CITY OF MASKS

A BookSense Pick for 2003! “Sharp, fast, and deft -- a gripping story that with the skill of a Wallenda walks the tightrope between the real and the supernatural.” – Kirkus Reviews “A superb thriller . . . Because the author deliberately downplays sensationalism, the book’s premise – that ghosts really do exist – seems, even to this confirmed skeptic, surprisingly, uneasily possible.” –Cleveland Plain Dealer

Now available in hardcover, paperback, and audiobook! City of Masks is the first in a series of novels to feature parapsychologist Cree Black, the founder of a small, nonprofit paranormal research group based in Seattle. Using scientific technologies, historical research, and psychology, Cree and her colleagues investigate claims of ghosts and other paranormal phenomena and try to help the living cope with troubling and inexplicable experiences. Cree herself is a natural empath – one who resonates so strongly with others that she is able to experience their haunts and fears.

Called to New Orleans to investigate a supposed haunting at the 150-year old Beauforte House, Cree’s foremost challenge is to accommodate the psychological fragility of Lila Beauforte Warren, who claims to have witnessed terrifying phenomena at the house where she spent her childhood. Is Lila suffering from a neurological or psychiatric disorder, as her family believes, or has she witnessed verifiable paranormal activity? To find out, Cree must enter her state of mind, spend long hours in the dim rooms of the old house, and unearth secrets from the Beauforte family’s hidden past. She soon finds she cannot help Lila unless she solves her own hauntings – deals with her own memories, faces her grief over her husband’s death, and confronts her reluctance to embrace normal life. In challenging the ghosts of Beauforte house and taking Lila’s problems as her own, she has placed her own survival on the line.

Published by Bloomsbury in the Unites States, Simon & Schuster/Pocket Books in Great Britain, and Luitingh-Sijthoff in Holland. Also released on tape and CD by Blackstone Audio Books.

Author’s comment:

The first thing I tell people is that this is not a “horror” story. Rather, it’s a literary mystery dealing with the authentic strangeness of mind, memory, and feeling. I hope readers will find the book not just suspenseful but poignant and thought-provoking as well.

City of Masks is the first of a proposed series of fifty novels featuring Cree Black and her associates. Why fifty? One for each state! The idea originated with my neighbor, Christine Klaine, who suggested that I write fifty books about an empathic “ghost-buster” who uses her sensitivity and psychological insight to solve mysteries of the present and the past. Preposterous, I thought, outrageous! But after two years of pondering the concept, I went to New Orleans, took a room in a funky hotel, and began City of Masks. I loved the city with its sultry heat and aura of mystery -- not to mention the great music and food -- and as I wrote I made sure the feel of the place permeated every page.

I enjoy writing Cree Black stories because the basic premise allows me to pack so many fascinating elements into each adventure. Ghosts are an endlessly intriguing subject, even if you don’t believe in them (and you don’t have to, to enjoy reading about Cree’s investigations; the ghosts she deals with can be seen as psychological phenomena, haunts of memory, or allegories for questions that trouble us all). Writing about ghosts allows me to pursue real mysteries of human nature through psychology, physics, religion, spirituality, history, neurology, folklore, forensics, and the many other arts and sciences a serious modern ghost hunter must employ when doing research. Place plays an important role: The United States is marvelously diverse, with innumerable regional cultures, histories, and physical landscapes that uniquely shape each of Cree’s adventures.

Cree is more than a “ghost hunter”; I see her as a modern-day shaman, a mystic and healer who uses both ancient and present-day insights to help people through frightening personal passages.

More praise for City of Masks

“A gripping and fully realized mystery set in an unfamiliar world that the author makes palpable . . . by creating believable, compelling characters, he has certainly laid the ground work for an engaging and successful new series!” – Denver Post

“Hecht brings his characters and New Orleans to life in the most unexpected, supernatural ways. He cleverly insures that this tale – part mystery, part ghost thriller, part human drama – merges together in an engaging ‘don’t-turn-out-the-lights’ read!” – BookSense 76

“Richly textured and highly atmospheric . . . Hecht deftly combines many elements into one breath-taking novel. The characters, especially Cree Black . . . add reality and depth. And the ghost themselves are almost more symbolic of haunted pasts, regrets, and repressed memories than anything else, bringing in a highly psychological component that adds deeply to this ghostly narrative.” -- New Mystery Reader

“Curling up withy City of Masks has to rank as a near-perfect escape from cold reality. Hecht has his mojo working . . . he maintains suspense even when pausing to explore the psyches of his complex characters or to consider the esoteric puzzles of the universe. And with dialogue as crisp as a December morning, City of Masks also functions as an off-beat tourism guide to the sultry, sinister side of New Orleans.” – Seven Days

“The ride of your literary life!” – Tulsa World

“Seductive!” – New Orleans Times-Picayune