I have said it here often, I am an indiscriminate reader. That is how I ended listening to part of an audiobook then speed reading (and now reviewing) The Murder of Sleepy Hollow” by Michele Pariza Wacek.

According to my research into Wacek and The Murder of Sleepy Hollow, belongs to a sub-genre of fiction I had not heard of called ,”Paranormal Romance.” One that I see would have appeal to those who might love both Romances and lighter, more humorous Gothic/Horror,

The Murder of Sleepy Hollow is the 5th volume in a series called the Charlie Kingsley Mysteries. The main character of the book and the series is Charlie. Charlie is a woman who owns an “artisan” tea business and apparently solves mysteries on the side. The paranormal part of the series is rooted in the fact that she herself lives in the most haunted house in a town filled with haunted houses and other strange happenings in place called, Redemption, Wisconsin.

The plot begins when Charlie, waiting for a lunch date with her handsome cop/friend/nemesis Officer Brandon Wyle, meets Ike (short, of course, for Ichabod) Krane. Krane tells Charlie that he is in Redemption because he writes books about haunted houses.

Coinciding with Krane’s arrival, Jack ‘O Lanterns begin to mysteriously appear on the porches of the many haunted houses in Redemption. And even more ominously, residents begin to hear the sound of hoofbeats from an invisible horse in the streets of Redemption in the middle of the night.

Part Cozy Mystery, part “Paranormal” rather that Horror, and part Romance, The Murder of Sleepy Hollow, did not (predictably) long hold my attention. I stopped listening to the audiobook 35% through. So I could review it here, I then checked out the ebook version of the novel so I could speed read the plot.

If the idea of a “Paranormal Romance” sounds like something you would enjoy, by all means check it out. Wacek is a serviceable writer. The Murder of Sleepy Hollow was not my cup of tea, but maybe it will be yours.