Book Review: Three Sisters by Helen Smith

Continuing my review of spooky books for September and October, I’ve reviewed a quirky and spooky–yet humorous–mystery. The first in the Emily Castle mystery series, this short novel follows twenty-six-year old Londoner Emily Castle to a strange party. Emily is grieving for her late dog, and the party thrown by a neighbor is her first attempt to begin her new life sans dog. The book is quirky and fun and a fast read. At the party, Emily witnesses a duo, sisters, performing a knife trick. One of the sisters looks like she dies on stage, and the crowd goes crazy with police arriving at the scene. But then the sister miraculously seems recovered… though Emily swears she saw her die.

Emily is thus left with a crime to solve—except no body to prove the crime even happened. Along her way to solving the mystery, she meets all sorts of eccentric characters. The party takes on the feeling of a circus mixed with a close-knit neighborhood mixed with a big city. It’s an interesting read, and it made me want to keep reading until the end. Speaking of the end, although the crime is solved, the book opens with lots of possibilities for sequels.

Though there are references to adult content, none of it is shown explicitly, so this would be an appropriate book even for young, young adults. I look forward to reading the next books in the series.