Dying for the Past

November 15, 2014
A ghostly detective who hovers over Winchester, Virginia, learns to harness his powers. Oliver "Tuck" Tucker, a police detective who solved his own murder (Dying to Know, 2014), watches over his wife, Angel, who can hear and talk to him. So can his old partner Bear Braddock, though he refuses to admit it. When wealthy Stephanos Grecco is shot dead in front of loads of witnesses at a black-tie charity ball organized by Angel, Tuck begins to whisper advice in Bear's ear. The site of the ball has dire associations. Vincent House is a mansion named for gangster Vincent Calaprese, of the New Jersey Calaprese family, who back in the 1930s found Winchester just close enough to Washington, D.C., to be handy. Now his ghost pays Tuck a visit, insisting that Tuck bring him Benjamin and a book. Unfortunately, Tuck has no idea what he's talking about. Meanwhile, Grecco's trophy wife, Bonnie, claims the bullet that killed her husband was meant for her; the money collected at the ball is stolen; and Angel's close friend Andre Cartier is arrested. A mystery guest turns out to be ambitious Ruth-Ann Marcos from the U.S. Attorney General's office. The FBI wants to take over the case. Even the Russian mob is involved. The house and grounds are a warren of hidden rooms and tunnels, and someone seems to have hired a private eye to plant listening devices in every one of them. Tuck finally gets Bear to admit he can hear him, but danger awaits Angel, and the solution may lie in a past Tuck never knew he had. Tuck's second moves along briskly enough, but the plethora of suspects and motives may leave you scratching your head.

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November 1, 2014

Former police detective Oliver "Tuck" Tucker is living-challenged--in other words, he's a ghost. No light came to take him away to the hereafter, so now he's a PI working for the dead. Hanging around a charity fancy dress ball hosted by Tuck's widow, Angela, he witnesses the murder of Stephanos Grecco. With the assistance of his former partners, who are aware of--but don't like to acknowledge--his presence, Tuck must identify the killer, since the prime suspect is Andre Cartier, a good friend of Angela's. After solving his own murder in Dying To Know, Tuck unravels a tangled tale of spies and homicides stretching back almost 50 years. VERDICT Despite the somewhat contrived characterizations, the twisty plot is well delivered, and the tone recalls Alice Kimberly's "Haunted Bookshop" series featuring the hard-boiled 1930s detective Jack McClure. Anyone who loves a strong ghost yarn will savor this tale.

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