Ghosts of Gotham

by Craig Schaefer

Overview

Irresistibly drawn to mysteries, if only to debunk them, reporter Lionel Page exposes supernatural frauds, swindlers, and charlatans. His latest case is an obsession—at least for an ancient and wealthy heiress: verify the authenticity of a lost Edgar Allan Poe manuscript circulating through New York City’s literary underworld. But the shrewd Regina Dunkle offers more than money. It’s a pact. Fulfill her request, and Lionel’s own notorious buried past, one he’s been running from since he was a child, will remain hidden.

As Lionel’s quest begins, so do the warnings. And where rare books go, murder follows. It’s only when Lionel meets enigmatic stranger Madison Hannah, his personal usher into the city’s secret history, that he realizes he’s being guided by a force more powerful than logic…and that he isn’t just following a story. He is the story.

Now that the true purpose of his mission is revealing itself in the most terrifying ways, it may finally be time for Lionel to believe in the unbelievable.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781542043991
Publisher:	Amazon Publishing
Publication date:	04/09/2019
Pages:	446
Sales rank:	1,162,444
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.10(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Craig Schaefer’s books have taken readers across a modern America mired in occult mysteries, from the seamy criminal underworld of the Daniel Faust series to the supernatural espionage and intrigue of the Harmony Black series and the apocalyptic parallel worlds of the Wisdom’s Grave trilogy. He currently lives in North Carolina, where he can be found haunting museums, libraries, abandoned crossroads, and other places where dark-fantasy authors tend to congregate. To learn more about the author, visit www.craigschaeferbooks.com.

Editorial Reviews

01/21/2019

Schaefer fails to innovate on the trope of a professional skeptic encountering something he can’t explain away rationally in this disappointing supernatural thriller. As a child, Lionel Paget was famed for surviving a massacre. Now he’s calling himself Lionel Page, and is the author of Crackpots, Quacks, and Messiahs. He is unsettled when a reporter questions him about his past, and he’s worried that his secrets will become public. Then he’s contacted by a woman named Regina Dunkle, who offers him funding to look into a possibly fraudulent manuscript that is being put up for auction in New York. It supposedly contains the original ending of one of Edgar Allan Poe’s stories. Dunkle wants Page to investigate, and in return, promises to make sure that his past—about which she is mysteriously well-informed—remains buried. Page’s probe into the Poe story involves him with a clichéd femme fatale and a secret society before setting him on a path to preventing an apocalypse that’s connected with his history. Suspense and chills are in rare supply, and there’s nothing here that hasn’t been done much better elsewhere. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

02/01/2019

Lionel Page is an investigative reporter for Channel Seven News who takes a hard line when it comes to exposing the truth behind the con. But Lionel's own secret may come to light when an enthusiastic young reporter discovers who he really is. When the enigmatic Regina Dunkle offers Lionel a job authenticating a rare Edgar Allan Poe draft in New York City, Lionel knows there's more to it than money. And there is: she will guarantee his past will never be revealed if he completes the task. As Lionel begins his travels through the hidden sides of New York, he meets Madison Hannah, who intrigues him as much as the rare book. The quest leads to murder, magic, and revelations that show Lionel he cannot escape his past. Otherwise, the man who killed his mother will unleash a power that could destroy New York City. VERDICT This urban fantasy can make believers out of skeptics; its witty, fast-paced prose will attract all kinds of speculative fiction readers.—Kristi Chadwick, Massachusetts Lib. Syst., Northampton

Library Journal

2019-01-21

Deeply atmospheric and decidedly dark, Schaefer's latest offering—which chronicles an investigative reporter's discovery that magic, and magical creatures, exists in the world—is an appealing blend of mythic fantasy, gothic horror, and supernatural mystery.

Chicago reporter Lionel Page has made a career out of being a "professional debunker." But when he's coerced into verifying the authenticity of a lost Edgar Allan Poe short story being auctioned in New York City, he quickly gets entangled in a mystery that seems to leave those involved with the manuscript dead. Page's search for Poe's story—about a mesmerist who hypnotizes a dying person at the moment of his death—leads him inexplicably to "the man with the blue eyes" who murdered his mother when he was a child. After meeting Maddie, a woman who may or may not be a 3,000-year old sorceress, and getting his third eye "chiseled open" by her, he sees the world as it truly is: a terrifying, magic-powered urban wilderness inhabited by immortals and nightmarish monstrosities of all ilk. Although the dark fantasy elements are an obvious strength—ghosts and ghouls abound—it's the main characters that drive this narrative. Page and Maddie are both deeply developed with fascinating backstories, and their relationship is dynamic. Additionally, the rich visuals and meticulous detail throughout give this novel an effortlessly immersive quality. Schaefer's description of New York City, for example, is so strong that the setting almost becomes another supernatural character: "The city was a great and lumbering beast, armored in granite and chrome...." The one criticism is the story's slow start. While the second half is breakneck-paced, action-packed, and deeply satisfying, the beginning takes quite a while to get up to speed as the author sets the stage for the series of bombshell revelations at novel's end.

The illegitimate love child of Neil Gaiman and Aleister Crowley.

Kirkus Reviews

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