David Benjamin

The high school gym in Hercules, Wisconsin is haunted by the ghost of John Roszak, a basketball player who died on the court in 1968. The ghost harasses living players like Stewart McCullough, who doesn't believe in ghosts. However, his new girlfriend, Meryl, convinces Stewy to reach out to his personal ghost. Meanwhile, another danger begins stalking Stewy: Clay Lutz, who has come back to town and plans to carry off Meryl, whom he regards as his property. Dead Shot, the fourth book in the Jim Otis crime series, follows a tense cat-and-mouse struggle between Stewy and Clay that frustrates police chief Otis and steadily escalates into deadly violence. As the basketball season progresses, Stewy and Meryl fall in love and develop an eerie rapport with the enigma of John Roszak. However, they find themselves living—and dancing—under a cloud cast both by the living and the dead.