Mysterical-E

Author Snapshot

Haunting and Decking the Halls

There’s no better time to enjoy some unique and interesting mysteries than around the holidays. Even more fun is that most mysteries for Halloween and Christmas are a pun-lover’s feast, all kinds of “punny” titles and play on words.

Take author E.J. Cooperman (Jeff Cohen’s) two latest mysteries, Inspector Specter (love the title!) and The Question of the Missing Head (An Asperger's Mystery). http://www.ejcooperman.com.

In Inspector Specter, ghost skeptic and Detective Lt. Anita McElone gives in and goes to Alison Kerby’s Haunted Guesthouse to ask for, yes, supernatural help in solving her former partner’s murder. Alison and her resident ghosts, Paul and Maxie, turn up some disturbing information on Anita’s deceased partner, but there’s another problem—now Anita is missing.

“INSPECTOR SPECTER (December 2, Berkley Prime Crime) is the sixth Haunted Guesthouse mystery. This one came from the characters—what would happen if Lt. McElone needed Alison’s help? I borrowed a character from OLD HAUNTS to be the victim,” Cohen says.

And what inspired the title? “Well, the person who is killed in this one is a police officer and he helps solve his own murder as a ghost, so that’s where ‘Inspector Specter’ comes from.”

***

The text read: “COME OUTSIDE TO YOUR PORCH.”
That took some of my panic away but piqued my curiosity.
I looked out the window of the home theater—therein lies a tale; it was slated to become a fitness center for the guests until I found out how much exercise equipment costs—and sure enough, McElone was standing on the front porch next to the glider, hands clasped behind her, pacing. I sighed. The big scaredy cat.
Lieutenant McElone, one of the most unflappable people I have ever met, is afraid to come into my house because she thinks she’ll see a ghost. Which is silly. McElone can’t see the ghosts who stay in my house. Perhaps I should explain.—Excerpt from INSPECTOR SPECTER.

***

THE QUESTION OF THE MISSING HEAD (October 8, Midnight Ink) is the first in a new series from Midnight Ink. Samuel Hoenig has Asperger’s Syndrome and answers questions for a living. But can he answer the odd question of who stole a preserved head from the Garden State Cryonics Institute?
The book, Cohen says, “was inspired in part by my son, who has Asperger’s Syndrome, but he’s not really at all like Samuel Hoenig. It was an exercise in getting into the head of someone who isn’t like most people and needs some understanding.”

***

“I put out my right hand and said, “Allow me to introduce myself. I am Samuel Hoenig.”
She hesitated, but took my hand. “Nice to meet you. Do they call you Sam?”
What did that mean? “Who?”
“I don’t know. Your friends.”
I shook my head. “I am Samuel.”
I did not feel it necessary to tell her I had very few friends.”—Excerpt from THE QUESTION OF THE MISSING HEAD.

Cohen, who started writing as a reporter back in 1979 and began freelancing 29 years ago, also did some screenwriting (“with various degrees of success”) until his first novel was published in 2002.
Being truthful, he shares what’s his favorite part of writing: “Finishing. There’s nothing as satisfying as putting THE END at the bottom of the page. And I always like writing dialogue. Someday I have to try writing a whole novel in dialogue. Fun for me, probably not for the reader.”

Someone’s making mischief after hours, leaving roses strewn about the library, destroying a gargoyle, and stealing a valuable book in award-winning author Carolyn Hart’s latest, Ghost Wanted, A Bailey Ruth Ghost Novel. The ghost of elegant Lorraine Marlow, “The Lady of the Roses,” haunts Adelaide’s college library, using the blooms to pair up students. Concerned with Lorraine’s reputation among the living, Wiggins dispatches the irrepressible redheaded Bailey Ruth Raeburn of Heaven’s Department of Good Intentions to investigate. http://www.carolynhart.com/

And for a little bit of spooky for the YA crowd, find out what happens when 16-year-old Becca turns part-Z (as in Z for Zombie) in my book, GIRL Z: My Life as a Teenage Zombie. http://cverstraete.com

***

“My yells and screams bounced off the walls as I wished myself dead. Oh… how could I forget? Been there, done that—almost.
I wasn’t fully dead, or fully alive. I was in-between, what some people on TV were calling half Z’s, part-zombies.
A black cloud came over me. I couldn’t even do that right.”—Excerpt from GIRL Z: My Life as a Teenage Zombie.

***

Author Kathi Daley likes writing about the holidays. Along with her Halloween book, Halloween Hijinks, a Zoe Donovan Mystery, and a Thanksgiving themed mystery, she also writes two hometown mystery series. All also include recipes. The bonus is that the mysteries feature dogs on the charmingly illustrated covers.
In Christmas in Paradise (T.J. Jensen Paradise Lake Mysteries Book 4), the hometown Christmas loses some of its magic for T.J. Jensen when not only are both of the two new men in her life set to arrive, but one turns up dead. Between the Christmas chaos, T.J. realizes she must risk all to save someone she loves. http://www.kathidaley.com/

In Christmas Cozy, (A Zoe Donavan Mystery Book 11), Christmas in Aston Falls couldn’t be more perfect until Zoe finds the body of history teacher Holly Jolly in the Ashton Falls High School Christmas Tree lot run by best friend Levi Denton, and is pulled into a dangerous holiday investigation.

Happy Reading! Here’s to a spooky Halloween,
a blessed Christmas, and a Happy 2015!