Scott William Carter

Oh wow, some books are so brilliant that they seem tailor-made. Thank you, Scott William Carter! Of course, having a long-standing crush on Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) might have been the reason why I chose and fell in love with Myron Vale, but for the brilliant comic writing, clever (non-corporeal) world-building and moments of pure heart-wrenching emotion, all praise is due to the author.

Like that annoying kid in the film, Portland detective Myron Vale 'sees dead people'. Since show more surviving a shot to the head, with the bullet still lodged in his brain, Myron has been able to communicate with the dead, and he's earned himself a bit of a reputation on the 'other side' as the ghost detective - which comes in handy, because he can't return to his old job. Newly established as a private detective, one of Myron's first clients is Karen Thorne, a voluptuous blonde ghost who wants him to find out who fixed the brakes on her car and killed her. Was it her shady husband, Tony Neumann? While trying to find the answers to Karen's death, Myron struggles to solve the one great mystery of his own life - why his eccentric artist wife Billie is also haunting him.

Just a fast, funny read, with shades of Chandler, Stout, DOA and The Sixth Sense (but in a good way) - and yes, a worthy follow-up to Randall and Hopkirk! Some scenes had me cackling to myself on public transport - always a good sign - but Myron's parents and the young son of his friend nearly reduced me to tears. Powerful stuff for a quirky 'light read'! Definitely recommended, and I will be downloading book two immediately. show less

New author, new series for me. I feel extremely grateful for a worker at my library to have recommended this author and lucky to have easily found it with the help of my best friend, “Mr. Amazon”. We meet Gage, who is a private investigator and seems to be living under the guise of a tragic hero. You feel sorry for him as he suffers physically and mentally while pursuing the girl's killer but then you have to admire his determination to push on. The tale is believable and so very show more well-written. Carter has made excellent use of many of the things that make the setting real and easily imagined by the reader with the words he chose to describe this area of Oregan...the late winter followed by the early spring and the rest of the Oregon coast weather throughout the entire story. The book draws the reader in and holds you until the last sentence with its complicated characters and great plot line. I will warn those that are not willing to tolerate writers that make copious use of the "F" word in their work that this book is a cornucopia of them...otherwise a really good book. show less

In some ways it made me think of a marriage between Dean Koontz’s [Odd Thomas] and TV’ series, "Ghost Whisperer” ...and that was in a good way. P.I. Myron Vale seems to have been twice cursed. A lingering injury causes him to not only see and interact with the multitude of ghosts everyone else is unaware of, but he also can’t tell them from the living. I can see this being described as a paranormal romance filled with betrayals and heartache. It is a story about a horrible con man, show more who through his insidious actions inserted himself into the lives of various people, infecting them with corruption and despair. The saving grace for the tale is that it also contains redemption and hope despite the prevailing atmosphere of sadness. The author struggled a bit in his attempt to bring the reader to the understanding of “how, why where and when” that” Myron Vale becomes the “Ghost Detective.” A well told, ghostly, paranormal tale that pleased the “Ghost Story Junkie”. The very idea and the originality of this story alone earns it 4 stars. show less

Garrison Gage is a recluse in a tiny town, a retired private detective who looks at the world through a jaundiced eye. One could hardly blame him: his last case in New York left him a widower and a cripple. Passing his days with crossword puzzles and solitude, his gumshoe instincts are reawakened when he comes across a random dead girl on the beach. So much for retirement.

In The Gray and Guilty Sea, Nolte draws us in right from the get-go. Everything after that is a fast-paced story that show more keeps you wondering what the next location or contact will reveal. The path is not so much twisted as it is hidden; there are no sudden surprises, but the mystery still takes some time, and a great deal of Gage's energy, to unravel. Woven into the fabric are subplots involving a love interest and an ailing neighbor, as well as said neighbor's teenage granddaughter. Nolte successfully develops these without detracting from the main storyline, adding depth to Gage's character without losing steam.

With his crotchety personality and his love of getting under other people's skins, Gage is a good representation of a character who would be irritating to work with but thoroughly entertaining to observe. His analysis of those around him is spot-on, thus earning a reader's trust in his abilities as a private detective. Unfortunately, other parts of his persona were a bit less credible.

Gage is touted to be a well-versed reader, a connoisseur of jazz, an appreciator of art, and yet a man of simple pleasures. This isn't to say that a person can't be that complex, but something about the presentation of these personality traits —subtle shifts in Gage's speaking style, perhaps — make them difficult to integrate. Instances of him reading philosophy or listening to Coltrane might have boosted the legitimacy of these claims. In a similar manner, the commonality of interests between him and Carmen is a little too perfect, and equally unsupported from his previous interactions with her. Mysteries have a tendency to turn readers into skeptics, digging deeper into characters than they might otherwise do; thus the bar for characterizations is set that much higher. In the end, I disregarded the extraneous information in order to avoid losing faith in the rest of the story.

For the most part, the novel is well-written, with a delivery that is efficient without becoming brusque. It meshed well with Gage's voice, his inner monologues flowing seamlessly into his spoken words. Even so, there were scattered passages in which it was glaringly obvious that someone breezed through the editing process. Awkwardly worded sentences, as well as multiple issues with homophones (eg. "waved" for "waived", "not" for "naught") were bothersome, but what really got me were two instances in which characters' names were actually changed: "Tommy" for "Jimmy" and "Angie" for "Zoe". They jarred me right out of the storyline, and it took some effort to convince myself to ignore them long enough to rekindle my interest in the book.

Nolte has a good grasp of emotion and human responses and credible actions. In that respect, The Gray and Guilty Sea is quite an enjoyable novel that engages a reader on multiple levels. The ending itself was more than satisfactory. Still, convenient coincidences and forced details diminished its plausibility. Methinks that Gage's cynicism is contagious.

Stimulated Outlet Book Reviews show less