The Dead Detective Casefiles

 

 

THE DEAD DETECTIVE CASEFILES

by Tj O’Connor

October 28 - December 13, 2024 Virtual Book Tour

 

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DYING TO KNOW

 

Detective Oliver Tucker’s dead—murdered—and back as an earth-bound spirit to help his wife, Professor Angela Tucker, crack the most important case of his life—his own. But, this is not a ghost story; it’s a murder case.

Tuck knows why he is back among the living but not one of them—Detective Solve Thyself. Perhaps he was murdered because of his last case—a murder involving a retired mob boss, a local millionaire land developer, a New York hit man, and the local university elite. Or could it be that Bear Braddock, his best friend and partner for more than fifteen years, wants Angela? Tuck knows that everything surrounds Kelly’s Dig where the discovery of Civil War graves may put an end to a multi-million dollar highway project. If it does, who stands to gain the most? Enough to kill?

Using his unique skills, Tuck weaves through half-truths and generations-old lies chasing a madman. And he’s not alone—others, dead and alive—are hunting the same killer. Still nothing can change the truth—it is the living, not the dead, who are most terrifying. 

 

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DYING FOR THE PAST

 

Still an earth-bound spirit-detective, Tuck is on the case of the murder of a mysterious philanthropist with ties to the Russian mob and 1930's gangsters. With the help of his wife, Professor Angela Tucker, and his former partner, Detective Bear Braddock, they must find the killer and be the first to read “the book”—an old gangster’s journal of the roots of espionage, racketeering, and corruption leading to the identity of modern-day powerbrokers and spies. Tuck finds a colorful cast of allies in a tough Assistant U.S. Attorney General, a secretive FBI agent, and the spirits of a long-dead 1930’s gangster and his sassy girlfriend.

As Tuck searches to learn the secrets of “the book,” he begins to unravel his own ancestry of mobsters, adventurers, and wayward spirits. Is being a ghost hereditary? 

 

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DYING TO TELL

 

Detective Oliver Tucker never knew how perilous dying was until he stumbled onto William Mendelson—murdered in a hidden vault where Egyptian relics and World War II secrets were once stashed. Now those relics are missing. The secrets are coming out. The dead are talking.

Tuck, the detective for the dead—the Dead Detective—is pulled into the case by the spirit of a World War II Office of Strategic Services operative with his own agenda. OSS Captain Ollie Tucker I—Tuck’s namesake—knows the past is catching up to the survivors of an Egyptian spy ring from more than seventy years ago. With the help of his beautiful and brilliant wife, Angel, and his gruff former partner, Detective Bear Braddock, Tuck must unravel a tale of spies, murderers, and thieves.

As Tuck’s case unfolds, he confronts the growing distance between his death and Angel’s life—and the solution is a killer of its own.

Praise for The Dead Detective Casefiles:

"O’Connor’s The Dead Detective Casefiles series is a must read for those who like mysteries with a dash of history, a hard-boiled twist, and a pinch of paranormal."
~ Heather Weidner, Author of the Jules Keene Glamping Mysteries

"Tj O’Connor is a master storyteller who can have you gasping in suspense one moment and snorting coffee through your nose the next. In the Dead Detective Casefiles, he seamlessly merges mystery, humor, and paranormal so authentically that the reader never gives a second thought to the concept of the main character, Detective Oliver Tucker, actually being dead. "
~ Annette Dashofy, USA Today Bestselling author of the Zoe Chambers Mystery Series

Book Details:

Genre: PI Cozy Mystery
Published by: Level Best Books
Publication Date: September 2024
Series: The Dead Detective Casefiles

Enjoy an Excerpt from DYING TO KNOW:

One

Dying is overrated. Murder, on the other hand, is not.

Trust me, after fifteen years as a detective, I know a lot about both. Like death and murder are always complicated, but not always related. You can have death without murder, but not the other way around. That’s what I used to think anyway. I changed my mind after an episode of my recurring nightmare. I’d been having it for years and it always turned out the same. While chasing a bad guy in the dark, he turned and shot me. I was about to die when something always pulled me from the nightmare.

This time, it was Hercule’s hot breath.

My four-year-old black Lab was standing beside my bed alternating between low growls and a tongue-lashing. Both demanded my attention. When my eyes first opened, he lapped at my face and nudged me with his big, wet nose. I forced my eyes open wider and at the same time realized that Angel was not snuggled beside me in bed. She was standing across the room and listening at our bedroom door.

“Angel, did you hear something again?” She always heard things late at night and always felt compelled to share them with me. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, Tuck. Herc can hear it, too. Wake up, will you? What kind of detective are you?”

“The asleep-kind.”

“Just get up. Please?”

