Giving Up the Ghost

Ophelia Wylde Paranormal Mystery #3

by Max McCoy

From sea to shining sea, the invention known as the telegraph would tame the American frontier. But for psychic detective Ophelia Wylde, the wild west is about to get wilder…
 
MESSAGES FROM BEYOND?
 
When telegraph keys across the country begin bursting into flames—and chattering ghostly nonsense—the terror and turmoil is enough to bring the railways, banks, and news industry to a standstill. There’s only one person they can turn to: Mrs. Ophelia Wylde, a young widow turned detective who has famously brought murderers to justice—by speaking to their victims on the other side. Are the recent telegraph mishaps a message from beyond? Ophelia’s not sure, but the fact that the key’s last operator, Lightning “Hapless” Hopkins, has been poisoned is enough to raise her darkest suspicions. It’s up to Ophelia to unravel the riddle of the ghostly wire tap, solve the murder of Hapless Hopkins, and expose the secret history of the telegraph’s little-known co-inventor…before her own life is on the line.

Genres: Mystery, Paranormal, Cozy Mystery, Historical

204 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 31, 2015

About the author

Max McCoy is an award-winning journalist and author. He’s won awards for his reporting on unsolved murders, serial killers, and hate groups. In addition to his daily newspaper work, Max has written for publications as diverse as American Photographer, True West, and The New Territory. He’s the author of four original Indiana Jones adventures for Lucasfilm/Bantam and the novelization of the epic TNT miniseries, Into the West. His novels, including Damnation Road, have won three Spur awards from the Western Writers of America. His novels, Hellfire Canyon and Of Grave Concern, have also been named Kansas Notable Books by the state library. He's a tenured professor of journalism at Emporia State University, in east central Kansas, where he specializes in investigative reporting and nonfiction narrative. He's also director of the university’s Center for Great Plains Studies. His most recent book is Elevations: A Personal Exploration of the Arkansas River, from the University Press of Kansas.

Reviews

[Carl · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick moving, charming paranormal mystery where the author( a seasoned western and mystery writer) fills in the details of the real west. McCoy's talents are for quick witted dialog, lean but not sparse prose and a great deal of research.

Ophelia Wilde is an engaging , beautifully flawed character who is easy to root for. McCoy's use of the supernatural is sparse but truly effective and essential to the plot, not unlike the use of strong spices.

McCoy spins another delightful yarn about the old west and the spirits that inhabit it. may there be many more.

[Joy · Rating 5 out of 5]

So, so good. The dialogue, the plot elements, and absolutely exquisite pacing make this one a true pleasure from start to finish. I found myself in the cliched space of “just one more chapter” over and over again. I am so sad to come to the end of this one, and I truly hope that it is not the end of the Ophelia Wylde series. Please, Mr. McCoy, I want some more.

[Michael Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit drawn out and then some holes in the story that could have been better presented. But a better than average woo-woo tale with a western frontier setting.

[Lyn Soulia-Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my type of book. If this is your type of book, you would probably enjoy this.

[Katelyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 Such a shame this series has come to an end. I really enjoyed this one. Love the bits of history sprinkled in.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm hoping for a forth installment . . .

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Giving Up the Ghost is the third book in the Ophelia Wylde Paranormal Mystery series. Now a published author, Ophelia is no longer in desperate financial straits. She and her detective agency partner Jack Calder investigate why all of the telegraphs have been operating non-stop with mysterious messages from an unknown telegraph operator. Things become more mysterious when one of the messages seems to come from a recently deceased telegraph operator. Added to this is a mysterious and spooky black ghost train.

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this series.

[Marilyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ultimate Reading Challenge 2016. A murder mystery.

[Michelle Munger · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it, when is the author going to write more or is he finished with series

[Sherrie]

To be honest this was very slow in the beginning and hard to follow and so I lost interest early.