My Two Cents (Book Review): LET THE GHOSTS SLEEP by Keller Agre

True-crime podcaster Henry Hall makes his living off the dead. Not a great living, but thanks to a local serial killer known as the Marie College Maimer, he's been able to build up a sizable following and some lucrative sponsors, so he's well on his way to fulfilling a lifelong ambition to become rich and successful. The descendent of a one-time newspaper magnate, Henry has always felt cheated out of the life of wealth and privilege he feels he deserves; his predecessor's fortune, along with his media empire, had been squandered and lost long before he was born. And while that fortune had been built on newspaper stories covering a ruthless serial killer in the early 1900s, Henry's managed to stake his own financial claim of success on the Marie College Maimer's infamy.

Of course, in Henry's opinion, it's his own charming on-air personality that's the secret to his success. And when he gets the chance to visit the Crane Island Club Resort in Georgia, where both the turn-of-the-century killings took place, and his great-great-great-grandfather's newspaper business took off, he seizes it, knowing his listeners will eat it up.

Accompanying Henry on this fateful journey is his beleaguered production assistant Kurt. Together they uncover secrets at the Resort that hint at the killer's true identity, and the terrible toll the murders took on the victims and their families so long ago. Everyone has skeletons in their closet, but the Crane Island Resort has ghosts -- and they've been waiting for Henry and Kurt.

This is Ager's debut novella, available now from Undertaker Books. It's well-written and enjoyable, but I feel like the story plays it safe for the most part. Given the subject matter, it could have taken some darker turns that would have ratcheted the tension, given the story some sharper teeth. Still, this was a quick read, an entertaining haunted-house mystery, and the layout of the story, with its interspersed snippets from Henry's podcast, "The Cadaver Hour," as well as stylized clips from menus and brochures for the resort, is clever and fun. Overall, I enjoyed it. Ager has the writing chops to make him worth watching to see what he comes up with next.