Die If You Want Praise

Ray Irish Mystery, #2

He's a hard-boiled private detective with no clients and a crazy landlady looking for his overdue rent. After a young gunman walks into his office, telling him to lay off of a case he's not involved with, Ray soon finds himself in the middle of murder, deceit, and deception. Brought in to investigate a fiendish killing, which leads to another, the shamus tries to sort out the sinister motive. Paintings with eerie depictions of the murders hang near the bodies, and the police believe it's the work of a madman.

But that's not the worst part. Irish lets Orella, his new client, get kidnapped. Feeling like a juggler on a high wire act, Ray struggles to find his client who stole a valuable ring at the same time he seeks the real purpose behind two wealthy cousins hiring him to retrieve the same ring. In his search, Ray descends into the late 1940s world of narcotic pushers and users.

As the pressure from the two cases takes their toll, Ray rekindles his relationship with Samantha Carter, considered by the police to be a suspect in the murders. She brings out buried emotions that are as difficult to manage as his business relationship with his mercenary partner, Cat Bennett. It doesn't help that nightmares and ghosts invade his sleep, reminding him of unfinished business.

The atmosphere around Oyster City grows black with each passing day as Ray discovers his friends have similar supernatural dreams. The tarot cards of the Shadows foreshadow their evil presence as they continue bloody and violent rituals. While the citizens go about their daily lives, little do they understand that a dark period of history is about to return to a terrifying climax.