Killer Karma
Lee Killough
Meisha Merlin, $23.95, 304 pages, IBSN: 1592220061
reviewed by Jim Brock, a Baryon 99 review
I can't say I'm too thrilled by this
book’s title, KILLER KARMA. It seems a bit lightweight for a book this good.
After all, Detective Cole Dunavan might be
incorporeal but his story is not.
Dunavan has just been murdered – shot in the head. Now he finds
himself as a ghost – still working on solving a case involving fraud, arson and
murder that now includes his own murder and the disappearance of a company
insider who was working as an informant. In addition to this, it would be nice
if he could somehow show his widow the truth of both his death and his
relationship with that informant.
Lee Killough
has a touch of McBain about her when it comes to
police procedure. And she has shown in her excellent Garreth
Mikaelian vampire-cop books, her ability to weave in
a supernatural element is second to none.
Dunavan is plagued by time constraints and the uncertainty of the
capabilities of his ghostly existence. However, he retains the instincts and
the experience of the detective and he swiftly sizes up his situation and
rushes headlong for a solution to his case. Along the way he learns to cope
with the limitations of ghost-hood and also to adapt to and utilize some of the
advantages of his new power.
So buy this book, disregard the title,
and enjoy the devil out of the great story inside.
www.bookswelove.net/Killough.html, www.coffeeshopwriters.com
Now available...Killer
Karma...It's hard solving a murder when you're dead
Coming January 2006...The Leopard's Daughter, a fantasy of ancient Africa
KILLER KARMA
LEE KILLOUGH
Meisha Merlin August, 2005
ISBN: 1-592220061
Since I'm not really a believer in supernatural stuff, it's always a puzzle to me that I can read certain, but not all, mysteries that have various supernatural themes. I love Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse books, for example, although vampires aren't part of any mythos I believe in. And that belief system carries over to ghosts and er, um, "post-dead" experiences. And yet, I picked up KILLER KARMA and was into it like that.
It's got to be the author's skill at presenting an unbelievable situation. It's a theory anyway, otherwise, how is it that I can read Killough and yet not be touched by works by other writers? Killough and I both come out of science fiction, where you're often asked to believe certain things; maybe that's it. Maybe that "training," as it were, helps me suspend my disbelief. At any rate, this book worked.
What we have is a detective investigating his own murder, so right from page one, paragraph one, sentence one, you gotta believe. And from then on, it's a well-plotted, well paced San Francisco police procedural -- more or less. It's just that the cop investigating is, well, dead. But Cole Dunavan uses everything he can (and what he can and can't accomplish is a learning process all along). Sometimes he can be seen, or sensed, other times, he cannot. He can use this quality at times to try to convince someone "it's just a dream." It's hard on Dunavan to realize his wife doesn't "see" him, but at least eventually he gets through to his partner, so that the stories being spread about him get corrected, so that his family isn't facing his loss with questions about his ethics as well. The ending is a tad "Ghost" for me, a little too sweet, but resolution is what it's all about, so I can see why Killough wrote it that way.
- Andi Shechter
"Good Mystery with strong psychological elements."
Reviewed
by Pari Noskin Taichert
Posted
July 20, 2005 on Fresh Fiction web site
A
man wakes in a parking garage with the horrible memory of being murdered. Or,
is it a dream?
So
begins Lee Killough's KILLER KARMA, a doozy of a mystery, about Detective Cole Dunavan who realizes he's a ghost far sooner than he
remembers who he is. Having a curious and ordered mind, Dunavan
begins to notice patterns in his random memories and their subsequent
associations until he is able to piece together his own biography. But he
remains unclear about why he's been pulled back to this world rather than
simply dying.
Being
a ghost comes with other challenges: how can you turn the page in a police
report if you can't move anything with substance? How do you communicate with
people? How can you ride an elevator to the right floor in a high rise building
without the ability to push a button? Killough
masterfully brings up and solves these problems in believable ways.
The
mysteries of Dunavan's murder—and what happened to
one of his new informants—form the core of the middle of the book. But even
after Dunavan has solved these questions—he still has
to figure out how to prove the answers, bring the criminals to justice and
console those who have suffered the most. Among Killough's
more interesting characters is the lead villain—someone a reader can admire and
despise simultaneously.
