Dead Before Midnight by Kelly Mason [Review]

Dead Before Midnight (Branden Bay Paranormal Cafe #0.5) by Kelly Mason
Format: ebook
Source: purchased
Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Date read: May 24, 2025

Branden Bay Paranormal Cafe
0.5. Dead Before Midnight - Kindle
1. The Medium of Branden Bay
2. The Body in Branden Bay
3. The Haunting of Branden Bay
4. The Ghost of Branden Bay
5. Halloween in Branden Bay
6. Christmas in Branden Bay

Kelly Mason
| Amazon |

Synopsis (Goodreads):

Constance, has spent two years convincing the ghost of her dear departed husband to move on to the other side. After he finally agrees to walk into the light, Constance decides to live the rest of her life to the maximum. She attends a New Year's Eve party, held in Branden Bay’s castle, dancing the night away, until a murder occurs. To her dismay, the ghost of the victim follows her home. Can Constance find the killer, so the victim can rest in peace and she can live - ghost-free?

Thoughts on Dead Before Midnight: This novella introduces us to Branden Bay and Constance, Becky's grandmother. Or re-introduces us if we read the BBPC series first. Regardless, we get a taste of the ability Constance passed down to Becky and a few glimpses of the goings on in town.

Namely, that council members are deeply annoying and need to be in the spotlight of EVERYTHING. This includes horning in on downtime at a New Year's Eve Party, trying to convince people that the winning cake was SURELY their recipe, and just being generally irritating. Unfortunately for Constance, she seems to cross paths with said council person far too often.

But enough about that. Let's talk about the dead guy at the party. When he dies and doesn't move on and realizes Constance can see him, he gets a little clingy. Which is problematic when Constance is out and about trying to enjoy herself. So Constance does what any good medium would do. She tries to figure out who offed the poor guy so he'll leave her alone.

A quick, fun peek at BB before Becky moves to town (and Constance moves on, so to speak) with a medium who is just wants to enjoy life. She just ahs to deal with a pesky ghost before she can do it!