Do hearts broken long ago forever leave a tangible trace? A Vegas cocktail waitress. An Indian herbalist. A British chemistry professor. An Italian-American widow. Four unique women with one thing in common: each is haunted by a tragedy from her past. Cynthia, Rohini, Jane, and Angela meet on a food blogging site and bond over recipes. They decide on impulse to open The Secret Spice, an elegant café on the magnificent ocean liner, the RMS Queen Mary , currently a floating hotel in Long Beach, California. Rich in history and tales of supernatural occurrences, the ship hides her own dark secrets. The women are surrounded by ghosts long before they step aboard, but once they do, nothing is quite what it seems. Not the people they meet, not their brooding chef's mystic recipes, and not the Queen Mary herself. Yet the spirits they encounter help them discover that there's always a chance to live, as long as one is alive. Nominated for the prestigious National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction, COOKING FOR GHOSTS is an unforgettable tale of love, redemption, and divine female power.     "In Cooking for Ghosts, Patricia V. Davis manages to combine an exuberant lust for the good things in life with an eerie sense of foreboding. This is an exceptional, uniquely gratifying novel. Make yourself something tasty to eat, put your feet up. You're going to be reading for a while." ~ David Corbett, award-winning author of The Mercy of the Night "An exquisitely written story about four dynamic women who confront the ghosts from their past, with vivid imagery that shines a light on the majestic legacy of the RMS Queen Mary. " ─ Mary Rohrer, Executive Director, QMI Foundation "...A complex, rich, and satisfying read... Especially recommended for mystery enthusiasts looking for something different in the way of setting, feisty and strong female characters...and a story line brimming with revelations and intrigue that aren't easily predictable. " -- Midwest Book Review "Davis's patient hand at storytelling threads itself into a perfect and suspenseful character of its own in this wonderfully dark and moody tale brimming with beautiful juxtapositions: modern technology with old world tastes and scents, surface interactions with deep, ghostly otherworldliness, and the common narratives around women and friendships with the ethereal, the intuitive and the feminine." ~ Amy Guth, Host, WGN Radio, President, Association for Women Journalists Chicago --Association for Women's Journalists, Chicago "Ghosts, romance, friendship, and food…what a great combination. From the very first page, I was drawn to the characters and their lives aboard the Queen. A bit of history, woven through a newly formed partnership, wrapped in mystery and intrigue. A wonderfully delightful story." ~ Kim Henry --Books or Books       Cooking for Ghosts  is what the publishing industry calls 'magical realism.' It's many things, but one thing is it not is a straight-up mystery, so if you're looking for that, you might be disappointed. Does it have mysterious elements? Yes. Are there ghosts in the story? Definitely, but it's not a ghost story, either. Is there a love story? There certainly is, but again, that's only a part of the whole. Does it contain historical facts about the  RMS Queen Mary ? You bet it does, and I think you might find those facts as fascinating as I did when I first discovered them.        But at its heart,  Cooking for Ghosts  is the story of friendship, of how four females of very different backgrounds --- some of them wealthy, some of them marginalized --- come together and discover their commonalities. It's a story of fear and loneliness that's overcome. It's a story of relationships, it's a story of growth and change. It's a story of how being in a certain place and time with certain people can make for a wonderful difference in one's life. It's a story of daring, and of belief in oneself and one's friends.       All the men and women in the story are based on people I've met and experiences they've had and I've had. And the ship - the wonderful, majestic,  RMS Queen Mary ...  well, I fell in love with her. She is another remarkable woman, like the women in the story. She too has an extraordinary background, an extraordinary past.       I hope you enjoy reading the story as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please read the Author's Note for historical references, and you might also enjoy the Reader's Guide which contains videos and other fun tidbits that inspired me. I present this story with respect and affection and thanks to anyone who chooses to spend several hours reading something I have written. It's an honor and a pleasure. Happy reading.  Patricia V. Davis is the author of Harlot's Sauce: A Memoir of Food, Family, Love, Loss and Greece , and The Diva Doctrine: 16 Universal Principles Every Woman Needs to Know . Her first published fiction, "Chopin, Fiendishly" appears in Tales From the House