Hercule froze, nose down, staring at me as we both heard creaking floorboards in the downstairs hall. I rolled sideways and sat on the side of the bed. Hercule crept away and crouched near the door. For the third time, something interrupted Angel’s sleep. The first two times were just our old house’s creaks and groans, and both failed to wake Hercule out of a stone-cold sleep. Now, after summoning me, he was poised for homeland defense.

I got to my feet and gathered my clothes littered in a strategic path across the room. I nearly toppled over slipping on my jeans and a black tee shirt and did manage to trip over my running shoes.

Angel motioned for Herc to return to the bed. To me she whispered, “Hurry up.”

“Look, if I’m going to get killed tonight, I don’t want to be naked.” I grabbed my 40-caliber Glock from the nightstand and checked the chamber. Then, I retrieved a .38 revolver from our walk-in closet and handed it to Angel. “Just in case.”

“Okay. Be careful.”

“Keep Herc close, babe. If it’s your imagination, stay awake and lose those pjs. If it’s trouble, give me fifteen minutes—then lose them.”

Even in the dark, I could see her eyes roll. “Just be careful.”

At the door, I listened but heard nothing. I winked at Angel and Hercule on the bed and whispered, “I love you—you too, Angel.”

Hercule wagged his tail.

In the hallway, I waited for my eyes to adjust a little more to the darkness. I shifted them to use my peripheral vision, looking for any telltale movement. Still nothing. From the top of the stairs, I could just make out the foyer below and did not see or hear anything. There were no wispy shadows, no running feet, and no creaking floorboards. Yawning, I eased down the stairs with my Glock out in front of me. At the bottom landing, I stopped.

Darkness and the grandfather clock greeted me—it chimed two.

The downstairs was quiet and I checked the front door. It was still locked and there were no signs of splintered wood, broken glass, or other forced entry. The only sound I heard was my own breathing. The only curious sighting was the half-dressed, frumpy guy in the hall mirror who looked tired and irritated.

Maybe Angel would be losing those pjs sooner rather than later.

I started with the kitchen and worked my way around the first floor, searching room by room—all five of them—ending in my den. Nothing. The most dangerous thing I found was Hercule’s squeaky frog that scared the crap out of me when I stepped on it. I felt foolish and decided to head back to bed.

It hit me when I reached to turn off my desk lamp.

The light shouldn’t have been on. I looked around. My briefcase wasn’t in its ritual place on my credenza. It was on my chair and the contents strewn over my desk. Everything was dumped out—my gold detective’s badge and I.D., several files, a notepad, tape recorder, and my .380 backup piece.

No, the Walther wasn’t there—the holster was empty.

“Angel …” I bolted to the stairs and looked up.

Floorboards groaned above me. A door opened in the darkness beyond the landing. Movement—a shadow.

Somewhere above, Angel called, “Tuck.”

There was a flash at the top of the stairs … a shot.

I lunged for the third stair. A figure stepped out of the darkness twelve feet above me.

Another flash.

“Angel!”

***

Excerpt from DYING TO KNOW by Tj O’Connor. Copyright 2014/2024 by Tj O’Connor. Reproduced with permission from Tj O’Connor. All rights reserved.

 

 

About the Author:

Tj O’Connor is an award-winning author of mysteries and thrillers. He’s an international security consultant specializing in anti-terrorism, investigations, and threat analysis—life experiences that drive his novels. With his former life as a government agent and years as a consultant, he has lived and worked around the world in places like Greece, Turkey, Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom, and throughout the Americas—among others. In his spare time, he’s a Harley Davidson pilot, a man-about-dogs (and now cats), and a lover of adventure, cooking, and good spirits (both kinds). He was raised in New York’s Hudson Valley and lives with his wife, Labs, and Maine Coon companions in Virginia where they raised five children who supply a growing tribe of grands.

Q&A With the Author:

What is something unique/quirky about you?

Wow, self-awareness time! I’m not sure unique or quirky are words I’d use to describe myself in any way—authors all tend to have some odd qualities. I mean, come on, you spend months alone writing from your soul and say you don’t read reviews, but do, and anyone who digs you hurts to the bones. Authors are a breed to themselves.  In my case, I have a wry sense of humor. I tend to be a loner. I’m a workaholic who prefers dogs to people but at the same time, I host 20-25 people each weekend at my home for BBQs or gatherings (family & friends) and do the cooking. It’s my escape. As much of a loner that I am, I love to do public speaking about writing—absolutely love interaction and banter. Then, driving back from the event, I live for the solace of silence and being alone. Eh, I guess that’s quirky, no?

 What was your inspiration for writing this series?

Back in my youth (I’m talking 20s into my early 30s), I was a military federal agent and ran anti-terrorism operations. During the First Gulf War, before we knew there would be a second, I was deployed off and on with my teams. After returning and leaving the OSI, I began to have a recurring nightmare that I was killed by terrorists and returned as a spirit to hunt them down. Telling my daughter about this, she urged me to write this as a mystery novel, set in Winchester, Virginia, but make it more humorous and fun. I did, and Dying to Know—the story of a dead detective—landed me my literary agent and first book deal. Boom!

