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
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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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About 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
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