Billie's Ghost

It’s been a year since Casey’s wife died, leaving him the youngest widower in Naples, Florida, and in the throes of a seemingly bottomless depression. Now Casey lives only at night, stuck in his once cozy home, drinking himself blind and listening to the sounds of Ellington, Coltrane, and Davis. Casey’s friends and family have just about given up on him, and he’s certainly given up on himself. That is, until Billie Holiday—or someone who looks just like her—finds her way into his life.Maybe he’s been listening to too much jazz, and he’s definitely been hitting the bottle, but there’s no mistaking that beautiful, had-some-tough-times voice. She calls herself Eleanora, and what everyone else sees as an imaginary friend, Casey sees as the only thing that can bring him solace. And by the grace of this strange and wonderful woman, he receives something he’s yearned for every waking moment: a chance to spend one last night with his wife, and to overcome the crushing guilt he’s felt since the day she left him.

From Publishers Weekly

Casey Cooper, who narrates this maudlin first novel, hasn't worked in the year since his wife, Virginia, died. He's been living off life insurance, savings and pity checks from his in-laws and has carved out a hermitic life: he sleeps most of the day, wakes up late and spends his nights sitting in his backyard by the pool, drinking beer and listening to jazz—mostly Billie Holiday. So imagine his surprise when a hard-drinking nomadic jazz singer who looks and sounds just like Billie Holiday and who calls herself Eleanora materializes in his spare bedroom one night. In short order, Eleanora has Casey out of the house—shopping, canoeing at a nature preserve (where Eleanora falls into the water but doesn't get wet) and, eventually, heading to Miami, where she rescues Casey from a mugger. When Casey isn't being acted upon or transfixed by Eleanora, he retreats into soft-focus memories of Virginia. The drama (such as it is) reaches its height after a small fire Eleanora accidentally starts in the spare bedroom leads to a nearly fatal case of smoke poisoning for Casey's cat, Mashed Potatoes. Eleanora breathes new life into the cat by singing to it. More a whimsical reflection on learning to deal with grief than a novel, this is an occasionally touching but generally lackluster first outing for Hautmann. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Chad Hautmann lives in Naples, Florida. This is his first book.

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