Scott William Carter

Everybody dies. Nobody leaves. After narrowly surviving a near-fatal shooting, Portland detective Myron Vale wakes with a bullet still lodged in his brain, a headache to end all headaches, and a terrible side effect that radically transforms his world for the worse: He sees ghosts. Lots of them. By some estimates, a hundred billion people have lived and died before anyone alive today was even born. For Myron, they're all still here. That's not even his biggest problem. No matter how hard he tries, he can't tell the living from the dead. Despite this, Myron manages to piece together something of a life as a private investigator specializing in helping people on both sides of the great divide - until a stunning blonde beauty walks into his office needing help finding her husband. Myron wants no part of the case until he sees the man's picture . . . and instantly his carefully reconstructed life begins to unravel. "The Sixth Sense meets Spenser For Hire in Scott William Carter's magnificent Ghost Detective."- Michael J. Totten, author of Taken "Scott is one of those rare writers who can and does cross genres, and do it well. You never know what kind of story you'll get from him, but you do know that it'll be good." - Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Hugo award-winning author of The Disappeared

A Myron Vale Investigation

Ghost Detective

An Oregon Coast Mystery

A Lighthouse for the Lonely Heart

A beached sailboat. A missing man. A distraught woman staggering ashore. There to greet her—Garrison Gage, full-time curmudgeon and part-time private investigator, who quickly finds himself thrust into his familiar role of crusader for the desperate and downtrodden. The woman claims to have no memory, but is she lying? When a body later washes ashore, the mystery deepens and the stakes ratchet up another notch. Dark money and even darker intentions. Violence both threatened and real. The woman may be at the heart of it all, or merely an innocent interloper who chose the wrong boat at the wrong time. Only Gage can discover the truth. The Garrison Gage Mysteries (in chronological order): A Plunder By Pilgrims (short story prequel) The Gray and Guilty Sea A Desperate Place for Dying The Lovely Wicked Rain A Shroud of Tattered Sails Keywords: Keywords: Mystery, Garrison Gage, Private Investigator, Oregon, Oregon coast, Hard boiled, Travis McGee, Spenser, crime fiction, mystery series

A Shroud of Tattered Sails

They find him on the beach, shooting bullets into the sand. His name? Jeremiah Cooper, the son of the bullheaded high school football coach. Slight of build, soft of voice, he's got all kinds of torment lurking behind his eyes. But despite Garrison Gage's best efforts, he can't pull the kid out of his shell. Then someone turns up dead at the local community college, and Jeremiah's fragile world shatters. Add a crisis in Gage's good friend's life, an ongoing feud with his adopted daughter about her life choices, and a hauntingly beautiful FBI agent with secrets of her own, and it's a lot more drama than a half-retired private investigator with a bum knee wanted. Whatever happened to quiet rainy nights sipping bourbon, watching the sun sink beneath the waves on the Oregon coast, and trying to think of a ten-letter word that means grumpy and glad about it? But before Gage can even write the word curmudgeon, he's pulled deeper into Jeremiah's world--a world of sex, secrets, and a sadistic evil that preys on human weakness. "It was a shrewd marketing move ... to entitle his first mystery novel The Gray and Guilty Sea. It makes it nearly irresistible for an old John D. MacDonald fan like me . . . Recommended." - Brandywine Books "The Gray and Guilty Sea is quite an enjoyable novel that engages a reader on multiple levels." - Stimulated Outlet Book Reviews "Outstanding debut crime novel set on the Oregon coast and starring a misanthropic former detective ... as much a fascinating character study as it is an original story." - Michael J. Totten, author of Resurrection "Scott William Carter makes it look easy." - Chizine.com The Garrison Gage Mystery Series (in chronological order): A Plunder By Pilgrims (short story prequel) The Gray and Guilty Sea A Desperate Place for Dying The Lovely Wicked Rain A Shroud of Tattered Sails Keywords: Keywords: Free Books, Mystery, Garrison Gage, Private Investigator, Free ebook, Oregon, Oregon coast, Hard boiled, Travis McGee, Spenser, crime fiction, mystery series, free

