"Another Hauntingly Humorous Romance by Ms. Kurland"

Victoria McKinnon is more than a little suspicious when her pain-in-the-neck brother Thomas offers Thorpewold Castle for her upcoming performance of Hamlet. Who could turn down the chance to direct Shakespeare in a honest to goodness English castle? Of course if you've read "Three Wise Ghosts" (little sister Megan's novella) or MY HEART STOOD STILL (Thomas' own story) then you are in on the joke. If not then you'll just have to find out along with Victoria.

Following Thomas McKinnon's return to America with his new bride Iolanthe, Connor MacDougal has assumed control of the castle as its laird. He is not unfamiliar with the responsibility, having been the laird of his own keep before his untimely murder in medieval Scotland. He is in the process of interviewing a motley crew of shades for the position of his Captain of the Guard when he is brought the news that yet another pesky MacKinnon is on the way to plague him. Connor hates all McKinnons and is determined to send this V. MacKinnon packing with "his" tail tucked between "his" legs at the first opportunity.

What he hadn't expected was that V. MacKinnon was a beautiful and spirited woman. She's a canny one as well. Taking the presence of ghosts both at the Inn and at the castle in stride, she exacts a promise from Connor not to haunt her cast during their stay by promising him a part in her play. Connor like many born in his own time had never learned to read, and finds himself at the mercy of the Boar's Head Trio, the most devious group of matchmaking ghosts you'll ever come up against.

Victoria, who is otherwise savvy, is blinded by her leading man who is vain and self-serving and completely oblivious to her interest in him. Connor soon finds himself loathing the man. Although he has promised to behave himself around her cast and crew the other ghosts have promised no such thing and when one of Victoria's erstwhile relatives "several generations removed" frightens away her costume man, her Grandmother throws herself into the breach.

It is Grandma who actually sets things in motion inadvertently by disappearing during a picnic. Victoria's leading man turns up missing shortly afterward. Brother Thomas contacts Jamie MacLeod, who has appeared in numerous Kurland offerings as well as his own story (A DANCE THROUGH TIME), and is an expert on "mysterious disappearances" (i.e. time travel gates). With Jamie's aid, the MacKinnon's learn exactly where the two have gone and Victoria becomes determined to retrieve them. Mere moments after she arrives in the past, she begins to understand the perils of time travel. By the time she returns Victoria is completely disillusioned with her leading man, but she suspects she might be harboring strong feelings for yet another man she can never have. It's an impossible situation, or is it?

Lynn Kurland is a consummate storyteller. With an incorporeal hero, she must rely on sexual tension alone to fuel the romance and she succeeds in doing so beautifully and with a great deal of humor. Much Ado in the Moonlight will keep the reader on the edge of their seat unable to put the book down until the very last word.

Younger sister Jennifer is introduced in this story as an active participant in Victoria's adventures. She is single, and had been an extremely talented actress and musician. For a reason no one else is aware of, Jennifer had suddenly dropped these pursuits to assist her mother with her baby clothes business. Something is definitely awry, and knowing that the Boar's Head Trio are not about to leave any of their young descendants alone and unhappy, I have a feeling there will be a romance in store for her in the near future. Since Jennifer is not in the dark about the existence of her matchmaking ghostly relations as her siblings had been, I am waiting with breathless anticipation to see how Ms. Kurland handles that story.

Leslie Tramposch - Copyright © 2006
For PNR Reviews

Reviewed by Leslie Tramposch
Courtesy PNR Reviews
Posted May 19, 2006

Summary

Award-winning and USA Today bestselling author Lynn Kurland "consistently delivers the kind of stories readers dream about." (The Oakland Press) Now, she pens a wonderfully romantic tale about an eight-hundred-year-old ghost and the modern woman who turns his plans for a peaceful afterlife upside down...

When Victoria McKinnon's brother offers to finance her production of Hamlet, she leaps at the chance. She can't imagine anything better than staging Shakespeare's masterpiece in an honest-to-goodness English castle. There's just one problem: the place is haunted—by a grumpy, gorgeous Highland warrior who's furious that anyone dares to invade his home.

Connor MacDougal has no intention of relinquishing his authority over Thorpewold Castle to anyone, let alone a McKinnon. But then he catches a glimpse of the beautiful intruder—and suddenly he can't help but wonder why it's taken eight hundred years into his afterlife to find the love of a lifetime...

Leslie Tramposch - Copyright © 2006
For PNR Reviews