Eve Abernathy is in the midst of wedding preparations.  These preparations are somewhat complicated by the arrival of her aunt and uncle, who strongly disapprove of just about everything.  Eve, like most brides, just wants a perfect wedding.  To that end, she has not told her family that her fiancé, Lucien Thorpe, is a medium.  He can see and speak to spirits of the dead.

Lucien, like most grooms, is not terribly concerned with the wedding preparations.  He just wants to know when and where to show up, and to make his bride happy.  Especially since he forgot their first wedding date, several years ago, and left Eve standing at the altar.  Since Eve’s aunt and uncle are determined to keep the two of them apart for the few days before the wedding, Lucien finds himself at a loss.  At the suggestion of a friend, he decides to ride several hours out of town to investigate the Honeycutt Hotel.  This hotel, long vacant, is rumored to be haunted.  Lucien decides this will be the perfect diversion.  He will ride out, check out the hotel, and be back in plenty of time for the wedding.

Family and friends assemble for a wedding that will not take place.  Instead, a young boy arrives at the church, telling Eve that a man is in the hotel, hurt, and unable to leave.   At once, Eve and her friends hurry to the hotel.  Will they find Lucien alive?  What force could be keeping him prisoner in the hotel?  And will any of them be able to leave, once they find him?

This second book in a series that began with SHADES OF MIDNIGHT (1/03) does everything that a second book should do.  It re-introduces us to characters from the first book, while it deepens and broadens the relationships between them.  It also introduces new characters, most notably the ghost-hunters that Lucien and Eve worked with in years past.  These characters were mentioned in the first book, but this is the first time that readers get to meet them.  Every character is a well-drawn individual.  Each one has fears, doubts, and a past, and these are used to great effect.  New readers will not feel lost with this second book; but they will most likely find themselves wanting to find the first book immediately.

All of this leaves me with a rather unusual problem.  When I reviewed SHADES OF MIDNIGHT, I gave it a 5, our highest rating.  I believe I enjoyed this book even more than the first.  There is at least one more book planned for this series.  I, for one, hope to see these characters return in many more books to come.