I only wish this had of been longer as I would have loved more of the investigation into the missing girl's disappearance. The adults in this aren't infuriating or in the way like a lot of adults are in middle grade novels - the characters were done so well, I seemed to like them all (well, maybe except the terrifying ghost. A character I also absolutely loved was the quirky Mr Lieberman who owns the local bookshop. She is balanced out by her Aunt Lilian and new friend Harold, who try to add some rationality to the strange hauntings. The character of Aveline is very approachable and her affinity for ghost stories adds to her charm.

For a ghost story mystery, this one is a fantastic one. It's one of those books where you could cosy down with a hot chocolate on a dark night close to Halloween and read cover-to-cover. The atmosphere was pitch-perfect in this, from the gloomy stormy weather, to the small-town feel, it was very nicely written. With spooky happenings, Aveline's life is then put into mortal danger when it appears a vengeful ghost may want her for her own. While there, Aveline comes across a book of ghost stories that used to belong to a girl who went missing over thirty years before. The first in a compelling series of ghostly mysteries, which is sure to prompt readers to check under their beds before they turn the lights out.This is as close to perfect to a middle grade ghost story mystery as we're gonna get!Īveline is forced to stay with her Aunt in the lead-up to Halloween in a small coastal village. Ideal for confident junior readers, it is enhanced by a smattering of atmospheric black-and-white illustrations. With appealing characters, a spine-tingling plot and a fittingly bleak, stormy setting, this chilling chapter book is not for the faint-hearted. However, as Aveline is drawn deeper into the tales, events take an unsettling turn. Hoping the stories may provide clues about Primrose’s fate, Aveline investigates, enlisting the help of bookseller Mr Lieberman and his great-nephew Harold. When she finds a book about local ghosts and phantoms in a dusty, second-hand bookshop, Aveline is intrigued to learn that it once belonged to 11-year-old Primrose Penberthy, who mysteriously disappeared from Malmouth thirty years earlier. Despite her fondness for ghost stories, she finds the town a little creepy, particularly when sinister scarecrows appear outside people’s homes in the lead up to Halloween. Aveline is not looking forward to spending half term with her austere Aunt Lilian in Malmouth, a windswept village on the Cornish coast.

The haunting of aveline jones blurb