FLICKER: A Paranormal Mystery

by Len Boswell

Flicker is a modern-day ghost story set in a haunted diner. When Charlie Brace buys, refurbishes, and opens a diner that’s been up on blocks for many years, he gets much more than he bargained for, from neon signs that flicker insanely, to a quirky staff, to odd customers, to an even stranger hobo-philosopher who picks through his dumpster while lecturing him on the moon and mythology, to the amorous advances of the previous owner’s widow, to a mysterious mother and child who appear at the diner one morning carrying steaming baskets of pies that are, in a word, charmed, to the appearance of ghosts with murderous intentions. Are the mother and child ghosts or do they just bake great pies? What about Charlie’s head waitress, who dresses like a woman from the 1950s and spouts diner lingo no one has used in years? What about the man in the dumpster? What about the widow, who seems to be holding back about her husband’s death? And what about the customers, who grow anxious and impatient whenever the pie runs out? Who exactly are the ghosts, why are they haunting the diner, and why do they want to kill Charlie? L. Rett Boswell is also the author of The Leadership Secrets of Squirrels and A Bare Bones Mystery.

229 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 1, 2014

Reviews

[Michael Hartnett · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Strange but Great Time at the Diner
One part Kurt Vonnegut, another part Carl Hiaasen, and yet another part all his own, Len Boswell is a quirky, off-kilter, and very talented novelist. In Flicker: A Paranormal Mystery, Boswell takes the reader into a haunted diner with a vividly drawn staff, both diner and its workers simultaneously lovingly and humorously portrayed. Oh there’s trouble brewing from the beginning with a diner of dubious origins, smoke rising from the woods out back, and the neon signs spasmodically blinking. But the reader is so caught up in all the fun of the diner’s grand opening with the bizarre and appealing characters introduced, the insider tips about coffee, burgers, and pies, and the hilarious menu jargon delivered by the waitress Jeanie that the mystery can wait a bit. That mystery lurks and looms building up tensions even as the rhythms of the bustling diner give the novel a strong grounding. Like the customers at the diner, the reader knows he will have many hours of pleasure hanging out in its booths.
As the ghost story kicks in, Flicker has many clever twists and turns, and incidents of the diner’s haunted past are confronted by its owners, past and present. Throughout the novel, the protagonist Charlie Brace serves as a likeable conduit for romance, intrigue, and suspense. His abiding, obtuse (yet strangely understandable) devotion to the diner – despite all hell breaking loose – gives the novel a loopy earnestness that steadies the pacing right to its satisfying conclusion. As I said in the opening of the review, Boswell is a terrific and entertaining writer and Flicker is a great read through and through.

[Sara Vee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two things I love: hauntings and diners! Throw in a hobo who keeps talking about the moon, a little bit of romance, questions about the afterlife that call the Bible a bestseller and a waitress who looks like something out of the 50s.

A fun paranormal mystery with a sense of humor.

[Courtney Filigenzi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Flicker is a spine-chilling tale of the ghosts that haunt a diner with a thirst to repeat a tragic, violent history. A thrilling paranormal mystery that I couldn't put down, Flicker is filled with interesting characters and hair-raising scenes that leave me thinking about things that go bump in the night and a hunger for delicious, intoxicating pies. Looking forward to more paranormal stories from Mr. Boswell.

[Lesley Hewitt]

Brilliant

A really good read , ghosts and angels. A very different ghost story to others I have read. I couldn't put it down until I had finished reading it.