Leslie's family is leaving for vacation in Colombia, Ohio - yes, that's spelled like the country. Normally, Lelsie wouldn't mind a couple of weeks alone after a boring semester at Salem University, but the night before her parents and sister were to go, Bruce came back. (For more on Bruce, click here.)

Bruce, the creepy mannequin was the last thing Leslie needed to be worried about. If Ed Philips had any nerve at all, he would have told her years ago that her life was in danger. Ed didn't believe that Bruce could walk, as Leslie did, but he believed John Barker still walked 200 years after his death. While the town of Miltonville, Indiana thought there was a curse upon them, Ed knew better. He knew the truth. The town wasn't cursed. Leslie was cursed. Ed had more than enough evidence to support his beliefs, but not enough courage to declare them. Twice in the past, people he loved died because of this curse, twice before, he failed to act in time. Using alcohol to ease his guilt, he had, in his own way, also fell under the power of the curse.

Ed kept his ideas to himself and his documents in his briefcase. To read some of the newspaper clippings he collected, click here.

The Blurbs

Below are a few of the promotional blurbs

"If you think Bruce is creepy, just wait until his friends get to town."

"It's easy to get lost, as many of the characters in Lost Hunters demonstrate. While there are many paths to choose from, there are ultimately only two destinations. A contemporary blend of supernatural and spiritual fiction, Lost Hunters reminds us that evil has a powerful counterpart."

"John Barker is back and the town of Miltonville is about to learn there's nothing quite so angry as a frustrated dead man.
Once every generation, Barker is given a chance to kill one special person, the one person whose death will set loose his wicked soul on the earth. It's all part of a game set up by the Wethacanwee, the laughing ghosts who captured him when he still lived as a human and now held him to a set of rules which they never fully divulged. Each previous attempt at freedom has ended with an embarrassing mistake, but times are changing. The ghosts are becoming lax with him, giving away secrets, dropping clues. Barker is learning the game, and this time out he knows the landscape, he knows his prey, and when he catches her, he will know how to dispose of her. What could possibly go wrong?
Plenty.
What awaits in John Barker's path are nosy neighbors, meddlesome police, a possessed mannequin, his whiny mistress, and Ed Philips, a man old beyond his years who has been waiting for Barker's return. A man who has studied Barker's patterns. A man who is also learning the rules. A man who knows this is his last opportunity to finish the game.
John Barker is about to learn there is nothing quite so desperate as a frustrated old man. "

"On a lovely night in late June, amid the chirping insects and bullfrogs lullabies, a party is taking place in a rural cemetery. An uninvited guest is about to arrive. A murder is about to be committed. And the weakest of all demons are laughing with delighted anticipation.
Lost Hunters takes us to the city of Miltonville, a city that slept blissfully unaware of the busy day awaiting the police department and the hospital. A place inhabited by regular people with regular jobs and the usual secrets. A place haunted by the shadow of death, that some called a curse, others called a superstition, but death nonetheless, that came in curious clusters under questionable circumstances. Death that was making it way to town early this Friday morning in the body of a dead man."