"Then one morning Annette was found dead in her bedroom. The coroner declared that she had died in her sleep. A box of chocolates was found in the room but none tested positive for poison. Since that time, boarders have heard footsteps going up to the third floor room at mid-night."
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The Black Dog Bed & Breakfast by Michael Andrew Marsden Marsden Publishing
book review by Carol Anderson, D.Min., ACSW, LMSW
This story begins with Lieutenant Brian Anderson seeking answers regarding his mother who died when he was a baby. Just out of college, he finds himself connecting to the ghost at the Black Dog Bed & Breakfast, where he stays when traveling from his family home to his job as an Air Force pilot. He continues to stay at the resort on his travels, copes with the ghost, and finds himself infatuated with the daughter of the resort's owner. While questioning concerns regarding his biological mother, he also is coping with the estrangement of his father, who might not be his father after all, and the mother who raised him. Throw in a little Catholic guilt, suicide, an uncle with Huntington's disease, and the story takes us on a trip through love, healing, and mystery.
An old-fashioned love story that is easy-to-read, this book may interest readers who are looking for a more refreshing view of relationships as it has a traditional view of dating and love—more of a 1950's approach to relationships than the 21st Century approach. For example, Brian's love interest and her boyfriend probably had "gone past first base long ago," and the description of her "womanly charms" invokes phrases of longing of a past era. Our hero tries to be honorable, is quite serious, devoid of a sense of humor, and is rather angry and straight-laced, but shows a more interesting side in his approach to finding the ghost who haunts the B & B as well as him. The ghost angle is cute. The book demonstrates compassion with the focus of a connection between Brian and his estranged uncle who has Huntington's disease and his own issues regarding the illness.