LET THE GHOSTS SPEAK

SUMMARY

In 19th century Paris, Justin Trotter, an immigrant from England, is making his way as a book translator while paying for his blind twin sister’s care. One evening, Marc Noël, Justin’s well-to-do friend and fellow thespian, invites him to a masquerade party at an abandoned schoolhouse. Justin hopes this will be an opportunity to get to know Marc’s lovely though sharp-tongued sister, Francine.

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At the event, Justin meets four ghostly strangers—two adults and two children—who warn him that the party guests are in danger, and they must leave at once. True to their prediction, a murder takes place, and Justin is the prime suspect. He escapes and becomes a fugitive, hiding in the Paris catacombs.

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Mystery and intrigue swirl as the ghost of Joan of Arc and other martyrs guide Justin on a lonely journey to prove his innocence and protect his sister from an abusive caretaker. Who really committed the crime? Marc? Francine? A ghost? And does seeing these ghosts mean he is going insane? Maybe he really is the murderer after all.

 

There is only one way to find out, to let the ghosts speak as they reveal the mysteries within Justin’s mind.

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OPINION

As a bit of a fan of Mr. Davis’ books, I was asked by a publicity manager from Mountain Brook Ink to give an honest review of "Let the Ghosts Speak" for the eBook release this April 15th (2021). Review may contain spoilers.

"Let the Ghosts Speak" was definitely a new area of Mr. Davis’ literary works that I wasn’t familiar with. I adored and fell in love with his Dragons in Our Midst series and following saga. In fact, I ate up every dragon related book he published. "Let the Ghosts Speak" sadly did not have any mention of my favorite mythical creature, but that did not stop me from reading it.

From the first few chapters, I was yanked in. Mr. Davis has a way of keeping the reader hanging onto each chapter and immediately swinging to the next to find out what happens next in this unique mystery/supernatural tale.

The story starts off like any good mystery would – a mysterious death. Poor Justin Trotter is blamed for it at a masquerade party since he’s the odd ball out and just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and I expected the rest of the story to follow the somewhat traditional “Search for clues, find the killer, clear his name, and all is well at the end as the real murderer is taken to prison.” But I did not heed Mr. Davis’ call that the book was not like your typical mystery.

For starters, ghosts play a roll. At first, they’re a little unsettling – I mean they’re ghosts – but after a while you get used to them popping up and want to know more about them and cheer them on and grow sad when they…I’ll keep the spoilers to a minimum.

But poor Justin Trotter. Native to England but now living in Paris as an actor, his father was accused of murder, his mother is dead or alive, and his only close relative is his beloved twin sister Justice who is blind. He’s made a couple of friends, Marc (his roommate) and the lovely Francine (sister to Marc) who he is head-over-heels in love with. But as Justin is trying to stay out of the public eye, while trying to figure out who the murderer is, he often turns a blind eye to the people close to him.

I liked Justin…for the most part. He has a good heart, but sometimes his heart runs the show a little too much. Which can be good in some cases but bad when he doesn’t see that the people he loves are using him in some form or another. When his troubles grow worse, I was mostly shaking my head at him. Everyone around him (ghosts mostly) are practically showing him the truth of the bigger picture, but he is blind in his own way. He sees the world but he doesn’t often see what is right in front of him until it’s too late.

Sadly for most of the story I kind of forgot about Justice (Justin’s sister). She doesn’t really play much of an important roll until the end. She seems very sweet, maybe a little too trusting of others, but she loves her brother, despite all these accusations made about him. I liked her.

Inspector Paul Fortier was probably my favorite character. Despite all the evidence that was piled onto Justin’s shoulders, Fortier still believed Justin was innocent. You don’t really see much of the man, but if there was a spin off story about his point of view, I’m sure we would see all the hard work he put into trying to solve that case. It was definitely complicated. Especially with Justin’s version of it. I tip my hat to that man.

Now, Francine… I have nothing to say about her. If she was standing in front of me, I wouldn’t even be able to look at her. Playing with our poor Justin’s heart. The nerve of her! I was actually rooting for them in the beginning, but then I was less and less as the story went on and realized that Justin did not need a woman in his life. Especially her…

This story did give me mixed feelings. I loved it, I was confused by it, I was intrigued, but I find that the books that I remember the most are the ones that juggle my feelings all over the place, and this book definitely did. The way it was written was definitely refreshing. The whole story is told in how one would write in their diary, but with more detail and dialogue. Justin wrote it all to his mother, but I think I would’ve loved it if the story just ended with him signing off his name and ending his testimony of the events that befell him, and it was up to the reader to wonder what happened to him, if he was found guilty or not or if he was simply insane. But I did like Inspector Fortier’s addition at the end and the final events that unfolded. The ending was very satisfactory, in my opinion.

I’d love to dive deeper into this book, but then this review would never end. I’ll finish up with this. "Let the Ghosts Speak" makes you think. Makes you ponder what is real and what isn’t. There are several themes and morals you can drag out of it, but the one that struck me the most was love. Love for the people who hurt you. Love for your persecutors. Giving second chances and holding onto the faith that in the darkest of times, everything is going to be all right – maybe not in the way we expect it.