Dead to the World

by Susan Rogers Cooper

Overview

E.J. has a surprise twentieth wedding anniversary present for Willis – a weekend away in the Texas hills. She’s found the perfect Bed and Breakfast – the Bishop’s Inn in the quaint town of Peaceful. Unfortunately, they’ve barely arrived before the inn’s troubled elderly owner, Carrie Marie Hutchins, confides in them about a harrowing event from her childhood involving her dead father . . . and his spirit, which won’t go away . . . E.J. has little time to digest Carrie’s tales of strange goings-on: screaming, the guests’ suitcases slashed, underwear hanging from a light fixture, before a further bizarre twist occurs: Humphrey Hammerschultz and Diamond Lovesy, self-proclaimed ‘psychic detectives’, suddenly turn up at Carrie’s door. And when E.J. discovers a body, she determines to find out what’s really going on in this not-so-peaceful town.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780727884589
Publisher:	Severn House
Publication date:	03/01/2015
Series:	An E.J. Pugh Mystery , #12
Edition description:	First World Publication
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Susan Rogers Cooper is half-Texan, half-Yankee, and now lives with her family in a small town in central Texas. She is the author of the ‘E.J. Pugh’ series and the ‘Milt Kovak’ series, amongst other books.

Editorial Reviews

01/19/2015
In Cooper’s lightweight 12th E.J. Pugh mystery (after 2013’s Gone in a Flash), the romance writer and unlicensed PI books a surprise weekend at a quaint B&B, in a small town in the Texas hill country, to celebrate the 20th wedding anniversary of her and her husband, Willis. On arrival, the B&B’s distraught owner confides in the couple that her father, who died during the D-day invasion, has returned from the dead. E.J. and Willis cheerily deal with the supposedly haunted house and a couple of murders, outguessing the local bumpkin police chief, who, sans Internet connection, seems trapped in the mid-20th century. Series fans may find comfort in the pleasant characterizations, as well as the descriptions of the B&B’s antiques and its sumptuous meals threatening E.J.’s recent weight loss. But newcomers may want to start by reading previous, more substantial entries. Agent: Vicky Bijur, Vicky Bijur Literary Agency. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

2015-01-08
A romantic 20th-anniversary weekend turns into a dangerous ghost hunt. E.J. Pugh, a romance writer with a propensity for sleuthing (Gone in a Flash, 2013, etc.), has booked a weekend at a B&B in Peaceful, Texas, along with her long-suffering husband, Willis. Miss Hutchins, owner of The Bishop's Inn, thinks she's being haunted by the ghost of her father, who murdered her mother in 1947. E.J. doesn't believe in ghosts, but the food is great and the town charming, so they stay on until they're joined by ghost hunters Humphrey Hammerschultz and Diamond Lovesey. Awakened at night by a strange sound in the hall, E.J and Willis find Humphrey dead on the couch. The local police chief and his assistant aren't inclined to invite E.J. into the investigation, but the couple is stuck in town until the killer is found. Back at home, their three same-age teen daughters—Megan; Bess, who's adopted; and Alicia, a foster child—have a mystery of their own to solve. Bess has a crush on Logan Harris, who works at a local steakhouse. When the girls go there for dinner, they see Logan being attacked by the brother of high school acquaintance Harper Benton, who's told him that Logan is the one who got her pregnant. When Logan denies it, the girls put aside their constant squabbling and resolve to prove him innocent. In Peaceful, where Diamond is the next murder victim, E.J. wonders if the answer to all their present problems may lie in the past. A mystery told on several levels, each of them both tricky and amusing until the diverse sleuths prevail.

Kirkus Reviews

Engaging and entertaining

Booklist

Engaging and entertaining

Booklist