Lady Margaret's Ghost: A Felicity Mystery (American Girl Mysteries) by Elizabeth McDavid Jones

Lady Margaret's Ghost: A Felicity Mystery (American Girl Mysteries) Reviews

• 
  Queen Susan the Gentle

  Felicity Merriman has just bid farewell to her mother who has left on a trip. Soon after her mother leaves, a strange package arrived at the Merriman household. Inside are valuables of Lady Margaret, an ancestor of the Merrimans. Felicity finds inside a gorgeous silver hairbrush, a silver cup, and a baby rattle. Her father tells her the story of Lady Margaret ghost. How it was hard for her to have a child, how the child died and Lady Maragaret too soon after. Her last words were telling her husband she was sorry. People claimed to have seen her ghost, wandering through her home, finding a blanket to cover her baby.
  
  The story sends chills up Felicity's back. She cannot shake the story out of her mind. One day when planning a meal for her father, she needed the keys to the cupboard. But they were gone, so she asked her friend, Elizabeth Cole to help find them. When they got back, the keys were back! They were very puzzled, then they discovered something horrific. The precious silver heirlooms-were gone!
  
  Felicity has a line of suspects:
  
  Mrs. Hewitt, the bossy old woman who helped Felicity with her cooking.
  
  Dawson, a lad she met at the race grounds.
  
  Anne, a very curly red-headed girl she met while watching the race.
  
  Or perhaps...Lady Magaret's ghost?
• 
  Megan

  I read this book for the podcast I’m currently listening to called “American Girls” by Allison Horrocks and Mary Mahoney.
  
  In this Felicity Mystery, we follow a Felicity Merriman during Publick Times. Like the chaos of Publick Times in Williamsburg, there is pure chaos in Felicity’s life too as her mother is gone (so Felicity has to be the gentlewoman of the house), she has Mrs. Hewitt watching her every move (which makes her more nervous), her horse Penny is racing one day and gets decently hurt (Felicity can’t figure out), stuff is getting stolen (Felicity can’t figure out how again), and there may be a ghost from ancient family heirlooms her family has just received from the death of their father’s cousin (LOL WHAT)... What is Felicity to do in these unsettling times?
  
  As you can tell from the description I’ve provided above, there is a ton that is going on in “Lady Margaret’s Ghost”, which is why I’ve awarded this Felicity book a three out of the Mystery series. It’s too much. From the first twenty pages, I was sort of over it because if the ghost elements aren’t enough to roll your eyes in the back of your head then all the other stuff will. Mind you, this is not the worst Mystery book of Felicity’s, in my opinion, but I did not love this one like I had genuinely loved “A Traitor In Williamsburg”. “Lady Margaret’s Ghost” does keep you on your toe as it is difficult to piece together who is doing what... There are moments were you are debating if it is Mrs. Hewitt being bad, Dawson, Anne, Lady Margaret, etc... You don’t know who is behind what, which I did really appreciate in this book. Like “A Traitor In Williamsburg”, it’s not completely obvious, so it made the book worth reading in some ways. But I didn’t know (or really care after some point) which certain things out of all the other things am I really supposed to focus on and give a shit about, if that makes any lick of sense? Like, is it Dawson I should be focus on or is it Anne or the ghost or... And so on. To me, all the characters that we are supposed to care about seemed very temporary in the novel, not really making me care at all, in the end, and because there are so many... It just really didn’t matter to me what the truth was because it was so much work juggling them all in this convoluted storyline. Can you see what I’m saying or as my review as confusing as this book is?
  
  Anyway, as I always say in every Felicity book, the enslavement and racism in this book was a problem again as usual in this series. I encourage parents to have honest talks with their children about what America was raised on because this books willingly ignore it (and basically say it’s okay because it’s “history”). I think I did say this in my last one, (maybe?) but I think it’s even more important to have these conversations with the Felicity Mystery books because Elizabeth McDavid Jones, the author of these specific books in the series, seems to just not give a fuck about it and just writes very harshly in a way where I feel before, at least, Valerie Tripp tries and fails to talk about the wrongdoings of enslavement more in her books... In my opinion, it feels as if Elizabeth McDavid Jones doesn’t seem to try at all. Is one worst than the other? Maybe not. But you would think, after these books coming out much later from the original series, that McDavid Jones would have made more strives in correcting this issue in the newer series showing how enslavement is not okay even if our ancestors or history. Instead, compared to Tripp, it feels like she tries even less than she did, choosing to blindly ignore it, which shocks and saddens me more despite neither of these being okay.
• 
  Xyra

  A thoroughly enjoyable read.
  
