San Francisco based single mom, Louise, is happily raising her adorable daughter, Poppy, when she gets a call from her long estranged brother, Mark. Their parents have both been killed in a car accident! Oh no! He has plans for their funeral that she doesn't agree with! She will have to bring herself to return to her home, which she has avoided doing for years! So, after explaining what death is to Poppy, something her mother never did, and thinking a good mom should be open about these things, she now has to leave her traumatized daughter with her ex.
Landing in Charleston, she arrives at her parents place in her rented Kia. Investigating the outside, she hears voices from within. Entering, she realizes the TV was on. Her parents must have left the house in a hurry. There was her Dad's cane, he wouldn't just leave that. Looking around she takes in all the dolls. Her mother's vast collection. The dolls fill every space, cabinet and shelf. And two of the biggest, named after her and her brother, occupy her Dad's chair. With the remote lodged between them. What could be creepier?
Maybe the fact that their mother was a Christian puppeteer, and that she had a work space filled floor to ceiling with her beloved characters, the ones she traveled with and did shows with. Louise hated the dolls. She hated the puppets. She maybe resented her brother, who her Mom always seemed to favor and make excuses for. But she was a grown-up now. She could work with him to settle everything and move on, and never look back.
Could things be that easy? People did these kinds of things every day. Except for... remember this name, PUPKIN! The beloved hand puppet their Mom had since she, herself, was a little girl.
You will have to read How to Sell a Haunted House yourself and you should, because you will never forget Pupkin, one of the most memorable and creepy (and almost sympathetic) creations in fiction. If you think Grady Hendrix had done it all in The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires, he has even outdone that moment everyone remembers (one word: raccoon)!
Thank you to NetGalley for letting me read this unforgettable craziness of a DRC!
