An Open Spook

A Haunted Guesthouse Mystery Novella

by E. J. Copperman

Berkley Pub Group (A Penguin Special - Berkley Prime Crime)

Mystery, Mystery: Paranormal

October 1, 2013

ISBN-10: B00BWVMFQ8

ISBN-13: B00BWVMFQ8

Available in: e-Book

An Open Spook
by E. J. Copperman

In an all-new novella in E. J. Copperman’s “funny, charming, and thoroughly enjoyable” (Spinetingler Magazine) series, the storm of the century bears down on the haunted guesthouse, and stirs up a gale of memories for a troubled ghost.

Haunted guesthouse owner Alison Kerby may have only recently discovered her ability to communicate with ghosts, but for her mother Loretta, it’s been a lifelong gift. As Alison prepares her Jersey Shore guesthouse for what promises to be a huge storm, Loretta helps out by tackling a different issue when the winds blow in an unexpected visitor: the ghost of Sgt. Robert Elliot. His request? Help him find the POW bracelet from the Vietnam War that bears his name. But no sooner does Elliot make his appeal than he suddenly disappears, cutting off contact, and leaving Loretta to wonder...why here? Why now? And why the vanishing act?

The answers begin to materialize when Alison’s lone remaining guest shows up unwittingly holding a clue to the case—on his wrist. A coincidence? Hardly. And Loretta has good reason to believe that the sergeant’s spirit has a secret he’s yet to share. Something he’s been holding on to for more than forty years. Something he’s dying to put to rest.

Includes a preview of the next Haunted Guesthouse Mystery, THE THRILL OF THE HAUNT, coming November 2013.



E. J. Copperman's Bio

E.J. Copperman is a mysterious figure, or has a mysterious figure, or writes figuratively in mysteries. In any event, a New Jersey native, E.J. has written for such publications as The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, American Baby and USA Weekend. Night of the Living Deed is the first E.J. Copperman novel. It will be followed in 2011 by An Uninvited Ghost, the second in the Haunted Guesthouse mystery series.

E.J., having worked as a newspaper reporter, teacher, magazine editor, and screenwriter, writes stories that combine humor and mystery with just the right amount of spooky supernatural happenings and a large does of Jersey attitude.

Sound like we’re being evasive? Well, the fact is that E.J. Copperman is the pseudonym of a well-known mystery novelist, now embarking on a new type of story that includes some elements of the supernatural as well as a fair number of laughs. And the Copperman novels will have a different attitude, a different setting and completely different characters than anything that has come before, so E.J. really is a new author.

In Night of the Living Deed, Alison Kerby buys a huge Victorian on the Jersey Shore to renovate into a guesthouse. Not long off a divorce, Alison is hoping she and her nine-year-old daughter Melissa can find a fresh start in the town where Alison grew up.

But she has a problem. Two problems. Their names are Paul and Maxie, and they’re ghosts. And they won’t let Alison’s renovations go on unless she helps them with a little problem: The ghosts want Alison to find out who murdered them. Doing so will speed up the home improvement project, but there’s a pretty serious catch: The killer seems to be intent on making Alison the next ghost to haunt her guesthouse.