Let me just say it straight, this book was everything I needed and more.
Claudia Hall Christian returns with Volume 2 of The Casebook of Abee Normal, and somehow she’s made the stakes feel even more personal, the characters more vibrant, and the emotional resonance deeper than ever. These stories are short but packed, layered with fantasy, folklore, cultural history, and spiritual healing.
We reconnect with Abee Normal just as she’s adjusting to married life with Everett. Their relationship is sweetly awkward at first, but that warmth is quickly interrupted by grief and high stakes. A suicide in their orbit casts a shadow, and Abee’s mother is unwell, setting a somber, complicated tone for what’s to come.
***Spoiler alerts moving forward***
Familiar Faces, New Haunts
This volume brings back beloved characters: Abee’s great-grandmother Ma’am, the ever-capable goblin hunter Goji, and the spritely sprite Tippi. Each of them plays a vital role, not just as helpers in Abee’s investigations, but as emotional supports and symbols of different kinds of power—ancestral, physical, and magical.
The first story, The Case of the Bogle’s Warning, takes us to the Beauchamps Plantation. There, Abee and Everett are meant to ease into married life, but a spectral Bogle interrupts their peace with a warning that kicks off the book’s steady rhythm of suspense and reflection. Ma’am is her usual commanding self, filled with intuitive knowledge and ancestral insight. The blend of folklore with history here is both chilling and poignant.
When History Refuses to Stay Buried
The Case of Crazy As… shifts the tone from unsettling to outright intense. Abee digs into a personal history project that takes her to the haunted ruins of Kuhn Memorial Hospital in Vicksburg. Goji and Tippi come along for the ride, but even with their help, this investigation cuts deep. The hospital’s energy is oppressive—spirits abound—but it’s one particular entity that forces Abee into a psychic standoff that challenges her strength and control.
This part of the book speaks to how trauma doesn’t just sit in the past. It lingers, manipulates, and tries to rewrite your present.
“You must know that traumatized people are susceptible to giving up their power.”
“My Ma’am says that’s why people are tortured,” Abee said.
“So they give up their will.”
“She is correct,” Sister Nevins said.
This dialogue hits hard because it speaks to the core of what Claudia does so well: she gives voice to the buried pain in people and places, and then shows us how it might be healed. In doing so, readers gain something rare in paranormal fiction: a genuine emotional confrontation with the pain our ancestors couldn’t always escape.
Saving Spirits, Healing Land
The final story, The Case of the Evil in Charleston, brings it all together. Abee and Ma’am head to Charleston to help free seven plantations from dark, unresolved energy. The plan is clear, but the moment they arrive, Ma’am falls gravely ill, leaving Abee to lead the mission herself. With Goji, Tippi, and a trusted college friend stepping in, Abee must navigate not just spiritual unrest, but the emotional strain of facing this evil without her usual guide.
Help comes from unexpected places—spirits from Ma’am’s own children, and finally, the return of the Mother of the Sacred Flame. This isn’t just ghost-hunting anymore. It’s ancestral reckoning. It’s about confronting pain at the root and choosing to heal anyway.
A Story That Honors and Uplifts
What makes this series special, and this volume in particular, is how Claudia Hall Christian balances the fantastical with the deeply real. Goblin hunters and fairies don’t distract from the heaviness of a haunted plantation, they accentuate it. The folklore helps carry the grief and explains the legacy. Abee isn’t just solving problems; she’s leading a spiritual reclamation.
And Claudia? She’s more than just the author of this series. She’s a dear friend and a true mentor to me. Her writing is as generous as she is, filled with love, knowledge, and a deep commitment to community and healing.
Final Thoughts
The Casebook of Abee Normal, Volume 2 is full of heart, courage, and legacy. Whether you come for the magic, the mystery, or the rich cultural layers, you’ll leave feeling more connected to something bigger. Five stars, all the way. This is the kind of series that stays with you, not because of flashy twists, but because of its honest, grounded power.
And the banger to add to this moment, because every good book needs a song…
