The House Saphir

Teen charlatans battle a sinister specter in this rollicking “Bluebeard” reimagining. Unlike their mother, Mallory and Anaïs Fontaine can’t wield the magic necessary to cast spells. Everybody in the city of Morant assumes otherwise, though, so after their mother dies, the girls begin peddling counterfeit wares from the family’s potions-and-charms shop. Additionally, Mallory—who can see and communicate with spirits—commences unsanctioned tours of the now-abandoned mansion where the infamous count Bastien Saphir killed his first wife before leaving town for the country with their child. When Bastien’s great-great-grandson, Armand, comes calling, Mallory worries he’ll expose her; instead, he solicits her and Anaïs’s help in exorcising apparitions from Bastien’s rural estate. Armand informs them that, following Bastien’s murder of two other wives, he was killed by his fourth wife’s brothers. Now all three specters haunt the estate, and Bastien’s malevolent and increasingly powerful spirit has started attracting even more sinister paranormal terrors. Though the magic-less sisters know they can’t actually perform an exorcism, stringing Armand along should prove profitable—assuming they survive the ordeal. Despite kitschy, underdeveloped worldbuilding by Meyer (With a Little Luck), wisecracking ghosts, witty third-person narration, and feisty, funny heroines amply entertain. Shocking twists confound, while Armand and Mallory’s flirtation adds fizz. Main characters cue as white. Ages 14–up. Agent: Jill Grinberg, Jill Grinberg Literary. (Nov.)