The Lovely Wicked Rain

Myron Vale sees ghosts. One hundred billion of them, to be precise.In a world where everybody dies but nobody leaves, Myron Vale is the rare individual who completely straddles both sides of the great divide. In fact, he may just be the only one. His strange ability the result of a gunshot to the head while serving as a Portland police officer, a few years later he recovers to forge a new life as private investigator catering to both the living and the dead.His biggest problem? He can't tell them apart.In this short story prequel to Ghost Detective, the first novel featuring Myron Vale, a house call to an old farmhouse finds Vale investigating the most unlikely of haunted places -- a breadbox. What lies inside? It's not at all what Vale expects."Scott is one of those rare writers who can and does cross genres, and do it well. You never know what kind of story you'll get from him, but you do know that it'll be good."- Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Hugo award-winning author of The Disappeared"Carter's writing is on target." - Publishers Weekly"Scott William Carter makes it look easy." - Chizine.com--Publisher's Note: The ebook includes an author's afterword explaining the origin of the story (which lead to the novel), as well as the opening chapter of Ghost Detective.SCOTT WILLIAM CARTER's first novel, The Last Great Getaway of the Water Balloon Boys, was hailed by Publishers Weekly as a "touching and impressive debut" and won the prestigious Oregon Book Award. Since then, he has published nine novels and over fifty short stories, his fiction spanning a wide variety of genres and styles. His most recent book, Wooden Bones, chronicles the untold story of Pinocchio and was singled out for praise by the Junior Library Guild. He lives in Oregon with his wife and children.

The Haunted Breadbox

The Gray and Guilty Sea

You don't have to be tall to be a giant. They meet on a rainy night, penniless and alone, both of them without a friend in the world. He's a disgraced, down-on-his luck giant, short for his kind, banished forever from his tribe. He just wants to be left alone - and pity the poor person who annoys him. She's a stubborn human girl whose mother has been kidnapped by an evil dictator - and she's determined to get her back. No matter how long it takes. No matter who gets in her way. Together they take on an empire. Grade 4-9; In this intriguing fantasy about two outcasts on a remarkable journey, Carter offers up a riveting adventure that should appeal to fans of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series or Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson books. Although this book stands on its own, readers may want also want to try Carter's first foray into his Lost Lands of Rymadoon series, Drawing a Dark Way.

A Tale of Two Giants

Everybody dies. Nobody leaves ... Award-winning author Scott William Carter returns with his tenth novel, a spellbinding tale of a man who bridges both sides of the great divide. After narrowly surviving a near-fatal shooting, Portland detective Myron Vale wakes with a bullet still lodged in his brain, a headache to end all headaches, and a terrible side effect that radically transforms his world for the worse: He sees ghosts. Lots of them.By some estimates, a hundred billion people have lived and died before anyone alive today was even born. For Myron, they're all still here. That's not even his biggest problem. No matter how hard he tries, he can't tell the living from the dead.Despite this, Myron manages to piece together something of a life as a private investigator specializing in helping people on both sides of the great divide--until a stunning blonde beauty walks into his office needing help finding her husband. Myron wants no part of the case until he sees the man's picture ... and instantly his carefully reconstructed life begins to unravel."Carter's writing is on target." - Publishers Weekly"The Sixth Sense meets Spenser For Hire in Scott William Carter's magnificent Ghost Detective, but with more maturity and emotional depth than both of the others combined." - Michael J. Totten, author of Taken"Scott is one of those rare writers who can and does cross genres, and do it well. You never know what kind of story you'll get from him, but you do know that it'll be good." - Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Hugo award-winning author of The Disappeared

Years after his wife dies in a mafia hit gone wrong, Garrison Gage finally pieces together a life for himself in the Oregon coastal town of Barnacle Bluffs. Some days the cranky private investigator with the bum knee and the caustic wit could even call himself content. Maybe even happy. But marrying again? Never. Yet not long after quirky Rita Rodriguez enters the scene, Gage can't imagine life without her. Unfortunately, when dark secrets violently emerge—involving first loves, tragic loss, and, strangest of all, a Spanish galleon that sunk in 1642 loaded with treasure—their relationship enters turbulent waters. Worse, the same deadly undertow that drags Gage into the darkness also threatens everyone around him. His friends. His enemies. Even the town itself . . .