 How did you come up with the name of this series?

It was the second or third choice. First was Oliver Tucker in Dying to Know. Then, after playing with variations, I stuck with Dying to Know which led on the sequels, Dying for the Past and Dying to Tell as the first three books. The fourth, coming in summer 2025, is Dying With A Secret. As a result of all this dying and detecting, I always wanted the moniker to be The Dead Detective. My first publisher went with The Ghost Gumshoe—a moniker I loathed as gumshoe is sort of a derogatory term for detectives. So as soon as my new publisher picked up the series and ordered three more, The Dead Detective Casefiles was it! Love Level Best Books and love the moniker. So does Tuck and Angel by the way. Even Hercule.

 What did you enjoy most about writing this series?

It’s fun. It’s got a little romance (yikes, did I say that?) and it’s got mystery and history. Each of the books offers three things—a traditional murder mystery, ala Agatha Christie; a historical subplot; and a new facet of Tuck’s family history (which he never knew about until I gave it to him in each book). I love using the paranormal element—Tuck being dead—to connect the historical with the modern day. And all along, he struggles to have a relationship with his brilliant wife, Angel. The series is fun to write. Fun to read. And even more fun going forward. I’ll introduce new facets of Tuck’s life and the paranormal world he must contend with—oh, and Hercule will soon solve a crime, too!

 What is your writing Kryptonite?

Maybe exhaustion and the complication of working and writing professionally while conjuring up novels. I don’t sleep much and work a ton. I must transition from professional writing about antiterrorism, risk, threats, etc., to creative writing for my novels. It’s hard. So, if there was kryptonite, that would be it. But hey, maybe I’ll hit the lotto and retire. Naw, I don’t even play the lottery.

 Do you have any other books you are working on that you can tell us about?

Oh, boy, where to begin . . . Level Best Books bought the original three Dead Detective Casefiles—plus three new ones. And, they bought The Whisper Legacy, my latest thriller, due out in February 2025.

The latest Dead Detective case is Dying With A secret. The summary is:

 Dying can bring out the best in people.

It can also bring out the worst of secrets.

If you want to know someone’s dirty secrets, kill them.

It works every time.

Oliver “Tuck” Tucker, the dead detective, is back—not just for another case, but from the dead—or vice versa. It all starts when a Federal Agent is killed by a mysterious force in front of dozens of witnesses—including Angel, his historian wife, and Tuck. Among the many suspects is a dark, clandestine Federal agency responsible for advanced research and weaponry, a university doctoral candidate who won’t stay dead, and the leader of a secret southern society bent on rekindling the Civil War. With the aid of a ten-year-old psychic and the spirit of Tuck’s Civil War grandmother—Sally Elizabeth Mosby—Tuck has to stay one step ahead of the Feds who are hellbent on capturing him—alive? But through all this, what’s a two-hundred-year-old lost fortune in gold got to do with dead agents, secret death rays, and rogue policemen?

As for The Whisper Legacy, I’ll just give you the short version:

 Curran’s enemies thought he was dead.

They were wrong.

He thought he left his past on the Voula Beach Road.

He was wrong.

Now, that nightmare is drawing his enemies out.

The halls of power are being targeted—but by who?

Is the secret of the Voula Beach Road behind the chaos?

Curran knows the answer.

It’s all in The Whisper Legacy.

 How’s that for a tease?

 What Are Your Top 10 Favorite books/authors?

 So many authors and books, so little time… in no proper order

 1.      Six Days of the Condor—James Grady

2.      Lonesome Dove— Larry McMurtry

3.      Plumb Island—Nelson DeMille

4.      Anything Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

5.      Anything Alistair MacLean

6.      The Consultant – Tj O’Connor (Sorry, couldn’t resist!)

 And from my childhood:

 7.      Mystery of the Witches Bridge—Barbee Oliver Carleton

8.      Mystery of the Haunted Mine—Gorden D. Shirreffs

9.      The Hardy Boys—Franklin W. Dixon (pseudonyms of course)

10.  The Three Investigators – Robert Arthur Jr. and others

 Anything more you would like to say to your readers and fans?

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you! I come from humble roots and have worked hard in both my profession and my writing. I’m still trying to break into a larger fanbase and it’s a battle. But those fans and readers that do follow me are “the juice” that drives me on. That and my refusal to quit! So read on! All stay safe and well.

 

Catch Up With Tj O’Connor:

tjoconnor.com
Goodreads
BookBub - @tj37
Amazon Author
Instagram - @tjoconnorauthor
Twitter/X - @Tjoconnorauthor
Facebook - @TjOConnor.Author
YouTube - @tjoconnorauthor3905

 

 

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