New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Heather Graham enjoys taking an occasional walk on the wild side with her writing, creating paranormal novels that feature ghostly characters from beyond the grave. Her latest book, THE DEATH DEALER, is just such a novel with much of the action taking place in an historic home, the residence of several spirits who have yet to “cross over.”

Now, Heather is offering one of her readers the chance to discover whether or not his or her home is haunted. Dr. Larry Montz, a veteran field parapsychologist who founded the ISPR in 1972, created GHOST EXPEDITIONS(TM) in 1993 and is the current developing force behind the world’s first 24/7 Interactive Paranormal Observatory, Lab & Museum, will visit the reader’s home, along with a veteran clairvoyant investigator from the ISPR team, to determine if there is scientific evidence supporting the claim of paranormal activity in the home. To enter, readers must tell Heather, in 25 words or less, why their family is the one family in North America who most deserves a visit from a world-renowned parapsychologist.

It’s all in celebration of the publication of THE DEATH DEALER, (MIRA Books) in March 2008. A master of moody, supernatural thrillers, Heather tells the story of a guarded private investigator who must deal with a newfound ability to communicate with restless spirits. THE DEATH DEALER sees him turn that unwanted gift toward catching a killer who patterns murders on the ghoulish tales of Edgar Allan Poe.

To learn more about the contest and enter online, readers should visit http://www.eHarlequin.com/GhostHunterContest and follow the onscreen entry instructions. To enter via mail, entrants must print (or type) on an 8 1/2″ x 11″ plain piece of paper their full name, mailing address and telephone number and explain, in 25 words or less, and mail it to:

“The Heather Graham Death Dealer Contest”
3010 Walden Ave., P.O. Box 9069,
Buffalo, NY 14269-9069

Canadian address: 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, ON M3B 3K9.

All online entries must be received by 11:59 PM (ET) on May 31, 2008.

I was pleased when I received this book for Christmas because I had put it on my wish list for a writing project I have started working on. Occult Investigator is a collection of true stories by NYC-based investigator Bob Johnson, who owns X-Investigations. The first chapter is an interesting narrative about how he started his paranormal/private investigation business and how he landed his first case.

You’ll find a good variety of stories between the covers of this book. There are ghosts, Santeria demon possession, vampires, werewolves, satanists, etc. I’m not sure which story made me do a double-take: the vampire or the satanist story. I can’t imagine how I would feel if I were to search my teenager’s room to find an ornate silver box filled with dirt and bone fragments hidden inside his closet.

Many of these stories read like bite-sized fiction novels, only without the drama and suspense. Highly recommended.

Melba Goodwyn, an experienced parapsychologist and member of the Texarkana Paranormal Investigators shares her thoughts on ghosts and why we search for them in an interview with About.com. I found myself skimming through a good portion of this interview because I wasn’t reading anything that I felt was new. Towards the end of the interview, she caught my interest with her answer for why people search for ghosts. I’ve been reading about how people have embraced the supernatural and adopting new age beliefs because their religion couldn’t satisfy their questions about the afterlife. Her answer did not surprise me.

Goodwyn’s book, Ghost Worlds: A Guide to Poltergeists, Portals, Ecto-Mist, & Spirit Behavior, is due to be released tomorrow. Judging by the synopsis, people who are new to ghosts and the supernatural realm will benefit from reading this book.

Interview: Ghosts All Around Us

After reading a review of Ghosthunters by John Kachuba, I decided to check Amazon to see what other readers thought of the book. As of this date, there is only one review but the Search Inside feature is open. I looked at the table of contents, which has some interesting chapter titles, such as “The Real Ghost Whisperer”, “Ghostology 101″, and “Real Ghost Writers.”

Chapter One starts off with a fun ghost trivia quiz, followed by a discussion of what a ghost is and the different belief systems of popular cultures. I came away from this excerpt wanting to read more. Thank you, Shawn, for the unbiased review.