Southern Bound (Max Porter Mysteries 1)
by Stuart Jaffe
You just know it’s going to be a paranormal mystery by the fedora-wearing gumshoe/detective with the glowing eyes on the cover.
Max Porter and his wife Sandra have left a dismal economy and unemployment in Michigan for a mysterious job doing research for a rich, secretive man in Winston-Salem North Carolina. The old-fashioned but spotless office he’s given to work in has many rules. The rule about no computers irks him. But Rule #1 is to never move the furniture.
So he tries moving the furniture, of course.
And a ghost that only he can see is the result: the ghost of 1940s detective Marshall Drummond, a ghost that is bound to the office by a curse, who pleads with Max to free him.
The research that he does leads him into learning about a splinter religious sect in 1500s Europe, who influenced German WWI POWs in the Carolinas, and contemporary, frightened people with the resulting secrets in the present day. He’d beat up, shot at, and threatened as he moves closer to the truth. Winston-Salem NC has powerful families from the past that are affecting the city in the present day. And not all of the threats are from this world.
Max and Sandra eventually partner with the ghost, Drummond, who shows them how to run a real detective agency and together they set up a series that’s sure to please.
I really enjoyed this one!
