Synopsis: Birdy's aunt has bought some land that has a house sitting on it that is supposed to be haunted. Hannah and Birdy, at the request of a lawyer, decide to spend the night not only to put that story to rest but to see if they can get pictures of what an archaeologist is uncovering. They are confronted by a group of carnival workers, a snake 'milker', a man in search of his son, several teenagers trying to scare each other, and some great apes. This is a rather eerie story.
Review: I enjoyed the story, but wanted more about the ghost and more about the 'freak' who saved their lives. ( )

The Hanna Smith character is interesting but I found that I had mixed feelings about her. Somehow she doesn't really come across as one of Randy Wayne White's characters. I can't seriously believe she is that flaky. The story line is good but there is a lot of unnecessary dialog with a lot of characters doing a lot of different things. However about a third of the way through the book that all becomes tempered with a lot of historical background. That is actually what earned the book 3 stars. This is the first book I have read featuring this character and I will have to think long and hard if I will try another. ( )

Just finished audio book and I was very dissapointed. The 1st and 2nd Hannah Smith books were alot better. The first half of this book was terrible. There were so many subplots and snatches of this & that conversation it was just hard to follow and didn't make a whole lot of sense. I was like wtf?? After I got to about disc 4, the story seemed to come together a little so I could actually follow it at least. It almost seemed like one writer wrote the first half & someone else wrote the second half that's how disjointed the whole thing was. Also, there were alot of questions that were asked throughout the book that were never answered at the end. If I new I was never going to the questions answered I probably never would have finished the book. Another negative, I seemed to like Hannah ' s character in her first two books. I felt like she was portrayed as a smart, tough, independent, totally upfront woman. In this book, she came across as a ditzy and dumb and instead of her usual honest-say whats on your mind type she was evasive or she would just lie or tell you what you want to hear throughout the whole thing and it really greated on my nerves. Alot of the incidents could have been totally avoided if she would have just said something instead of hiding and lying. After this book, I don't even like her character anymore. It was just terrible writing and I'm really surprised White wrote this. His last couple books have been a disaster and he is definitely off his game right now. I hope he gets it together before he writes anymore. I just started listening to Cuba Straits. If it's as bad as the last two books I'm going to stop reading him for a while ( )

Haunted is my introduction to the Hannah Smith series. I like Hannah and her strong feelings of right and wrong, as well as her honesty about her own failings. Learning about the American Civil War battles in Florida, which I do not recall encountering before, was interesting. So was learning about the South American mimosa tree. Hannah's friend, Deputy Sheriff Liberty 'Bertie' Tupplemeyer, whom Hannah calls 'Birdy,' is a good supporting character.

Aside from the heroine's lack of romance, Haunted reminds me of old stand-alone Elizabeth Peters mysteries. Some of the paranormal incidents are faked and some aren't. I'll leave you to find out which.

The chimpanzee incident to which Birdy refers in chapter seven happened in 2009. Birdy mentions the face transplant, but not that the woman also lost her hands and her sight. It does give the reader reason to worry about the apes on a property not that far from the reputedly haunted house Hannah and Birdy are investigating for Birdy's rich aunt, 'Bunny' Tupplemeyer. The synopsis on the back cover is wrong about the house being slated to be razed. It's already protected. On the other hand, Hannah really is looking for evidence to know that the property's seller didn't disclose everything that should have been disclosed.

Hannah trying to read the journal of her Great-great-[great?] uncle Ben Summerlin, the Civil War blockade runner, was every bit as interesting as the actual history. Not everything she learns is to her liking, but isn't that the way it is with ancestors, even collateral [non-direct] ancestors?

The action starts getting heavy by chapter 16 and gets worthy of a horror movie before the end. I wish we could have found out how that unhelpful police dispatcher felt when the truth came out, but the book has no epilogue.

Now I want to find out if my library has the two earlier Hannah Smith books. ( )

Some Randy Wayne White fans haven't been impressed by his Hannah Smith series but personally I love it. Hannah comes from a historic Florida family. She's a fishing guide and a private investigator too, having inherited her uncle's boat and business after he taught her everything he knew. Hannah is at ease out of doors but she's also feminine and even a sometime lover of White's Doc Ford character.

As usual in a Randy Wayne White novel there are funny and strange characters but also some very real danger. Think venomous snakes and murderous chimps, alligators and vicious humans. You may just cancel that planned trip to Florida.

Hannah's friend Birdie, a deputy sheriff, introduces her to Birdie's wealthy aunt who hires Hannah to investigate a supposedly haunted house that sits on land the aunt has invested in. When Hannah and Birdie try to spend the night there, they discover the place is full of scorpions and that someone is watching them. They meet a strange archeologist who is conducting a dig on the property. He introduces them to people in a campground nearby and they turn out to be carnival people. There is also a rumor of attacks by chimp-like animals from a snake venom business at the edge of the campground.

I liked this different location and plot for the series. Also, Hannah is researching her family's history and one great-great-great-uncle seems to be involved in Civil War crimes in this area. This is my favorite book of the series so far; I look forward to the further adventures of Hannah Smith.

Highly recommended
Source: Amazon Vine ( )