Genre: Paranormal Mystery
Setting: New Orleans
Publication Date: November 4, 2025
Publisher’s Description
Nola is ready to focus on starting over in the Big Easy. She wants to get back to work on the renovations of her Creole cottage, and she is eager to launch a new murder-house-flipping business with contractor, closet psychic, and part-time nemesis Beau Ryan. After a near-death ghostly encounter and the return of Beau’s missing sister, they are confident that the ghost of his mother can finally rest.
Nola believes the shotgun house on famed Esplanade Avenue is a prime fixer-upper for her first project. It may have been the site of a woman’s murder and the disappearance of an entire family, but the house will be perfect for new-to-town Cooper Ravenel—who happens to have caused Nola’s first heartbreak.
That’s the least of Nola’s worries, though. In addition to the elusive spirit of an angry young woman who accompanied Cooper to New Orleans, the house on Esplanade has its own ghosts, including one that is becoming increasingly dangerous as he tries to hide his dark secrets. And the wet footprints from the spirit of Beau’s mother have returned to let them know there is still unfinished business before she can rest. Spectral danger is headed toward them, and it’s up to Nola to convince Beau to help before it’s too late…
My Review – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Karen White returns to New Orleans with another atmospheric blend of mystery, family secrets, and spectral danger in The Lady on Esplanade. Following Nola as she tries to rebuild her life, the novel begins with a “murder-house-flipping” business and spirals into a chilling web of hauntings, unfinished business, and emotional reckoning.
I loved the supernatural components of this story—White’s ghostly details are deliciously eerie without tipping into full-on horror. The hauntings feel darker and more danger-driven than in some of her past books, and they raise the stakes beautifully. There’s even a creepy doll that adds just the right touch of old-school shiver.
The pacing did drag in spots, particularly when the investigation slowed, but the suspenseful moments and family-driven emotions kept me turning pages. I found myself wanting more of the supernatural scenes because they elevated the tension every time they appeared.
White’s strength has always been her characters, and this book is no exception. Nola and Beau have a complicated, layered dynamic—rivalry, affection, and lingering grief all tangled together—and the secondary cast feels textured and real. The family themes that run beneath the paranormal surface ground the story in emotion and give the mystery real heart.
Dark, ghostly, and steeped in Southern gothic atmosphere, The Lady on Esplanade is a story where the living and the dead both have something to prove. It’s perfect for readers who love a slow-burn haunting filled with secrets, emotional depth, and just enough chills to keep you sleeping with a night-light.
My Rating: 4 stars – hauntingly heartfelt, with just the right amount of eerie charm.
About the Author
Karen White is a New York Times bestselling author known for her richly atmospheric Southern fiction and emotionally layered mysteries. With more than thirty novels to her name, including The House on Prytania and The Shop on Royal Street, her books often explore the intersection of history, family, and the supernatural, with a special fondness for the haunting beauty of New Orleans.
She lives near Atlanta, Georgia, and when she isn’t writing, she enjoys reading, traveling, and dreaming up new stories that blend ghosts, secrets, and second chances.
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