Tick Tock by Gillian Larkin (Storage Ghost Mystery #3)

This Eddie character is EVIL!

Third in the natural progression of tales in the Storage Ghost Mysteries, Tick Tock reveals what really happened to Grace and Frankie’s parents.

Eddie Tominski, the ruthless loan shark, steps up his evil ways to wrest the antiques shop left to them by their deceased parents away from the Abrahams siblings. He even has his thugs attack Grace at a storage locker auction - in a public restroom. Grace is rescued and family friend, Big Bob, determines to put an end to Eddie’s plans.

Grace wins the contents of a storage locker that holds the ghosts of an older couple that she recognizes to be friends of her parents. Lynne and Tom Opendale had owned and operated a watch repair shop and died under mysterious circumstances. Grace is led to the couple’s grown daughter, Clare, who has developed a theory about their deaths as well as that of the elder Abrahams and others. All the suspicious deaths lead back to Eddie Tominski.

Although Grace never encounters the ghosts of her parents, she does receive word of them from some of the ghosts she end up helping. We also discover in Tick Tock that there may be the helpful spirit of a saucy old woman inside the antique shop.

Once again, this is a quick, fun, and satisfyingly-resolved cozy mystery but with a heavy dose of menace this time. Still … THUMBS UP!