Mark De Castrique

A Specter of Justice: a Sam Blackman Mystery Mark De Castrique

Publisher Marketing: When private detective Sam Blackman agrees to help his partner and lover, Nakayla Robertson, conduct a fundraiser for orphaned twin boys, he does so to ease his conscience. The boys' parents were killed in a courtroom shootout where Sam was the key witness against the twins' father. The charity event, a nighttime ghost tour of the legendary haunted sites of Asheville, North Carolina, seems harmless enough. Sam only has to tell the story of a grief-stricken woman who hanged herself from an old, arched stone bridge. Helen, come forth, he cries. Sam and his tour-goers expect the actress playing Helen's ghost to walk toward them from the bridge's dark recesses. Instead, her body tumbles from overhead and dangles at the end of a noose. Someone has reenacted the legend with deadly authenticity. When a second murder mimics another old ghost tale, the police fear a macabre serial killer is on the prowl. But the case isn't Sam's to solve. Then, a tidal wave of evidence begins to point to one man --Sam's friend, defense attorney Hewitt Donaldson. Sam and Nakayla, firmly believing in Donaldson's innocence, must not only prove it, but halt a murderer seemingly bent on retribution. Does the killer's motivation rise from the present, or is Team Donaldson dealing with some specter from the past?" Review Citations: Kirkus Reviews 09/01/2015 (EAN 9781464204722, Hardcover) Library Journal 10/01/2015 pg. 60 (EAN 9781464204722, Hardcover) Publishers Weekly 09/28/2015 pg. 69 (EAN 9781464204722, Hardcover) Booklist 10/15/2015 pg. 24 (EAN 9781464204722, Hardcover) Kirkus Reviews 09/01/2015 pg. 42 (EAN 9781464204746, Paperback) Publishers Weekly 09/28/2015 (EAN 9781464204746, Paperback) Booklist 10/15/2015 pg. 24 (EAN 9781464204746, Paperback) Contributor Bio:  de Castrique, Mark Mark de Castrique grew up in the mountains of western North Carolina where his mysteries are set. A veteran of the television and film production industry, he serves as an adjunct professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. A Murder in Passing is fourth in his series featuring PI Sam Blackman. www.markdecastrique.com