Charlie Harmer and the Lady In Red - Charlie Harmer, #2

A ghost is a dead person with a job. Charlie Harmer's is about to get a lot more complicated. Ever since the big commotion last year, Charlie's boss has had one big rule: nobody living talks to the dead, and nobody dead talks to the living. Charlie's job is to keep an eye on things and smooth over both sides of the great divide, to make sure nobody does anything stupid. One problem. A sweet kid with a punk rock haircut just accidentally cast a magic spell from a bunch of old liner notes, and thanks to an ancient contract, he's entitled to ghostly help figuring out who murdered his girlfriend.
The boss wants this wrapped up quickly, so she puts Charlie in charge. Give the kid what he wants, keep it quiet, wrap it up as soon as possible. One more problem. There's another player on the board, a very special lady who's been keeping a very low profile. Someone Charlie won't see coming. Someone who's going to make the trouble last year look like a beach vacation. Someone who's been keeping a close eye on our friend Mr.
Harmer. Brendan Detzner is the author of White Rabbit Society, Beasts, Scarce Resources, The Monster Hunters, Millersville, and a lot of other stuff. The first book in the Charlie Harmer series is called Charlie Harmer Takes A Ride. Stories featuring Charlie have also appeared in the Book of Dead Things anthology and the Pseudopod short fiction podcast.