Friday, February 4, 2011

A Hard Day’s Fright-Casey Daniels

A Hard Day’s Fright
Casey Daniels
Berkley, Apr 5 2011. $6.99
ISBN: 9780425240564

On August 14, 1966 Lucy Pasternak and some friends went to see the Beatles perform. She is proud of her audacity when she ran on stage, eluded the security guards and kissed Paul. After the show Lucy leaves with her friends by train, but never makes it home.

That night is the last time anyone seen Lucy until cemetery guide Pepper Martin sees her on the same train she rode forty-five years ago. The underground voodoo railroad lets it be known that Pepper is the person to turn to if she needs help for her spirit to finally be at rest. Pepper knows she has to get involved with a ghostly whodunit as Lucy demands she find her body and bury it. At first Pepper doesn’t want to be involved bur she changes her mind when she learns her best friend and mentor Ella was the teen friend who failed to help Lucy get home. Pepper wants to make things right for Lucy, but the inquiry into the missing body proves precarious as an unknown adversary wants the case to remain cold and tries to kill those like Pepper who are intruding.

A Pepper Martin paranormal amateur sleuth is always a fun read as the heroine solves problems for those with a Tomb with a View. Like the Ghost Whisperer she helps earth bound spirits resolve what keeps them from moving on to the next level. However, she is unable to tell anyone ever since her former boyfriend ridiculed her when she confessed that she is the Chick for the Dead. Her current investigation is a shade more personal than usual as the secondary cast especially her “Watson” enhance another delightful urban fantasy.

Harriet Klausner

No comments: