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Reviewed by Asher Syed for Readers' Favorite
W. M. Leesman’s Xavier Bradshaw: Ghostwriter is set in Livingston, Alberta, where newspaper reporter Xavier Bradshaw is called to St. Luke’s church after Councilman Carlo Marscapello is found dead at the altar. Xavier once investigated Carlo’s political dealings, so the case quickly reaches into his own history. When Katie Windsor is later found murdered near Nose Creek, police treat the deaths as separate crimes, but Xavier sees a pattern forming around old local cases and the horror novels of reclusive author Robert Smithson. As threatening messages appear at Xavier’s home, on his car, and near the people helping him, he works with new reporter Jessi Wilson to find who is using the past as a script before the next warning turns into another body.
W. M. Leesman’s Ghostwriter follows crime through Livingston’s past, leading up to the present day. Still, the ghosts of a horror writer's work remain, and the author uses this to the story's advantage. My favorite types of mysteries are solved by reporters and sleuths, and taking on the work that local police either can't or won't do. Donna Windsor describes the police dismissal of Katie's disappearance, and also the police trying to blame it all on Xavier, which drives the pacing perfectly. It's not all doom and gloom, though. The author offers everyday moments and lessons. Take, for example, Xavier being corrected over pizza etiquette. I did not even know that was a thing! The scenery is gorgeous, and the author prose-paints St. Luke’s church with a little hidden childhood access shaft near the tower, and an old Victorian house, complete with a taped doorbell, skull knocker, and bourbon. Readers who enjoy newspaper mysteries and small-town crime fiction will love this book.
