Day after day, I peered out into the woods beside the lake house, unable to shake the feeling that someone was out there. But I never caught a glimpse of him. Eventually I convinced myself it had to be my imagination, that spending so much time by myself was starting to mess with my mind.I was so wrong.So begins Nathaniel Logan’s story. Nate is a twenty two year old college student, reeling after a recent breakup while struggling to find his way in the world. He’s spending the summer at his stepdad’s lake house in Northern California, where he’s supposed to be “finding himself.” But what finds him instead will alter the course of Nate’s life forever.

    He’s overweight, undermotivated, and stuck in a dead-end job. As a Chincha, he’s part of a long line of chinchilla shifters, but the greatest accomplishment in his life so far has been moving an hour away from his close-knit herd. That all changes when August’s grandfather leaves him enough cash to pursue his dream: becoming a detective himself.Sam Ewing is a bitter divorcé who enjoys watching football and being alone. It’s easier when his only interaction with people is when he collects rent from his office building tenants. Then August rents space from him to set up his new detective agency, and Sam is drawn to him despite his misgivings.Sam soon finds himself involved with one of August’s cases, and the men join forces to catch their criminal. The greater challenges they face, however, are how August makes Sam want to give love a second try and how Sam makes August believe that real life might be even better than fiction.

    Until James died and left Dale all alone on a self-destructive path through alcoholism to an early grave. Then a killer begins ritualistically murdering young women in the small town of Solagrove, Louisiana and the deaths may or may not be paranormal, but Dale gets drawn into it anyway. There is something very familiar about the murders and someone has to stop them. Witnesses describe seeing a man in a long black coat who sounds a lot like James, and it doesn’t matter that it’s impossible. Dale knows it’s impossible because James is dead. There is absolutely no question about it. But in Dale’s world, corpses sometimes get up and walk away from their graves.