The Other Side

J.D. Robb, Mary Blayney, Patricia Gaffney, Ruth Ryan Langan, and Mary Kay McComas

Ghost stories and stories of possession mixed with mystery and romance - The Other Side gives all this in five short stories.

J.D. Robb's novella, Possession in Death, follows her novel Indulgence in Death. Eve Dallas is a homicide lieutenant in 2060 New York City. She is taking a priest friend home from a party when they both see an old woman staggering on the sidewalk. Eve jumps out and grabs her as she falls. After dies in Eve's arms with pleas to find her granddaughter, the priest gives the woman Last Rites. But when the pathologists check the body, the woman appeared to have died hours earlier. Now Eve and her group are looking for the woman's murderer and the missing granddaughter. The odd thing is, Eve feels the presence of the old woman in her own conscience, guiding her to the right answers.

In The Other Side of the Coin by Mary Blayney, a married Regency couple find their consciousnesses in each other's body. Bettina is worried that her husband Harry, the Earl of Fellsbourne, has been cheating on her since the birth of their son although he denies it. Harry wishes his wife could trust him. With the flip of a coin, they find themselves in this strange situation. Now he has to live inside a woman's body and a woman's society, including care for their six-month-old son. She has to live in a man's body and society - including politics in the House of Lords. Both get a glimpse of the other's life.

Patricia Gaffney looks at ghosts from a different perspective in The Dancing Ghost. Near the end of the 19th century, a woman contacts a "ghost detective" to check her family home in a town outside of Boston. Henry Cleland is only too happy to check into Angie Darlington's request. But he is definitely surprised when he sees the ghost of a woman dancing in midair.

Almost Heaven by Ruth Ryan Langan has an older couple die in an automobile accident shortly before their daughter's wedding. Ted and Noelle ask for a little more time before they go to Heaven to watch their daughter and young son getting through the next few weeks without them. Then they discover they were murdered by a cut brake line. Now they have to find ways to help their children also avoid being killed and smoothing their daughter's future life as well.

M.J. Biderman is trying to sell the old family home in Mary Kay McComas' Never Too Late to Love. But three ghosts - her mother and two aunts - appear to be stuck in the house. Until they can go to the Other Side, the house will not allow itself to be knocked down. Now M.J. has to help them find what is keeping them. It is more difficult when the son of the widower next door can also see the ghosts.

Each of the last four stories in The Other Side is fun - enjoyable romps through the supernatural in different situations and eras. The first one, Robb's Possession In Death is spooky in its intriguing mystery - never light hearted like the others but not dark, either.

The Other Side is a good escape - a few hours on the beach or on a rainy afternoon.

Notice:  Non-graphic violence, Strong indecent language, Suggestive dialogue or situations