The
final portion of the book marks Dunavan's realization
that he can use his ghostly abilities to right some of the wrongs he and the
criminals have created. He does so with humor and aplomb.
Killough has created
more than a paranormal police procedural here. This is a novel about love and
redemption, about friendship and possibility. Any reader who enjoys a good
mystery with strong psychological elements, compelling characters, and a
fascinating storyline will relish this one. I highly recommend it.
*******************
From
the SF Site, reviews
KILLER
KARMA, by Lee Killough
A
review by Sherwood Smith
I have always been a sucker for a good ghost story. I also love mysteries.
Finding the two combined was just about guaranteed culinary disaster as my
dinner burned unnoticed on the stove while I stood with my nose in this book, a
mixing spoon suspended in the air.
Elements of a
good ghost story? Everyone has their own checklist, of course. I require two
things: that the ghost doesn't have unlimited super-powers, and that I cannot
predict what's going to happen. Lee Killough meets
both these requirements with splendid skill.
"He
found himself standing in a parking garage with no memory except of his
murder."
Our
ghost doesn't remember his name, where he is, where he was, how he got there.
All he remembers is the pain. He can feel his own body -- there's no evidence
of a bullet wound on his head -- but no one sees him or hears him. He's got his
clothes on, but no ID, no money -- no cell phone. All he knows is that he was
murdered, and he feels a driving sense of urgency. Except if he has no material
presence, how can he open a door to explore anywhere?
No more plot
description here. I don't want to spoil the reader's fun of discovering the
mystery along with the protagonist. Step by step he figures out how to maneuver
in this twilight world, as he acquires piece after painful piece of his former
existence. And how it ended. His wife, kids, best friend, enemies, all are
vividly presented. The bad guys are believable. Everyone has a motive, and
motivation -- there are no cardboard characters, no easy answers in this
tightly written, vivid occult police procedural. Especially fascinating are the
details of ghostly existence; in uncovering them for our protagonist, Killough applies the remorseless demand for detail that is
a hallmark of police procedurals.
Killough keeps the action driving forward, but does not neglect character
development. We get to know our protagonist's loved ones, and to care about
them. We begin to understand why the antagonists do what they do. Will there be
any justice? Will anyone find out what happened to him, or will they believe
the false report circulating? And if they do find out, what then? Killough does not give us easy answers. The climax of Killer
Karma is a marvelous crescendo, both complex and poignant.
Copyright ©
2005 Sherwood
Smith
*******************
From
Paranormal Romance Reviews
He finds himself
in a parking garage not knowing who he is but certain that someone murdered
him. It takes him a while to realize that he is Detective Cole Donovan of the
San Francisco Police Department working on an arson and burglary case. He
realizes he is a ghost when nobody sees or hears him and by his ability to walk
through walls and doors. He was meeting an informant Sara Benay
and he hoped that she had enough information to take the owner of Flaxx Enterprises Donald Flaxx
down because in one of his stores that was torched a foreman died, making him
an accessory to murder.
His informant
Sara has disappeared and since his body has not been found the police think
they ran off together. Cole wants his wife to know the truth about the meetings
with Sara, not what the police think. Using his ghostly powers, he convinces
his former partner Razor, once he gets over the shock of seeing Cole as a
ghost, to help him find out why he was killed, who murdered him and how it
relates to Flaxx Enterprises. Even when Cole
discovers who the killer is, Razor has no way of obtaining a warrant because he
can't explain how he came by the knowledge.
Lee Killough has written a totally enthralling and spellbinding
paranormal police procedural. The protagonist is a ghost who bumbles and
fumbles as he learns to use his ghostly powers once he discovers what they are.
His instincts and experience help him find the perpetrators and he uses spirit
tricks to rattle the various suspects into making mistakes. KILLER KARMA is an
enjoyable and entertaining reading experience that is destined for this
reviewer's keeper shelf.
Harriet Klausner
Reviewed
by Harriet
Klausner
Posted August 25, 2005