Spencer’s police chief, David O’Callaghan, learns this lesson the hard way when he orders Mac Faraday to stay away from the south end of Spencer’s mountaintop - even though he owns the property. It doesn’t take long for Mac to find out what lies on the other side of the stone wall and locked gate, on which hangs a sign warning visitors to Keep Out!
Topping the list of the ten most haunted places in America, Astaire Castle is associated with two suicides, three mysterious disappearances, and four murders since it was built almost a century ago - and Mac Faraday owns it!
In spite of David’s warning, Mac can’t resist unlocking the gate to see the castle that supposedly hasn’t seen a living soul since his late mother had ordered it closed up after the double homicide and disappearance of Damian Wagner, a world-famous master of horror novels.
What starts out as a quick tour of a dusty old castle turns into another Mac Faraday adventure when Astaire Castle becomes the scene of even more murders. Mac is going to need to put all of his investigative talents to work to sort out this case that involves the strangest characters he has run into yet - including a wolf man. No, we’re not talking about Gnarly.
Mac is the illegitimate son of the famous mystery writer, Robin Spencer. He discovers this when she dies and leaves her estate to him. One day he is a homicide detective and the next a retired millionaire. He just discovered that there is a castle on the property he has inherited but it's been locked up for years because it's evil ... there have been some mysterious deaths and disappearances over the years.
Riley had disappeared years ago after a Halloween party and has become a wolf man, living off the land around the castle. He is captured and taken to the hospital. His sister, Chelsea, comes home to deal with it and hooks up with again with her first love, David, who is now the police chief and was Riley's friend.
Suddenly there is a lot of interest in the castle. A millionaire wants to buy it for his bride. Someone else thinks a book written by an author who had disappeared is hidden there. And then the bodies start piling up again and it's up to Mac to find out what's going on.
This is the fifth book I've read by this author and I enjoyed it ... it is the third I've read in the Mac Faraday series. Though it is the fifth in a series, it worked well as a stand alone ... you don't need to have read the previous ones to know what's going on. I liked the writing style and it kept my interest ... I kept wanting to read more to find out what was going to happen. The writing was suspenseful and funny at times. It's written in third person perspective.
I liked the characters. Mac and Archie, his girlfriend who worked for Robin Spencer, obviously care about each other. Mac's dog, Gnarly, is funny and falls in puppy love with Chelsea's well-behaved service dog, Molly. David and Chelsea are cautious since their last meeting didn't go well (David had dumped her for someone more well-endowed).
I look forward to reading others in this series and others by this author.
I love stories like this.
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