Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, has written a review of The Wandering Ghost by Michael Pearce. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.
The Wandering Ghost by Martin Limón
A George Sueño and Ernie Bascom Mystery
Soho Press (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 1-56947-481-8 (1569474818)
ISBN-13: 978-1-56947-481-5 (9781569474815)
Publication Date: November 2007
List Price: $24.00
Synopsis (from the publisher): The only female MP assigned to a base in the DMZ is missing. Has she been abducted, killed or, possibly, gone AWOL? Eighth Army cops George Sueño and Ernie Bascom, sent to find her, discover a murder that has been concealed, rampant black marketeering and corruption, crooked officers, rioting Korean civilians, and the wandering ghost of a schoolgirl run down by a speeding army truck. It is up to them to right egregious wrongs while being pursued by criminals who want to kill them.
Review: George Sueno and Ernie Bascom, military investigators based in South Korea, are given orders to investigate the disappearance of a female MP in The Wandering Ghost, the fifth mystery in this series by Martin Limon.
Cpl. Jill Matthewson left her base three weeks ago and hasn't been seen or heard from since. Her commanding officers prepare to list her as AWOL, but before it becomes official, Sueno and Bascom are assigned to look for her. In their search, they discover a young G.I. has died and his death not reported. Although the top brass says the young man committed suicide, the team learns he was murdered. Plus, he was a good friend of Jill’s. Where is Jill? Who killed the young G.I. and why? And are these cases related? Few in any official capacity seem willing to offer any assistance to help them.
To find the answers, Sueno and Bascom must race against time by delving into the squalor and bizarre clubs in the towns surrounding Seoul. Instead of getting closer to finding Jill, they find widespread black marketing condoned by both the Army brass and the Korean leaders. When they finally do cross paths with her, she still evades them, even though she has less than a day before she will declared AWOL and court-marshaled.
The events in The Wandering Ghost take place over the span of one week with the limiting time factor adding to the suspense generated by the story itself. The conflicts are many, between the Americans and the Koreans, between those in power and those under their command or rule, and between law and order and crime and corruption. There's plenty of action and the mystery is well conceived, yet this is also a dark book and at times troubling to read.
Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of The Wandering Ghost and to Soho Press for providing a copy of the book for this review.
Review Copyright © 2007 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.
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