Book Review: Sam's Ghost - A Nick Ellis Mystery

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Sam's Ghost - A Nick Ellis Mystery     Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
Tony Ardito
Class/Genre:   Mystery
Publish America, 2003, $19.95, 202 pp.

Condor University security officer Nick Ellis was not on shift when Chief Butts called to ask him to help with a campus fire. After courageously saving the lives of six emergency workers, Nick notices what seems like letters burned into the ground once the fire was put out. This locale has frightened Nick before as he senses something is not right there, a spot where the Army Air Corps trained fighter pilots during World War II.

Nick finally encounters his "client" who left the message in the ashes. The ghost of a pilot murdered sixty years ago wants Nick to find out the truth. Nick struggles, as no one seems interested in what occurred six decades ago until he meets US Army Criminal Investigation Division Major Tom Walker. Now the duo presses forward to find out what happened to Sam in 1942.

SAM’S GHOST will catch readers by surprise, but not because it is a splendid paranormal historical mystery with a touch of sad romance. The audience will be shocked with the final twist that ties up a strong tale. The romantic subplot deals with Sam wanting to tell his beloved that he loves her for eternity, but clearly the powerful World War II mystery investigated in the twenty-first century remains the prime theme. Fans will appreciate this novel and demand more works from terrific Tony Ardito starring resolute Nick.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner