Edie Claire – författare

Leigh''s back in this sixth installment of the Leigh Koslow Mysteries.

Hapless advertising copywriter Leigh Koslow, who was last seen joyfully announcing to her politician husband that she was pregnant, is now a middle-aged mom who is more than happy to leave the macabre pandemonium of her thirties behind. Unfortunately, Leigh''s killer karma hasn''t really deserted her; it''s only been biding its time.

When an innocent walk in the woods with her dog turns up a corpse, Leigh begins to get worried. It''s bad enough that the victim is a client of her agency. It''s even worse that he''s the same unscrupulous real estate developer who''s been conniving to bulldoze her aunt Bess'' homestead. And it would be a whole lot better for everyone in Leigh''s family if her cousin Cara''s husband hadn''t brawled with the man in front of a church full of witnesses an hour before the murder. But fate is what it is, and as Leigh''s beleaguered friend, Detective Maura Polanski, sets out once again to save the Koslow clan from self-destruction, the women face their toughest battle yet, because not only has Leigh failed to outgrow her inborn talent for trouble, she''s bestowed it on the next generation.

A hidden secret—and a ghost to keep it that way.

Leigh Koslow doesn''t care who claims to see the specter of a Civil War soldier skulking around her neighbor''s farm; she does not believe in ghosts. Never mind that the farm in question was settled by a veteran of the Battle of Gettysburg, and never mind that its occupants have complained of floating lights, shadowy figures, and poltergeist-style vandalism for a solid half century. When her amiable neighbor Archie Pratt, beloved captain of a local unit of reenactors, vanishes from the farmhouse without a trace, Leigh is certain there is a rational explanation. She is also certain there is a rational explanation for the bizarre refilled holes that keep appearing all over her neighborhood, and that neither has anything whatsoever to do with the farm''s chilling history of curses, insanity, and murder.

She can only hope. Because when her children discover an aged map of the neighborhood that seems to point to hidden treasure, the local Civil War buffs think otherwise. Did Union Private Theodore Carr leave Cemetery Hill in 1863 with a little … souvenir? Only one thing is for sure: someone thinks he did. And as intrigue escalates to violence within feet of her own backyard, Leigh determines to figure out who—before any more hastily dug holes turn into unmarked graves.

This curtain is going up … no matter what else goes down.

Leigh''s intrepid Aunt Bess has decided that an abandoned building in the small Pittsburgh borough of West View would make the perfect theater for her troupe of local thespians, and when Bess sets her mind to something, it generally happens. Never mind that the building boasts a century-long history of nefarious owners, financial default, mysterious disappearances, drunken debauchery, regular break-ins, strange nighttime lights, at least one murder, and last but not least—that nagging little accusation of devil worship.

Though wary of the building''s macabre milieu, Leigh reluctantly allows her children to assist Bess by sorting through the decades of accumulated junk stashed in the erstwhile church''s basement. Little does she know that the kids'' findings are only the tip of an iceberg, and that for someone with her "proclivities," this particular building is the last place she should be. With her friend Detective Maura Polanski expecting and stuck on bed rest, Leigh scrambles to unravel the link between the murders of the past and the growing threats of the present—before this theater''s opening becomes someone''s end!