The Bellefontaine Haunting — A Supernatural Thriller Review
Book cover image from Amazon
The Bellfontaine Haunting by Marie Wilkens is a suspenseful and gripping supernatural thriller and murder mystery. It held me from the first page to the last with its story of the ghost of a deceased woman haunting a reporter and the cold case surrounding her death suddenly becoming hot and open.
News reporter Kara King returned to her hometown of Bellefontaine, Ohio after a demotion and refusal of her lecherous former manager’s advances. She buys the local newspaper, The Bellefontaine Ledger, to get the now closed media outlet running again.
As she works to put the Ledger together again, Kara begins to see the ghost of a woman begging for help inside the periodical’s office building. Kara soon discovers that the dead woman is Renee West, a former Ledger reporter who went missing. So, she investigates Renee’s death.
The Bellfontaine Haunting will appeal to teen and adult readers of cozy and paranormal mysteries. Many paranormal mysteries have a more lighthearted approach with the detective having a friendship with a wisecracking ghost who helps solve some lingering unfinished business while assisting the living protagonist with problems of their own.
This book isn’t like that. Instead it gives Renee a mostly silent presence that is both eerie and sorrowful. Her ghostly appearance and the evolution of her afterlife characterization were some of my favorite moments.
At first, Kara feels Renee’s presence in small doses like cold spots in the upper stories, a disembodied whisper asking for help, or a faint face or body just seen out of the corner of her eye. She barely has a form until Kara begins investigating her.
The mystery reminds Kara that Renee was once a person whose life was taken too quickly and whose voice was cut off before she could reveal what she learned.
As Kara researches and gathers information on behalf of Renee, Renee’s spirit becomes more pronounced as though Kara’s actions strengthen her. The book implies that she leaves various clues around the office like keys and recorded messages that encourage Kara to follow certain leads.
Kara recognizes an understanding kindred spirit in the dead woman and confides in her during times of stress and indecision even though she knows that Renee can’t talk back in a traditional way. Renee knows the trail that Kara must follow but she can only influence the living down specific paths that lead the truths that she cannot speak.
The Bellfontaine Haunting by Marie Wilkins was published on July 28, 2025 and is Volume #112 in A Riveting Haunted House Mystery Series. This book is guaranteed to send chills down your spine as you read in anticipation for the mystery to be solved.
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Julie Sara Porter
Julie has a Masters in Library Science from Indiana University.and a BA-English from University of Missouri-St. Louis. She's been a reader her whole life and a Professional Book Reviewer since 2017. She loves to read Fiction — especially Fantasy, Science Fiction, Historical Fiction, Literature, Classics, and Mysteries — and Nonfiction like Biographies, History, Gender Studies, New Age/Spiritualism, and Literary Criticism. Julie lives in De Soto, Missouri. When she's not reading or reviewing, she's watching movies, shows, and YouTube videos; listening to New Age, Classical, and Retro music; writing fanfiction; and searching the Internet for new and interesting information and knowledge.
Find more of her work on the Bookworm Reviews Blog, and follow her on Facebook, LinkedIn, Bluesky, Threads, and Goodreads.
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