Mirror Image, by Kay Brooks, opens the Bennett Auction Series with Abby Adams and TJ Bennett entering the secluded White house to prepare an estate auction, only to find a portrait that looks exactly like Abby, a restless ghost named Isabella, hidden family secrets, and a present-day killer circling Edmondsville. The book braids a haunted-house mystery, a slow-burn romance, and a serial-killer thread into a story where antiques, diaries, portraits, and old rooms become evidence rather than scenery.

I appreciated the way the house is presented as more than a setting. Brooks has a strong instinct for objects: Lladró figures, old furniture, sketchbooks, diaries, a missing vase, and the kind of heirlooms that seem to remember more than the living do. That auction-world texture gives the paranormal mystery a pleasing specificity. I also enjoyed Abby’s curiosity; she is not merely frightened by Isabella’s presence, but pulled toward her with compassion, which gives the ghost story an emotional hinge.

The romance between Abby and TJ has a familiar push-pull rhythm, sometimes heated, sometimes prickly, but it works best when their banter is interrupted by real danger or tenderness. The book is busy with ghosts, genealogy, murder, family business, romance, and a killer’s stalking presence, all of which compete for space, but that abundance gives it a pulpy, page-turning energy. I was especially drawn to the idea that history is not dead here; it is ambulatory, wounded, and occasionally mischievous.

This book is for readers who enjoy paranormal romantic suspense, small-town mystery, serial killer thrillers, and family secrets fiction. Fans of Heather Graham’s Krewe of Hunters novels may feel at home with the blend of romance, ghosts, investigation, and danger, though Brooks adds her own auction-house flavor. Mirror Image is a ghost story that feels old, mysterious, and alive.

Pages: 299 | ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0DYZPL83J