Synopses & Reviews
The Seance Society introduced mystery lovers to Mr. ONelligan and Lee Plunkett, an unlikely pair of sleuths on an equally unlikely case with a supernatural twist. Having taken over his father's PI business, Lee enlists O'Nelligan, a dapper Irishman with a flair for solving mysteries, to help catch a killer. Now, in Michael Nethercott's The Haunting Ballad, this sleuthing "odd couple" are back in another witty, charming, and wonderfully written mystery, this time set in 1957 in the burgeoning music scene of New York City's Greenwich Village. It's the spring of 1957, and O'Nelligan and Plunkett are summoned to New York to investigate the death of a controversial folk song collector. The trail leads the pair to a diverse group of suspects including an eccentric Beat coffee house owner, a family of Irish balladeers (who may be IRA), a bluesy ex-con, a hundred-and-five-year-old Civil War drummer boy, and a self-proclaimed “ghost chanter” who sings songs that she receives from the dead. To complicate matters, there's a handsome, smooth-talking young folk singer who Lee's fiancée Audrey is enthralled by. And somewhere in the Bohemian swirl of the Village, a killer waits...
Review
Praise for The Haunting Ballad
“In his rollicking second outing with the sleuthing duo of Plunkett and ONelligan, Nethercott offers readers a wonderfully entertaining spin on the classic PI genre. Set in the Greenwich Village of the early beat era, rich with fascinating, detailed references to that time and place, and featuring two of the most mismatched and delightful protagonists youre likely to stumble upon these days, The Haunting Ballad is, in every respect, a winner. Youll love this book, I promise.”
--William Kent Krueger, New York Times-bestselling author of Ordinary Grace
Praise for The Seance Society
"For the readers whose tastes run to old-timey, locked-room mysteries with a Sherlockian detective and Watsonian narrator."
--The Boston Globe
“Nethercotts nicely put together whodunit plunges us head first into that warm bath of nostalgia...The methodically constructed narrative is as neat as its locale.”—Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times
"Nethercott's cozy debut sparkles. This delightful debut is sure to resonate with Rex Stout's "Nero Wolfe" fans."—Library Journal
"Clever...There is a sweet charm to this mystery, ensuring that readers will want to see more from ONelligan and Plunkett.”—Booklist
"A classically styled Holmesian whodunit.”—Publishers Weekly
Synopsis
The Seance Society introduced mystery lovers to Mr. O'Nelligan and Lee Plunkett, an unlikely pair of sleuths on an equally unlikely case with a supernatural twist.
Having taken over his father's PI business, Lee enlists O'Nelligan, a dapper Irishman with a flair for solving mysteries, to help catch a killer. Now, in Michael Nethercott's The Haunting Ballad, this sleuthing "odd couple" are back in another witty, charming, and wonderfully written mystery, this time set in 1957 in the burgeoning music scene of New York City's Greenwich Village.
It's the spring of 1957, and O'Nelligan and Plunkett are summoned to New York to investigate the death of a controversial folk song collector. The trail leads the pair to a diverse group of suspects including an eccentric Beat coffee house owner, a family of Irish balladeers (who may be IRA), a bluesy ex-con, a hundred-and-five-year-old Civil War drummer boy, and a self-proclaimed "ghost chanter" who sings songs that she receives from the dead. To complicate matters, there's a handsome, smooth-talking young folk singer who Lee's fiancee Audrey is enthralled by. And somewhere in the Bohemian swirl of the Village, a killer waits...
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About the Author
MICHAEL NETHERCOTT is the author of The Seance Society. His work has appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies including Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. He is a past winner of The Black Orchid Novella Award and was nominated for the Shamus Award for a short story introducing O'Nelligan and Plunkett. He lives with his family in Vermont