Deadly Deceptions

Miller's got major storytelling mojo for the second adventure set in Cave Creek, Ariz. (after Deadly Gamble ) starring Mary Josephine Mayhugh—aka Mojo Sheepshanks. A very green PI who blithely accepts her ability to talk to ghosts, Mojo is determined to help them resolve the issues that keep them hanging around and isn't above asking for their assistance in solving cases involving live people. When seven-year-old deaf-mute Gillian Pellaway is strangled leaving a ballet lesson with her stepdad, the latter is accused of the crime, and Gillian appears to ask Mojo for assistance. Then Alex, the cheating husband of Mojo's adopted sister, Greer Pennington, is brutally murdered, and Greer becomes a prime suspect. Tucker Darroch, a homicide cop who's crazy about Mojo, provides moral support for these parallel cases, and intriguing plot twists involving Greer's past and other ghosts keep the story tight, funny, sexy and cool. Miller makes Mojo much more than another cute, quirky crime solver who sees dead people. (Mar.)