Chewing Gumm You Don’t Need to Spit Out

Although you won’t necessarily remember it, either.

#memorable?

Daisy Gumm (whose real last name is Majesty, but there’s a pretty strong indication that she thinks as favorably of her married name as she does of the paralyzed veteran who can’t give her children that comprises her husband) is a psychic.

And by psychic, I mean con artist, who will take your money and move the planchette on a ouija board or favorably read you tarot cards if you’re a gullible person with too much money and too little sense.

You know who I’m talking about.

Unfortunately for Daisy, who works hard but really wants to just stay at home and be a housewife to the perpetually cranky man she vaguely remembers having loved before he became wheelchair-bound, there is mischief afoot at the house of one of her more prominent clients, the Kincaids.

#mischief

What happened to Mr. Kincaid, the lecherous man who traps housemaids with his wheelchair (yes, there are two wheelchair bound men in this novel)? Is he dead? Did he steal money from the family business and disappear?

There is an answer, although the point of Strong Spirits is really more about evoking the period style of the twenties.

Oh yeah, I’ve been talking about this book the entire time.

Strong Spirits kept my attention. Daisy is a spunky character who doesn’t know her own mind, and a discerning reader will likely see where this story is heading, but the book is worth a read. The book feels a bit frivolous. Daisy is meant to be characteristic of her time period, and therefore, is fairly judgey. And this is not a mystery.

I know, Sherlock. I was disappointed, too.

However, if you’re looking for an enjoyable read that doesn’t require much mental capacity, and which you will likely forget soon after reading, Strong Spirits is for you.

What is this thing you call “memory?”

On my indeterminate scale of book scores, Strong Spirits rates 2 out of 13 ghosts.

Cute ghosts, at that.