Dreams of the Dead

DREAMS OF THE DEAD, Peri O'Shaughnessy, Gallery Books, $25, 352 pages, ISBN: 978-1416549734, reviewed by Jim Brock.

DREAMS OF THE DEAD is the 13th entry in the Nina Reilly series. Nina practices law in South Lake Tahoe, California. Two years earlier one of her clients, Jim Strong, killed her husband and intended to kill Nina as well, only to be taken care of by Paul Van Wagoner, her investigator.

Or was he? Now that Strong’s father, Philip, is in the process of selling the family’s multi-million dollar ski resort, someone in Brazil claiming to be Jim Strong is asking for his share of the proceeds. When Nina is brought on board to handle the sale, a complicated fraud may force her and Van Wagoner to reveal what they know which could be ruinous to both of them.

Factor the always tumultuous nature of Nina’s private life and the air of sexiness and sometime bizarreness that flavors O’Shaughnessy’s writing with the compelling puzzle of the case and DREAMS OF THE DEAD becomes the recharging of a much enjoyed character.

Throw in two present day murders that may or may not be related; a private detective who may or may not be trustworthy; and it kept me puzzled and challenged and engaged to the final reveal. In the end, DREAMS OF THE DEAD also impacts the dreams of the living.

Jim's a longtime Baryon reviewer and whenever he finds one of interest he passes it along to the readers.