Astrid Magnusson has come home to her wealthy family's mansion while on a break from college. It's 1928 in San Francisco, and Prohibition is in full swing. One of Astrid's brothers is an archeologist and professor. Her other brother Winter purportedly runs a fishing business; which is actually a front for his bootlegging empire. As for Astrid, she can best be described as a flapper. She wears short skirts, too much makeup, and frequents speakeasy's and dives.

Bo Yeung is a young Chinese American man who works for Winter Magnusson. He had been fostered by the family as a youth, and has worked his way up to Winter's right hand man. Bo has also grown with Astrid, and the close friendship between the pair has deepened into the possibility of something more. The couple's romantic inclinations, however, are strictly taboo in society. Under the laws of 1928, Bo cannot even be seen in a public venue with Astrid; and he is forbidden to even enter many public places.

Once Astrid is home, however, she and Bo are immediately thrown back together by way of an intriguing mystery. It seems that a pleasure yacht has rammed into the Magnusson pier, a yacht that has been missing for over a year. There are six survivors on board, people who are acting very oddly indeed. When the couple ventures onto the now empty vessel, Astrid touches a turquoise idol found on the floor and has a strange and frightening vision. Intrigued, Bo and Astrid begin to look deeper into the matter. What they find is an evil and magical mystery that takes the investigation from the heights of society to the dregs of the speakeasies. Along the way, they begin to draw much closer, to the point where they are prepared to defy both convention and the law to be together.

GRAVE PHANTOMS is the third book in author Jenn Bennett's fun and different Roaring Twenties PNR series. These books follow the Magnusson family through a myriad of mysterious paranormal adventures taking place during the wild and crazy Prohibition era and the Roaring Twenties. More than just the paranormal storyline, this is the touching story of the travails of a forbidden romance. Not only is the relationship considered immoral, it is also illegal. Kudos to Bennett for her deft and sensitive treatment of the relationship. There were deep and very real socio-economic difficulties that had to be addressed if Bo and Astrid wanted a future together. Not only is the romance and mystery written exceptionally well; the flavor of the time period is also colorfully captured and fleshed out.

Although GRAVE PHANTOMS is the last part of Jenn Bennet's PNR trilogy, it can be read standalone; and is possibly the best story of the series. The Roaring Twenties series as a whole is a breath of fresh air in the paranormal genre.

Book Summary

From the author of Grim Shadows and Bitter Spirits comes the new Roaring Twenties novel in the series hailed as “Boardwalk Empire meets Ghost Hunters, but so much better” (Molly Harper, national bestselling author of the Jane Jameson series).

Feisty flapper Astrid Magnusson is home from college and yearning for the one thing that’s always been off limits: Bo Yeung, her notorious bootlegging brother’s second-in-command. Unfortunately her dream of an easy reunion proves difficult after a violent storm sends a mysterious yacht crashing into the Magnussons’ docks. What’s worse, the boat disappeared a year ago, and the survivors are acting strangely…

Bo has worked with the Magnusson family for years, doing whatever is needed, including keeping his boss’s younger sister out of trouble—and his hands to himself. Of course, that isn’t so easy after Astrid has a haunting vision about the yacht’s disappearance, plunging them into an underground world of old money and dark magic. Danger will drive them closer together, but surviving their own forbidden feelings could be the bigger risk.