Tag: Olivia Blacke

Death at the Door by Olivia Blacke (Cozy Mystery)

The second in the Ruby and Cordelia cozy mystery series: Cordelia Graves — a recently deceased woman coming to terms with navigating the world in her new state — and her new “roommate,” 20-year old Ruby Young — an annoyingly perky young woman who is hell on (Cordelia’s beloved) houseplants.

In this episode, a favorite delivery guy — who delivered more than the delicious sandwiches Trendcelerate (Ruby’s company) orders regularly — is found dead in the company bathroom. Looking like an overdose, the police aren’t too concerned. Enter our half ghost-detection team.

These stories are fun, the characters engaging, and even the filler piques my interest. Lots more backstory on our characters with the addition of a few more (e.g. a cute guy across the hall and Cordelia’s not-dead but also definitely not honest or law-abiding little brother), and we learn some more about Cordelia’s own death.

Fun ideas, good execution, an engaging read.

Thank you to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on November 4th, 2026.

A New Lease on Death by Olivia Blacke (Mystery)

A nicely written and engaging murder mystery starring an unusual detection team: Cordelia Graves — a recently deceased woman coming to terms with navigating the world in her new state — and her new “roommate,” 20-year old Ruby Young — an annoyingly perky young woman who is hell on (Cordelia’s beloved) houseplants. When the body of the neighbor across the hall turns up in the snow wearing pajama bottoms and fuzzy socks, both women are concerned that the police just don’t seem terribly interested. In order to team up, however, Ruby needs to know that Cordelia exists and then they need to work out some way of communicating as ghostly Cordelia is invisible and silent to live ears.

The pacing could have been tighter, and the “ghostly” ideas were not terribly original but they were executed quite well. I liked the alternating POVs between the two leads and their engagement and developing friendship under such unusual circumstances. It was easy to read and I was satisfied with the resolution, though it did get a bit repetitive at times. A little cliffhanger at the end ensures there will be a second in the series. All told a light, fun read.

Don’t be confused by the author — in all honesty I selected this book because I thought it was by Olivie Blake of the Atlas series, but it is instead by Olivia Blacke. Looks very similar at a glance!

Thank you to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on October 29th, 2025.