Caesar's Ghost: A Mhistory (The Fast and the Furies: Suspense...

Dead Again meets Julius Caesar today...with a sharp twist of The Sting. In this standalone Fast and Furies thriller...The legendary Roman's ghost is granted the chance for a comeback. But it objects to being 'thrown' into an unlikely host: Jules See, a mild-mannered loser with a passion for the Classics. With some spirited help from JC, and a bogus resume, Jules lands a plumb teaching job at a prestigious college. Unknown to him, or JC, he's just been trapped in a dangerous scam. And when he starts probing too deeply, he's beaten half to death. JC, now trapped in the comatose Jules, learns a trick the gods have kept secret till now: he can jump from one host to another--instead of allowing them to throw him where they will. He does, and continues to do so, as he pursues his three-part plan: to find a way to heal Jules...to rip off the mobsters who beat him...and to rule the world again--if he can only find Cleo. Trivia--This story came to me in an entirely different way. In March, 2015 I went to San Francisco to relax before starting work on my next Boss MacTavin mystery. In S.F. I met a friend and, on a walk through Chinatown, he said something that struck me: He dug the Boss MacTavin books but loved the Fast and Furies series--short, stylish thrillers into which, he felt, I had poured my real soul. And, as we continued walking, the seed idea for Caesar's Ghost came to me and I knew I had to run with it, writing again from the heart.--For the first time in my writing life, I worked without an outline. The story cried out to be written 'on the hot and hot'. Though I reviewed where I was every day and had a clear sense of the plot line, I took each day's work as it came. And I loved the freedom of working with no net.--I came to know the tactical weapons that play in the book far better than I'd meant to. While testing the stun gun, I failed to notice that my fingers touched the terminals--and got the shock of my life. And then wondering what it must have felt like for Caesar to have been stabbed 23 times, I set out to jab myself, in a controlled way, with a very sharp tactical pen. I managed 12 jabs before I fell down, agonized and unable to continue. The experience led me to see, though, that my ghost was driven by two things: the desire to rule once more--and to avoid, at all costs, a death like the old Caesar's.

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