Red Lily

By Nora Roberts

The third book in her In the Garden trilogy, a rather disappointing conclusion to what was a good story.
Hayley works for her cousin Roz in her garden center, which is part of the Roz's family estate. Hayley also lives with Roz in the mansion, which the ghost, know as the Harper Bride for the long white dress she wears, is haunting. The ghost is attracted to children, especially babies and has been known in the past to sing to them at night. But she doesn't like men and when Hayley starts up a relationship with Harper, Roz's son, the ghost becomes angry and dangerous, even taking possession of Hayley at times.
The family decides that the only way to get rid of the ghost is to figure out what happened to her. They know that she was the wronged mistress of a long dead ancestor and that she had a baby. They discover that the baby she had was taken from her by her lover and he passed the baby off has the child of his wife. This pushed the mistress over the edge and one night she came to the mansion, determined to be reunited with her infant son. But something terrible happened that night and Hayley and Harper need to find out what it was if they are ever to have any peace and security in their life together, as the ghost is violently opposed to their relationship.

Frankly, I was bored by this novel, the third in the series. I lost interest when it became clear that the author had decided to portray the mistress, the ghost, as greedy, cold and cruel. Roberts took away all the sympathy the reader felt for the ghost when she emphasized how vain, greedy, materialistic, and lewd the character was when alive. The ghost had good cause to hate her lover when he stole her baby, but Roberts makes sure we know that the woman hated men even before this event occurred, viewing men only as a means to acquiring all the good things she wanted in life. Roberts turned a sympathetic and mysterious character into just another stupid monster. Half way through the book, I just wanted it to be over.