I received this book in exchange for a fair and honest review
Dying for the Past by TJ O'Connor
Gumshoe Ghost Mystery #2
ISBN: 9780738742069
Paperback - 408 pages
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.
Review:
This is the first book I have
read by this author and I can’t wait to now go back and get the first book in
this series. I would suggest that you start with book one when reading this
series even though you can read it as a stand alone. I like the ghost aspect of
this mystery. I enjoyed his writing style as the book just seemed to flow. Another
thing I liked about this book was that it was fast paced which made reading it
very easy. The author kept me guessing until the end of the book which makes a
great mystery. The characters were well developed and the scenes were well
described. I would love to visit the historic Vincent House. I thought it was
interesting how Tuck was trying to solve the murder from the after-life. He
could only be seen by his wife, his dog and his former detective partner. I am
looking forward to the next book by this author.
About the 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:
Guest Post:
Dying For All The Right Reasons
What got me into writing?
Invariably, that is the question most of my interviews and
author panels have in common. What brought me from chasing bad guys to writing
mysteries and thrillers? If you’d asked me when I was ten or twelve and first
began writing short stories and plays for my friends and school, I dare say I
wanted to be Franklin W. Dixon (The Hardy Boys), Barbee Oliver Carleton
(Mystery of the Witches’ Bridge), or Gordon D. Shirreffs (Mystery of the
Haunted Mine). In high school, I’d matured just a tad and it was James Grady
and Alistair MacLean whom I admired. By then, I had visions of travelling the
world to seek out new plots and characters and spending my days banging away on
a little typewriter in some faraway town I couldn’t yet name. It would be all daydream
and sultry nights, drinks at a local bar telling my stories to the locals … Sure, I’ll sign a book for you …
Boy, what a dreamer! And what a terrible sense of reality!
I quickly learned as I headed toward high school graduation
that there were two things in the way of my fantasy life. First, I didn’t know
how to write and had no experiences to write about. And second—and here’s the
big one—most authors can’t make a living writing.
I needed a job. I needed a life. I needed to experience
something to write about and learn how to put it on paper.
So, being a commonsense kinda guy, I joined the military to
see some of the world and get an education—check.
Became a government agent chasing bad guys and terrorists that would one day
make good stories—check. I woke up
and realized that to become an author, I actually had to be a writer first—check, double-check.
Robert Frost once wrote, “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by, and
that has made all the difference.”
For me it was, “Two
roads diverged in a wood, and I—confused and unaware—tried to go both ways. I
got lost for twenty years …”
Life happened. I tried to write and have a career and family
with all the trimmings. I wrote a book in my early 20s that was, to say the
least, drivel—the story of an intelligence operative blamed for the murder of
his team. Original, right? Bluck. But
I continued on. I charged along on my career and dabbled with stories and
start-up novels. Twenty years later, I realized I was no further along than
just out of high school.
It was time to get serious. It was time to write something
worthwhile for publication. It was time to write so someone other than my dog
could read and enjoy it. And sitting night after night banging away on the
keyboard writing my first serious novel—The
Whisper Covenant (it never came to be)—I realized why I was writing at all. I wanted to tell the world—be it a large
or small one—my stories. I wanted people to watch my characters blunder and
swashbuckle through their lives taming bad guys and catching killers. I wanted
people to laugh at their jokes and cry at their heartaches just like I did when
I wrote them. I truly wanted to be heard.
And then, an amazing thing struck me. Well, three amazing
things, actually. I finished two more novels and, damn, they weren’t bad! Then a third—Dying to Know, a novel written
for my daughter—landed me my agent, the amazing Kimberley Cameron. And lo and
behold—next came my first book contract … Midnight Ink bought three novels!
Was it true? Could it be real after all these years? Had I …
I shudder to think … become an author?
The adventures of Oliver Tucker began—Dying to Know, Dying for the
Past, and the upcoming, Dying to Tell.
Tuck and I formed a bond that has lasted three novels. The series—dubbed The
Gumshoe Ghost by Midnight Ink—are the case files of Oliver “Tuck” Tucker and
his wife, Angel, who learn early on that dying is overrated and murder is not.
Tuck is a dead detective—yes, a dead one—who seeks overdue justice for victims
in his day and from the past. He loves to tell his stories. He mixes a
historical subplot with a modern murder and weaves all the truths and lies
together. Tuck and I have a blast. He even lets me have the byline. He doesn’t
like it, mind you, but what’s he gonna do, haunt me?
So, what have we gained from this partnership, he and I?
We’ve found a few fans and made some amazing friendships of
fellow authors—most of whom we admire very much. And we’ve had the distinct
pleasure of meeting some famous, amazing, and truly admirable people whom we
never would have met if not for this small, unique club called authors.
And Tuck lets me do all the talking in public. Well, most of
it, anyway.
So, why do I write?
Because I have to. My characters have a
mind of their own—especially Tuck—and they all want to tell their stories. They
want readers to hear them. They want readers to be angry over the murder and
help chase the killer. They want justice and sometimes revenge. But, above all,
they want to make me happy—and I am when I’m telling their stories.
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