[1] In an alternate near future, the existence of "bio-remnants" (ghosts) has been scientifically proven, making humanity cognizant of the paranormal and the problems sometimes associated with it.

"[3] Publishers Weekly highlights "Voices in an Empty Room" as among the stories particularly noteworthy in its review of Worshipping Small Gods, finding it "[t]he most compelling entry" in the collection.

[4] Ray Olson of Booklist calls the "stories [that] feature benevolent ghostbuster Eli Mothersbaugh of Canemill, Mississippi, ... so fine, sensitive, and southern that Eudora Welty might approve of them.

Regarding the individual tales, he feels "A Hint of Jasmine" "clips along like any solid mystery with a steady drip of clues," while rating "Voices in an Empty Room" a "weaker story" and "Hanagan's Kiyomatsu, 1923" "a simple trotting out of Parks's developing formula."

"Diva," on the other hand, is "sweet and unabashedly sentimental, a journey to restore things to the way they once were, and it functions strongly as an end to the arc by commenting on what has come before."