Drew Nolan's trying not to drown, finally gets onto dry land. There he discovers June, arms crossed, with these words coming out of her: "There's a woman in our house says she slept with you. And she's brought a present."

Not exactly what a man wants to hear from his lover, but the appearance of an old girlfriend is the least of his worries. She's brought a gift, that will drag Nolan off of his lawn chair and onto the rainy streets and canals of Amsterdam, to Paris and finally to a Spanish village on the Atlantic coast.

Is he chasing a ghost from his past?
Two ghosts?

Is there even anybody actually dead?

Join Drew Nolan on yet another adventure in which the only answers are those that lead him into forests of even more questions.

You'll meet lively Pinks and the suicide Bridie, a pair of wild women from his past, sometimes lovers of Nolan, sometimes lovers of his old friend, the world famous painter and murdered Eliseo Barardo, and sometimes lovers of each other.

This fifth novel is the penultimate in the series. Nolan has been reluctantly drawn into all kinds of escapades so far, and this one may be the most challenging so far.

Nothing makes sense, there are no bodies, and yes that is plural, and he's got to find a criminal without a single clue to go on. "Maybe, " he thinks, "it would be easier chasing ghosts."

By the way, while he's off to Amsterdam with a beautiful young woman who likes to get naked - and she's not his main squeeze, June - someone has decided not to answer his phone calls. And that has a way of working on our poor boy's last nerve.

A collection of essays (short, easy to read in the bathroom in one sitting) dedicated to the proposition that everything is worthy of a second thought.

A collection of poetry written by a novelist. In these are contained close observations turned into sound, as poetry is meant to be read aloud. Some are derived from personal experiences intensely felt, others from observations of what others have done. The author, Charles Bechtel, has explored many forms: haiku, haibun, sonnet, rhyming couplets, free verse, always with an ear for the crafted sound and an eye for the specific and singular events. Always looking for the unique image perfectly framed to deliver a succinct thought, Bechtel crafts more than writes his poems. He believes the point is to use the fewest number of words to bring the reader to the sharpest association with his experiences.