Spooky Shenanigans ~ Dying For The Past ~ Tour Review and Two Giveaways!

Posted: June 9, 2015 in Blog Tour, Cozy Mystery, giveaways, reviews, Series
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Dying for the Past
(A Gumshoe Ghost Mystery)

2nd in Series
Paperback: 408 pages
Publisher: Midnight Ink (January 8, 2015)
ISBN-13: 978-0738742069
E-Book ASIN: B00QVLB9N4

22351160

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 My Review

Detective, or should I say former detective, Oliver Tucker, likes to be called Tuck, describes hinself as a puff of dust. That’s because he’s dead. But that doesn’t stop him from detecting and theirs one heck of a muder and mystery to be solved.

While his widow, Angel is on board and accepts he’s still around, albeit as a ghost, friends and his former partner, Bear, are still in  denial. I had many a chuckle as Tuck used his ghostly presence to give them a spooky Boo now and then and steered them where he wanted them to go with comments from beyond the grave.

I realized pretty quickly this was the second book in a series, but the author caught me up quickly on the history. The first book is about Tuck’s own murder and how he stayed around afterwards and helped solve his own case. I imagine it was just as fun as this book and I’ll be going back to read it too.

So the skinny is, Angel, Tuck’s widow, holds a swanky charity ball and someone gets murdered right in front of everybody. To top it off, all the charity donations get snatched right out from under their noses.

As Tuck digs into the case, he meets some other ghosts, those being  mobsters, the sexy Sassy, and even some relatives from long ago. All of them are tied to this case, which stems from events about a book back during the cold war and before.

Russian spies. Mobsters from the 30’s. Dead guys, several of them. A mysterious book. And a trail that leads to Tuck’s own ancestors. Lots of shenanigans and mystery in this one.

Tuck is a hoot. He gets a kick out of taunting his former partner, Bear. The poor guy is in denial and Tuck likes to give him a creepy boost now and then. Bear better get on board before people start looking at him like they do Angel.

Angel is a sweetie and she’s got a lot of sass herself.  She likes having Tuck around and even gets jealous when he has an encounter with the sexy Sassy, another ghost. People are starting to look at her funny as she talks to Tuck, sometimes forgetting others can’t see or hear him. She takes it in stride.

You’d think after solving his own death, Tuck would have moved on, seen the bright light. But nope, his remaining here was a bit of a mystery even to him. He might have some of it figured out, as other ghosts do approach him to help with their murders. Tuck can do what they can’t, he can interact with the living, be heard and talk to them. Well, some of them. So he’s still detecting and will keep on doing it until it’s time to go.

The end of the book was such a hoot. You tore from one event to the next, all of it culminating in the big bang ending. I wanted to read the end, yet I didn’t want the story of Tuck and his gang to be over. I have a feeling there will be more in this series as Harry has some ancestral mysteries yet to solve. One of them being about his mother and father. Hope to see that soon.

5 Stars

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Synopsis:
Dying is not for the faint of heart . . .
. . . Neither is the murder of a mysterious philanthropist with ties to the Russian mob and 1939 gangsters.

At an A-list charity ball organized by his wife, Angela, former detective Oliver “Tuck” Tucker is doing his best to prove that ghosts know how to have a good time—until a man is murdered in cold blood on the dance floor.
Never one to let a mystery go unsolved, Tuck is on the case with help from Angela and his former police-detective partners. Together, they must be the first to read “the book”—deceased gangster Vincent Calabrese’s journal that names names and reveals the dirty secrets of several modern-day spies.

As Tuck learns the book’s secrets, he begins to unravel his own family’s wayward past, leading to the question—is being a ghost hereditary? Even while chasing a killer, the biggest challenge Tuck must conquer is how to be back amongst the living . . . but not one of them.

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main bw photoAbout This Author

Tj O’CONNOR IS THE 2015 GOLD MEDAL WINNER OF THE INDEPENDENT PUBLISHERS BOOK AWARDS FOR MYSTERIES and the author of Dying to Know and Dying for the Past, available in books stores and e-books from Midnight Ink. His third paranormal mystery, DYING TO TELL, will be released January 2016. He is currently working on a traditional mystery and a new thriller. Tj is an international security consultant specializing in anti-terrorism, investigations, and threat analysis—life experiences that drive his novels. With his former life as a government agent and years as a consultant, he has lived and worked around the world in places like Greece, Turkey, Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom, and throughout the Americas—among others. He was raised in New York’s Hudson Valley and lives with his wife and Lab companions in Virginia where they raised five children. Dying to Know is also a Foreword Review’s 2014 INDIEFAB Book of the Year Award finalist.

Learn about Tj’s world at:

 

Web Site / Facebook / Blog / Goodreads

 

Purchase Links

Indiebound / Amazon / B&N / Books A Million / Midnight Ink

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 Rafflecopter Giveaway for a Kindle loaded with Tj’s Books!

