Mystery
Date Published: 11-15-2025
Odyssey Pruit paints pictures of the ghosts and spirits she saw in the halls
of an old hotel where she worked ten years before. GUY HOGAN doesn’t
believe in ghosts. Hogan is hired to guard Odyssey’s pictures for her
first art show in the same old hotel. When an early blizzard closes the roads,
knocks out the power and telephone, Hogan is trapped in the hotel with
Odyssey’s quirky fans. When imps and ghouls make their presence known,
Hogan questions his doubts, and the answer could be murder.
Review: The task was to secure an art show
at a hotel during an early snow. This was a nice and simple read overall. The
pace was not as fast as I would’ve liked. Story spent a lot of time describing
the snowy landscapes and ordinary tasks of securing the art from this delivery
truck. There really wasn’t much happening.
Eventually, after a lot of time
into this, there seems to be some speculation about ghosts. And it would make
sense that people would be creeped out with being snowed in a possibly haunted
resort.
The read was decent enough, but I
didn’t quite get the big thrill I usually get with reads like these. There was
some illusion of mystery, but not enough of it. Just a lot of narrative. A
fairly nice read.
Rating:
3 stars
About the Author
Kevin Wolf is an award-winning Mystery and
Western author. His books include Trailridge (2024), The Homeplace, winner of
the 2015 Tony Hillerman Prize and the 2016 Strand Critics Award finalist for
Best Debut Mystery. His short story Belthanger received the 2021 Spur Award
for Best Short Fiction and his novel, The Bootheel was a 2024 Peacemaker Award
finalist.
The legends and landscape of the West are evident in everything
he writes. His newest novel, Trailridge, is set against the grandeur of
Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park and the 1982 Lawn Lake Flood.
Those who visit Rocky often or have chosen the national park for their
once-in-a-lifetime destination will recognize the mountains, valleys, rivers,
and the twists and turns of Trailridge as this story races to its climax.In
The Homeplace, a schoolboy hero returns after sixteen years to solve a murder
in a windswept, dying town on the eastern plains of Colorado. In his short
story Belthanger, readers are given a glimpse of a 1950s small town, soon to
be bypassed by the new Interstate Highway System, and the drama that unfolds
on the town’s darkened streets one night. The BootHeel is a
coming-of-age tale of a teenage orphan and an aging gunman as they follow a
treasure map into Mexico as the nineteenth century draws to its end.
Kevin
Wolf is a member of Western Writers of America, Mystery Writers of America,
and serves as Vice President of Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers. He facilitates
a weekly critique group for other writers. The great-grandson of Colorado
homesteaders, he enjoys fly fishing, old Winchesters, and almost every
1950’s Western movie. He lives in Estes Park, CO with his loving and
patient wife.
Contact Links
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This looks interesting.
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