"You want to borrow a casket?" Funeral director and part-time sheriff Barry Clayton finds the request absurd until he learns the casket will be the centerpiece of the Jaycees haunted house, a charity benefitting the children"s hospital. But when the president of the Jaycees is mur-dered in the casket on Halloween, the national press descends to cover the bizarre crime. Barry is assigned to be the lead investigator of the case. Then someone fires a shot at Archie Donovan, and Barry wonders whether the victim in the casket was even the intended target. Barry"s police and personal lives collide when his ex-wife Rachel comes to town, hoping to use the story to launch her TV career. Soon her prying creates a backlash that leaves another body in its wake. Unmasking the killer may be a fatal undertaking.... Mark de Castrique"s mysteries are set in the mountains of North Carolina where he lives with his wife Linda. www.markdecastrique.com