Ghost Layer

The middling second volume of the Ghost Seer series (after Ghost Seer) limps as noticeably as its protagonist, Montana lawman turned Denver PI Zach Slade. He and novice medium Clare Cermak made it through their first case together with their sanity and budding romance intact, but unlike her characters, Owens does not appear ready to move on. Although she avoids an out and out summary of the first book, every bit of character backstory is wearyingly reiterated—the explanation of Zach’s lame leg is proffered twice in the first three paragraphs. Appearing between the rehashes are a reasonably entertaining story about a ghostly prospector, J. Dawson Hidgepath, whose bones appear in ladies’ beds; a truculent not-quite-billionaire who hires Clare to stop these incursions; and an unknown someone who would prefer that Clare exit the picture. The characters remain appealing, but the plot never establishes enough self-contained momentum to make a page-turner. Agent: Deirdre Knight, Knight Agency. (Sept.)