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Terrible things are going on among the tree-lined streets and manicured lawns of a normally sedate neighborhood in Des Moines, Iowa. Murder, mutilation, and more are, like history, repeating themselves. Did what happened decades ago have anything to do with today’s foul deeds? Who’s responsible for the original crimes and who’s perpetrating the current ones? It just might take more help than is humanly possible to figure it all out. Fortunately, such help is at hand. Jan Walters has taken the tried-and-true police procedural and imbued it with divine intervention and supernatural powers. The result is an oddity that reads easily but taxes greatly one’s willing suspension of disbelief.
The plot centers around a young patrolman determined to become a detective. He’s compelled to follow in the footsteps of his family’s police service, particularly that of his legendary great grandfather. Before he knows it, he’s up to his eyeballs in all manner of mayhem. Burglaries and multiple murders start to pile up. His sexy love interest is kidnapped—not just once, but twice. His supercilious superior is intent on making his job far more difficult than it should be. Plus he’s personally stalked and then assaulted by someone or something that is as fiendish as it is brutal. It’s not all bad news however, for in addition to an older detective who has faith in the young man, there’s also a ghost who’s on hand to offer assistance.
Walters keeps her story moving rapidly. At times there’s an uneasy balance between the graphic violence, the steamy sex, and the mostly jocular relationship between the spirits and the humans. However, if you’re intrigued by pages populated with apparitions, angels, demons, and detectives, you might want to put York Street on your map.