A Deep and Deadly Undertow: An Oregon Coast Mystery

Harriet Abel never shows up for her appointment. Irritating as hell? Sure. It's hard enough to work as a private investigator without potential clients standing you up. Of course, it's difficult to show up when you're dead. A revered community figure in the Oregon coast town of Barnacle Bluffs, the teacher extraordinaire never gets a chance to explain why she wants to hire Garrison Gage before her body turns up in a sandy grave. Seldom deterred by the lack of a client, Gage barrels forward intent on discovering the woman's killer. Unfortunately, the professional curmudgeon stirs up a lot more trouble than he expects, putting innocent people in imminent danger.In the past, Gage always triumphed over whatever dark forces stood in his way, but this time he may have gone too far - and he won't be the only one paying the price.

A Garrison Gage Mystery

Bury the Dead in Driftwood

Even the dead can die. Charles Manson. Ted Bundy. Jeffrey Dahmer. Known for their cunning and savagery. In the late eighties, another infamous serial killer sent seventeen innocent people to early graves. Then, suddenly, the murders in the panicked city of Portland, Oregon, stopped—and the Goodbye Killer got away. Myron Vale remembers it well. Long before a fateful bullet cursed him with the ability to see ghosts, he was the young son of the city’s most esteemed detective. The case changed Hank Vale, haunting him with a single glimpse of the killer’s otherworldly face. He was never the same man again. Or the same father. Now a new victim points to the Goodbye Killer’s return. And when the most powerful forces on the other side of the great divide approach Myron desperate for help, he uncovers a terrifying truth. It’s not just the living who should fear for their immortal souls ... even the dead can die.

The Ghost Who Said Goodbye

The dead do not dream. A week before Christmas, John and Laura Ray storm into Myron's office, desperate to find their missing daughter. Money? They don't have any. Clues? They have few. Plagued by mounting bills and a skull-crushing migraine, Portland's only ghost detective wants nothing more than to show them the door. But defying his conscience always proves tougher to Myron Vale than saying no, and he soon finds himself embroiled in one of the strangest cases of his career. The more he learns about this unique little girl and all of her extraordinary abilities, the more he feels a kinship to her. Who took Olivia Ray? And why? The answers propel him toward a tantalizing solution to all of his problems — and a violent clash with a powerful personality, one who can cause irreparable harm to not just Myron, but everyone he loves.

The Ghost, the Girl, and the Gold

While bullies are beating up Charlie, his ex–bestfriend Jake pulls up in a bright red ’67 Mustang—the principal’s car—and tells him to get in. It’s a choice between a broken nose and the risk of a lifetime, and Charlie, a self-described straight-A student and grade-A geek, decides to take a chance. Now the two teens are on a mission to find Charlie’s absent father and avoid arrest for car theft. An eventful journey puts Charlie in the middle of a court case 1,000 miles from home. And in the courtroom, he will have to make the ultimate choice of his life.

The Last Great Getaway of the Water Balloon Boys

Pino and his father, Gepetto, face grave danger when they are forced to go on the run after villagers learn that a puppet made by Pino to represent Gepetto's dead wife can move as Pino, himself, did before becoming a real boy.

Wooden Bones

They find his body at the bottom of Heceta Head Lighthouse-Ed Boone, a longtime volunteer who commits suicide rather than see his grim diagnosis to its bitter end. The strangeness of the old man's death makes the local news, but Garrison Gage thinks little of it until the famous Nora West sneaks into town with a strange letter in hand. Professing he wants to go to his grave with a clear conscience, Ed claims to be Nora's biological father. But the revelation stirs up all kinds of complicated emotions for the talented but troubled musician, who hires Gage to find out the truth. Yet the truth may be a lot more disturbing - and dangerous - thaneither of them are prepared to believe . . .

If everybody would just leave Sam alone, she'd be perfectly happy hanging out in The Land Between, the undeveloped forest at the end of the street where she can pretend, at least for a little while, that life is much better than it really is. Then a strange boy moves in next door and all her problems get a lot worse. Rob (or does he go by Bobby?) insists that his parents are prisoners in a mysterious castle in another world. Others claim the truth of his past is far more tragic. When her new friend vows to rescue his parents or die trying, Sam must make a fateful choice that will change both their lives forever — and reveal just how thin the line between imagination and hope can really be.

Scott William Carter

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