KINDLE****Plus Winner’s Choice at each stop of print of e-copy of Dying to Know and Dying for the Past!****

Easy entry. Please leave your email address so I can contact you if you win and leave a comment.

Tell me anything!

Now, don’t forget to enter the rafflecopter below!

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a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Follow the tour for more fun posts and more chances to win!

June 8 – Community Bookstop – Review

June 9 – fuonlyknew – Review

June 10 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – Review

June 11 – View from the Birdhouse – Interview

June 12 – deal sharing aunt – Review, Interview

June 13 – Griperang’s Bookmarks – Review, Guest Post

June 14 – A Chick Who Reads – Review

June 15 – Back Porchervations – Review

June 16 – Writers and Readers of Paranormal  Mystery – Guest Post

June 17 – Brooke Blogs – Review, Guest Post

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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew and Good Luck!

To see all of my giveaways click on the lucky horseshoe below!

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Comments
  1. candace knight says:

    Thanks for the giveaway. I have not heard of this series. It sounds great.
    Moonbay7399@gmail.com

  2. Awesome giveaway, this book sounds cool. 🙂

    Stormi
    booklady2007 at gmail dot com

  3. Red Iza says:

    A ghost detective, that’s a first for me 🙂 It looks like one fun read !

  4. Great review and the books sounds great too. I love ghost detectives. 🙂

    sherry @ fundinmental

  5. Topazshell says:

    I never get tired of a journal or diary in a mystery. When ghosts are involved, there is more fun.

  6. sheriwilkinson says:

    This book looks very, very good. Good luck to all who enter to win!
    SheriWilkinson at hotmail dot com

  7. steve weber says:

    Love the cover- thank you for the chance to win!

    • fuonlyknew says:

      Me too. Perfect depiction of the story and characters:)

      • Tj O'Connor says:

        Glad you all like the cover. I am working traditional thrillers and mysteries now and the covers for those are quite different. Midnight Ink has these colorful, light covers for these cozies. This cover is better than book I and I think book III will be different too.

  8. Donna Gott says:

    Look good, good luck to all!

  9. Tj O'Connor says:

    To all who read the book, thank you! I hope you enjoy the series as well. Via my web site at http://www.tjoconnor.com you can grab my email address and drop me a line with your thoughts on each book. I’d love to hear what you think. Thanks so much for visiting this site and being a mystery fan!

    • fuonlyknew says:

      Thanks for stopping by and chatting with us TJ! I love cozies, mysteries, and thrillers, so I’m sure I’d enjoy your other books too:)

  10. kayekillgore says:

    Sounds like a fun read

  11. Midu Hadi says:

    Thanks for the giveaway!

  12. kdonovan221@gmail.com says:

    Thanks for the giveaway.

  13. willowysp says:

    Thank you for the giveaway!

  14. Laura says:

    I gues you can’t kill off a really good detective.

  15. slandon74 says:

    Sounds like a great story.

  16. Sandy S says:

    Thanks for the giveaway. The storyline sounds intriguing.

    pharmx_2(at)hotmail(dot)com

  17. Jo-Anne Boyko says:

    I haven’t read any of the Gumshoe Ghost Mystery Series yet but I like reading mysteries with detectives and even though these ones are dead, I am looking forward to reading these books.

    joanne.boykoATyahooDOTcom

  18. Hi, this blog tour thing is new to me and I’m curious to see how it works. I used to have an ereader which was a Kobo Aura HD, had won it at a charity raffle, but never even unboxed it as I sold it to cover some personal expenses (having been in the self-pub launch process at that exact time), so it would be a bit amusing if I won a Kindle instead right here–I’d be sure to keep it, because an ereader of any kind is something I should start using, in order to get books more economically and read more often!

    dmadeley7@gmail.com

  19. Melissa Crisp says:

    You said tell you anything so here you go… I’m taking the kids to see jarassic world tonight.
    leighannecrisp at Yahoo dot com

  20. llh66 says:

    Thanks for the great giveaway..

  21. Cyn says:

    Looks like a wonderful read

  22. Best wishes for Dying for the Past!

  23. Sharon says:

    Great giveaway – looking forward to reading your books.

  24. Sharon says:

    Forgot to leave my email – qahwahdrinker@gmail.com
    Thanks again – this is a great way to discover an author new to me.

  25. Karin says:

    I wish more ghosts would return to visit and help out!!!

  26. isisthe12th says:

    Dying for the past sounds like a good read. Thank you
    isisthe12th@gmail.com

  27. Amanda Sakovitz says:

    Title sounds very intriguing!

  28. Anne Martin says:

    the book looks good

  29. Thomas Murphy says:

    sounds like a great book! Thanks for the giveaway.

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