  This is my first look at the Felicity story line. I will have to go to the library to find the other, original books. She's an interesting character living in a time and place that I love. She lives in Williamsburg, Virginia during the Revolutionary War.
  
  Mystery is one of my favorite genres - my parents would read The Hardy Boys to me at bedtime. This is not at the same level as a classic Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew mystery, but given the target reader age group it isn't bad.
  
  The plot finds Felicity in charge of the household while her mother and younger siblings area away. [Please remember that 11 year old girls in the 1700s held much more responsibility than those of today.] That portion of the plot took a secondary and supporting role to the main goal of what was happening at the house with things appearing and disappearing.
  
  Felicity tries to figure out what is going on and when her own thoughts get jumbled, she turns to her friend Elizabeth. There are a couple of red herrings. In the end, well...I don't like to give spoilers.
  
  As I mentioned before, this was a thoroughly enjoyable read. It is a good chapter book. I really liked it.
• 
  meg

  truly don’t know why I read this
• 
  Marian

  Score! A Felicity mystery where you could, in theory, actually figure out the mystery or where it wasn't glaringly obvious the moment the villain appears. That alone earned it an extra star. Well, that and I like mysteries where as soon as you consider a possibility, at least one character will bring it up as well, even if it's just to shoot the idea down.
  
  The only thing I really didn't like is that Felicity would jump onto every idea presented to her without really thinking it through. Naturally this doesn't always end well for her, but I suppose it's also fitting with her character, so I can't truly complain other than to say that I'd hoped that by the time she turned 11, she'd have grown up a bit in that regard.
• 
  Ashley

  A Felicity American Girl Mystery
  
  Felicity has just said good-bye to her mother, who's going on a trip and leaving Felicity in charge of the house. Mother's carriage has barely left before a surprise package arrives, holding silver heirlooms that have been passed down in the Merriman family for a hundred years. Felicity doesn't believe in ghosts... but what else can explain the odd and eerie things that begin to happen once the heirlooms arrive?
  
  I loved every minute of this book, it turns out not to be a ghost or someone playing pranks... I'm not saying more about the outcome of the story because I don't want to spoil it.
  
• 
  Cheryl

  My daughter received this as a birthday gift and was thrilled when she opened it! I read the book one night after she went to bed and was really impressed by the story. What great historical fiction for young girls! It mixes mystery with history, and the American Girl series provides a nice wholesome role model for girls. I can definitely see its appeal for the "tween" reading crowd!
• 
  Hadassa

  Have you ever read a book that gives you the shivers while you are reading it? That is what this book did for me. With all the missing items and all the talk of ghosts it really gave me the shivers. It ended different than I expected.
• 
  Angela

  I just loved this book. It was a good book! I'm glad that I finished it. I just wanted to find out who stole the heirlooms.
  
• 
  Nancy

  This book was so good that I wanted to read ahead and not wait until bedtime to read it with the girls. The ghost was kinda scary for Emily, though.
• 
  Shreya=Drastically Random. Find the emoticon.

  A perfect mystery, with a bit of horror, lots of mixed-up characters, and a few protagonists. It also resolves everything in the end.
• 
  Schylar

  Sad-ish I new who the robber was from the bugging so it wasn't much if a turn point when they found out who they thought was the robber wasn't but its still a good book! :)
• 
  Ashley Bowen

  A wonderful book!!! And very mysterious. :)
• 
  Lily

  very good kept me on the edge of my seat.
• 
  SFrick

  As the issue of ghosts isn't truly resolved at any point in the story, the mystery has some interesting "thoughts". It is advised that a real perspective of ghosts be provided; this may also open opportunity to talk about how imagination can get the better of us. Ghost aside, it's a fine story.
• 
  Marianne

  I enjoyed this Colonial Williamsburg historical fiction book. The descriptions brought me back to the 18th century, to a town that I have visited a few times. The takeaway messages are friendship, coming to wrong conclusions, kindness, acceptance and helping those who are less fortunate than you.
• 
  Danae

  I enjoyed this Felicity Mystery. It kept me guessing.
  
  That is all. Carry on.
• 
  Grace Lynch

  I absolutely loved this mystery as a kid!
• 
  Kati Polodna

  It was fine, if not a little predictable but I loved being in Felicity’s world.
• 
  Alex

  I loved being back in Felicity's world, and this story was super cute.
• 
  Mellanie C

  There wasn't much ghost in this ghost story, but the story itself was pretty good.
• 
  SashayChantea

  This was a pleasant surprise. There were moments I honestly was enthralled and thought I figured everything out, only to be taken for 2 other turns! Definitely enjoyable!
• 
  Sarah

  More of a 3.5, but a fun little dose of nostalgia.
• 
  Erica Lizza

  Continuing my AG nostalgia kick