The Portrait of Doreene Gray

Book Description: In this laugh-out-loud-funny mystery, Angus MacGregor and the zany staff of Tripping Magazine, a travel magazine that covers paranormal destinations, investigate a bizarre story in a town brimming with secrets. Forty years ago, Maureene Pinter painted a portrait of her twin sister, Doreene. In an eerie turn of events, Doreene hasn’t aged, although her portrait has. When Doreene decides to sell the portrait, the Tripping team travel to Doreene’s mansion in Port Townsend, Washington, a Victorian town wreathed in mists and mysteries, to get the scoop on this intriguing story.

When strange strips of paper appear in her soup, Doreene invites Tripping to stay and solve the town’s many puzzles. Why does a man named Enrico Russo sit in a white Impala outside the mansion? And what does Lupita, the housekeeper, fear?  Soon, it becomes clear that while Doreene has kept her youthful looks, the past is catching up with her. Packed with laughs and featuring a mystery with a delightful literary twist, Esri Allbritten's The Portrait of Doreene Gray is a fabulously entertaining tale.

My Review: This second Chihuahua mystery, filled with zany characters, is a blast from start to finish. I haven't read the first book in the series yet, so I didn't know what to expect, but found myself chuckling so many times at the antics of the Tripping Magazine staff. Doreene's Victorian mansion is the perfect setting for a mystery about a woman who doesn't age, yet her portrait does. Strange occurrences at the mansion, such as pieces of paper showing up in bowls of soup, a bedroom filled with slugs, and a housekeeper who is convinced she is seeing spirits of the dead crawling across the ground, make this a page-turner from start to finish. I enjoyed the local history of Port Townsend interspersed in the story, and fell in love with sweet little Gigi. I hope Suki takes her along on the gang's next paranormal adventure!

FTC Full Disclosure: The author sent me a copy of this book with the request for a review.