion to find Leo Walters unconscious and Len Rutherford holding Angela and Adele in the cellar. He has been trying to beat the whereabouts of the Revere silver out of Adele saying that he is the rightful heir. He boasts of killing Wally Stone and Leo and, strangely, apologizes for attacking Daisy. Hearing a noise from above, Len decides to take Daisy hostage and leave through the tunnel entrance. But Daisy fights him off and Malcolm and Percy come after him with a vengeance. As he runs through the tunnel he encounters Sophia Longs ghost and is trapped until the police get there and arrest him. Thankfully, Leo and Adele are all right. The mystery of Dickies reappearance is finally solved when Angela receives a letter from Lydia Forrests lawyers telling her that she is her heir. Dickie was hoping to cash in. Angela and her girls are better off without him. "Daisy Forest knows a ghost when she sees one. True, she has never actually seen a ghost before, but she swears their transparency is a dead giveaway. Daisy, a volunteer tour guide at the historic Holly Hill Mansion, knows that Sophia Meade Long, the woman who once owned the mansion, has been dead since 1814. So, when a very transparent Sophia steps in front of Daisy's little Prius one night and asks for her help, how could she refuse? Once again Daisy and her sister, Rose, find themselves up to their eyeballs in all sorts of shenanigans -- chasing ghosts, holding séances, and searching for priceless Revere silver. The sudden reappearance of their reprobate father, Dickie Forest, with a new and unlikely interest in the occult has them puzzled to say the least, and their mother, Angela, behaving at her eccentric best. What seems to be harmless fun takes a deadly turn when Daisy stumbles on the body of the mansion's curator in the wine cellar and Daisy is later attacked after a Gothic evening in the mansion. When the police seemed to be stumped, it's up to Daisy and Rose, with the invaluable help of Angela, to calm the ghost and catch a killer."-- Provided by publisher Daisy Forest knows a ghost when she sees one. True, she has never actually seen a ghost before, but she swears their transparency is a dead giveaway. Daisy, a volunteer tour guide at the historic Holly Hill Mansion, knows that Sophia Meade Long, the woman who once owned the mansion, has been dead since 1814. So, when a very transparent Sophia steps in front of Daisy's little Prius one night and asks for her help, how could she refuse? Once again Daisy and her sister, Rose, find themselves up to their eyeballs in all sorts of shenanigans — chasing ghosts, holding séances, and searching for priceless Revere silver. The sudden reappearance of their reprobate father, Dickie Forest, with a new and unlikely interest in the occult has them puzzled to say the least, and their mother, Angela, behaving at her eccentric best. What seems to be harmless fun takes a deadly turn when Daisy stumbles on the body of the mansion's curator in the wine cellar and Daisy is later attacked after a Gothic evening in the mansion. When the police seemed to be stumped, it's up to Daisy and Rose, with the invaluable help of Angela, to calm the ghost and catch a killer.