


Books in series

#1
Of Grave Concern
2013
Dead Men Tell No Lies
The Civil War is over, and many a young widow has turned to spiritualism to contact their husbands on "the other side." But Ophelia Wylde won't be fooled twice. After wasting her money on a phoney psychic, she decides if she can't beat ‘em, join ‘em. She leaves New Orleans and heads West, selling her services as a spiritual medium who speaks to the dead. By the time she reaches Dodge City, business is booming. Except for a handsome but skeptical bounty hunter named Jack Calder, no one suspects Ophelia of running a con game—until an unfortunate "reading" of a girl who's still living exposes her to a townfull of angry customers. As punishment, the mob drags Ophelia to Boot Hill and buries her alive in a fresh grave overnight. That's when the dead start speaking. To her. For real. And for dead people, they've got lots to say. . .

#2
The Spirit is Willing
2014
"McCoy has a gift for capturing the Old West in all its colorful and outrageous glory." —Margaret Coel
In the Old West, murder is a way of life. But psychic detective Ophelia Wylde is dealing out her own brand of justice by talking to the victims. . .after they're dead.
Ghost In The Machine
It's one of the strangest trials in Colorado history. A "spirit photographer" is accused of fraud, and Ophelia Wylde agrees to examine the man's ghostly portraits and testify in court. In a sealed room, she is presented with five photographs. Four are obvious fakes. But one photo—featuring a powerful politician, Jackson Miles, with a sorrowful ghost in chains behind his shoulder—is the real McCoy. When Ophelia makes contact, the spirit is in such agony that she's unable to learn anything but his Angus Wright. Intrigued, Ophelia sets out to learn more about the wronged Mr. Wright and discovers he was murdered nearly twenty years ago during the Gold Rush. The politician is somehow involved, and Ophelia has to watch her step. Because the living are much more dangerous than the dead. . .
"Another masterful tale by Max McCoy. . .gripping. . .can't wait to read the entire series!" — True West on Of Grave Concern

#3
Giving Up the Ghost
2015
From sea to shining sea, the invention known as the telegraph would tame the American frontier. But for psychic detective Ophelia Wylde, the wild west is about to get wilder…
MESSAGES FROM BEYOND?
When telegraph keys across the country begin bursting into flames—and chattering ghostly nonsense—the terror and turmoil is enough to bring the railways, banks, and news industry to a standstill. There’s only one person they can turn Mrs. Ophelia Wylde, a young widow turned detective who has famously brought murderers to justice—by speaking to their victims on the other side. Are the recent telegraph mishaps a message from beyond? Ophelia’s not sure, but the fact that the key’s last operator, Lightning “Hapless” Hopkins, has been poisoned is enough to raise her darkest suspicions. It’s up to Ophelia to unravel the riddle of the ghostly wire tap, solve the murder of Hapless Hopkins, and expose the secret history of the telegraph’s little-known co-inventor… before her own life is on the line .
Author

Max McCoy
Author · 17 books
Max McCoy is an award-winning journalist and author. He’s won awards for his reporting on unsolved murders, serial killers, and hate groups. In addition to his daily newspaper work, Max has written for publications as diverse as American Photographer, True West, and The New Territory. He’s the author of four original Indiana Jones adventures for Lucasfilm/Bantam and the novelization of the epic TNT miniseries, Into the West. His novels, including Damnation Road, have won three Spur awards from the Western Writers of America. His novels, Hellfire Canyon and Of Grave Concern, have also been named Kansas Notable Books by the state library. He's a tenured professor of journalism at Emporia State University, in east central Kansas, where he specializes in investigative reporting and nonfiction narrative. He's also director of the university’s Center for Great Plains Studies. His most recent book is Elevations: A Personal Exploration of the Arkansas River, from the University Press of Kansas.