Angel Among Us

October 8, 2012
Readers may wonder how well Munger’s fourth Dead Detective mystery (after Angel of Darkness) would have worked without its paranormal gimmick. The ghost of Kevin Fahey, a deceased Delaware cop with an undistinguished personal and professional track record while alive, likes “to watch the glory that is the human body” at his former community’s elementary school playground, where one day he spots a pregnant Mexican preschool teacher, Arcelia Gallagher, who has “the face of an angel.” Fahey is shocked when his voyeurism reveals that all is not as it seems in Arcelia’s life, a discovery that precedes her disappearance. The police inquiry focuses on her husband, Danny, but since Danny’s father is the town’s mayor, the investigation is a sensitive one. Routine police work goes hand in hand with a plot that’s unlikely to appeal to those who weren’t already series fans. Agent: Jane Chelius, Jane Chelius Literary.

November 1, 2012
A ghostly police officer and the comrades he left very much alive take on a difficult case rife with political complications. In death, Kevin Fahey (Angel of Darkness, 2012, etc.) floats through the small Delaware town where he used to be a lazy, hard-drinking cop. It's the same place that a beautiful, well-liked, very pregnant Latina married to the mayor's son vanished from. Maggie Gunn and Adrian Calvano are given the case by Cmdr. Gonzales, a politically ambitious Latino who dislikes his own people. Maggie and Calvano find the last two places Arcelia Gallagher was seen: a Catholic church and Delmonte House. Both places are home to many secrets. At the church, the priest and several nuns are secretly using the basement to care for a large group of illegal immigrants. The recently renovated Delmonte House is home to a famous Hollywood actor and his wife, a much younger actress soon to give birth. Fahey, who's drifting along with the police as they investigate, knows that Delmonte is haunted and realizes that Arcelia is hidden somewhere on the grounds but can't do anything about it. The baying tabloid press and reality TV, including Maggie's obnoxious, self-centered ex, are quick to accuse Arcelia's husband of murder, but Gonzales instead arrests a Mexican illegal whose pregnant wife has also vanished, leaving Fahey to seek salvation while Maggie and Calvano desperately search for the missing woman. Another solid police procedural for the Dead Detective set apart by a touch of mysticism.

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October 1, 2012
Munger follows Angel of Darkness (2012) with another installment in the adventures of Kevin Fahey, the Dead Detective, who continues his postmortem roaming in a small Delaware town, seeking redemption for his past misdeeds. His latest effort involves the disappearance of Arcelia Gallagher. The beloved, pregnant preschool teacher's distraught husband doesn't know that his wife has a violent past. The illegal-immigrant community in the town may know why she is missing, but its members are too afraid to speak up. The police investigation keeps officers returning to the local Catholic church and to Delmonte House, a recently restored mansion. The search will keep readers in suspense as officers look for Arcelia, and Fahey stalks the mansion's halls. Will the police locate Arcelia and will she be alive? Readers who enjoy Mary Stanton's Beaufort & Company novels will like this series as well, but it will also appeal to procedural fans who can accept the paranormal angle.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)