Ghostly Echoes

Being employed by paranormal detective R. F. Jackaby has some "unique occupational hazards," Abigail Rook has discovered. And that certainly holds true in this third outing (Jackaby, rev. 11/14; Beastly Bones, rev. 11/15), when the pair's investigations lead to the great beyond itself. It's the summer of 1892, and Jackaby and Abigail are busy searching "the gritty underbelly" of the fictional New England town of New Fiddleham for clues linking recent murders to the decade-old death of Jenny Cavanaugh, a ghost who's both a dear friend and their landlord. Jenny's murder and the latest deaths, as Abigail and Jackaby soon learn, are all part of a monstrous plot affecting this world and the afterlife. Inventors and engineers, as well as a vampire, a nixie, giants, and other supernatural creatures, all figure in Ritter's latest glorious fusion of detective novel, ghost story, and fantasy. And, refreshingly, Ritter opts to pair magic and science here, rather than making them oppositional. But what may captivate readers most are the intriguing revelations about Jackaby's personal history -- and Abigail's star turn at the novel's helm, when she ventures alone into the realm of the dead, Charon ferrying her into the underworld. tanya d. auger

In summer 1892, paranormal detective R. F. Jackaby and employee Abigail Rook (Jackaby; Beastly Bones) search "the gritty underbelly" of fictional New Fiddleham for clues linking recent murders to a decade-old death. Inventors and engineers, as well as a vampire, a nixie, giants, and other supernatural creatures all figure in Ritter's latest glorious fusion of detective novel, ghost story, and fantasy.