If you’re like me, you love a good ghost story. Haunting the pages of this middle-grade book is a murder mystery spurred on by an innocuous ghost tour through Savannah, Georgia. Author Tiffany D. Jackson writes Ghost in the Night, the tale of a girl named Harmony who embarks on a quest to answer the age-old question: are ghosts real, or is it something more sinister?
Ghost in the Night is another spine-tingling, can’t-put-it-down murder mystery, this time set in America’s Most Haunted City.
Ghost in the Night, Amazon
Twelve-year old Harmony Roundtree and her musician dad have just stopped for a stint in Savannah. While he plays at the local bars and clubs, Harmony spends her time honing her craft: photography. The thing is, her pictures capture more than the mundane; ever since she had a paranormal experience with her late grandmother, Harmony has been on the hunt for ghostly activity, wanting to prove that this is all real. Savannah turns out to be the exact right place to prove it too. As soon as they arrive, there is a murder of a prominent figure in town — and Harmony manages to capture what seems to be his ghost. As she finds herself at odds with family, friends, and possible poltergeists, she must use her gut to get to the bottom of this mystery mess.
Being a middle-grade reader, Ghost in the Night centers on what it’s like to be a budding teen in a changing world. Bringing the old-world leanings of Savannah together with Harmony’s street-wise, Harlem heart, Jackson’s story exemplifies that change in such a way to signal growth. Harmony starts out with a more child-like persona, reminiscing about her late grandmother, daydreaming about a life of photography, and just having an overall hopeful (yet naïve) outlook on life. When things start heating up, pretty drastic life changes hit her like a truck, making her lash out in an attempt to protect herself. By the end, Harmony emerges victorious with newfound understanding of the world. In that way, Ghost in the Night is a great bridge between easy readers and more young adult-centered stories.
But even reading as an adult myself, I found Ghost in the Night pretty entertaining — primarily with the use of African American Vernacular English (AAVE). I can’t quite explain it, but reading very much Black characters’ speech made them all the more real because I know people who talk like that… hell, I talk like that! Early on in the book, one of Harmony’s friends asks when she’s coming back to Harlem, saying “You stay there too long, you gonna end up possessed.” And it’s those quick, sometimes side-eyed kind of comments sprinkled throughout Ghost in the Night that readers can relate to. She speaks like me.
On that same note, I appreciated Harmony’s (outward) lack of feeling “weird” for liking the supernatural compared to her friends. She says how her friends show interest in fashion and gossip while she responds with talk of haunted houses. And though she realizes she doesn’t exactly fit the mold of what people say a 12-year old Black girl should think and act like (many times has it been stated that “Black people don’t mess with that stuff”), not once does she let it deter her from what she wants to do. Her thirst for truth, knowledge, and acceptance pulls her out from the crowd and makes her someone to aspire to be like.
Keeping in mind that I am in my mid-thirties, I know damn well that Ghost in the Night is not necessarily meant for me. Many of the movies and books I partake in are properly for adults, having insane amounts of blood, violence, profanity, and more. Ghost in the Night has both lighter scary moments and times where Harmony and the crew could have really gotten into some trouble, but not much — if anything — is nightmare-inducing for middle grades. Ghost in the Night‘s horror elements center on ghosts that end up being rather helpful, the real danger coming from elsewhere. I would describe it as slightly whimsical — enough to keep you wondering and clinging to the lantern light, but not enough to traumatize you.
If you’ve ever been on a ghost tour through a southern city, Jackson’s Ghost in the Night is exactly that in written form. It’s a girl finding her way through life by her own means, but finding that with the love of her family and good head on her shoulders, she can accomplish anything. Through sweeping Spanish moss and cobblestone streets, this middle-grade thriller gives readers something to cling onto, whether it be the Black experience in a southern spaces or the curiosity of what lies beyond.
Ghost in the Night is available now on Amazon.
