Ghost Stories. . .

Back -- 'way, 'way back, when I was a kid and the great sabertooth stalked its prey up and down the trolley-car lines in the darkling city of Baltimore. . .

Yeah, 'waaaaaay back there.

. . .I used to read ghost stories -- which I was able to do not only because there was a backlist of really great, old ghost stories to provide me with nourishment, but because contemporary publishers were not shy about publishing new ones.

Sometime between Then and Now, though, publishers stopped publishing -- and writers therefore stopped writing -- ghost stories.

I noticed it, and was a sad, because, in my not very humble at all opinion, nothing beats a good ghost story.

Which is why, when I first heard of Delia's Shadow, by Jaime Lee Moyers, I immediately got myself a copy.  Not only is it a good historical novel -- set in San Francisco in the early 1900s -- with strong characters, and a fine mystery, but also?

It's a ghost story.

I really liked this novel, just so you know, and if you like ghost stories, or mysteries, or period novels -- I recommend this book to you.

Now, Delia's Shadow came out in 2013, and I know that a lot of y'all read it then, and the second book in the trilogy, A Barricade in Hell, which came out the following year.

What you might not know is that the third book in the trilogy, Against a Brightening Sky, is coming out in October.

If you're familiar with the first two books, I've said enough; you're already on the way to your favorite bookstore to pre-order this.

But! If you missed these quiet gems in the monthly rush of Hot! New! Books!, I commend them now to your attention.