The Gray Ghost Murders is the second book in author Keith McCafferty’s series centered around artist and displaced private investigator Sean Stranahan. This book builds nicely on the first book, The Royal Wulff Murders. It’s early enough in the series that you need not have read the first book to follow the second, but the series is a good one so far, so I recommend starting at the beginning.

Sean Stranahan came to the acquaintance of a group of wealthy, eccentric fishermen through his art. Once they learned of his private investigator background, The Madison River Liars and Fly Tiers Club hired him to locate a very rare fly that is missing from their clubhouse in Montana. At the same time, local Sheriff Martha Ettinger, who knows of Sean’s investigative background, asks for his help with a case. Two graves with deteriorated remains are found on remote Sphinx Mountain. A hole in one of the skulls may or may not be indicative of foul play. Identifying the victims from these remains proves quite difficult, and until they do that, they aren’t sure whether they have a case or not.

This was a good mystery read. I figured out a lot of what happened early on, both with the deaths and the missing fly, but it was still a great read. I had no idea how it was going to be resolved, and there were a few surprises along the way as well, which kept me on my toes. The story had many humorous moments when Sean is interacting with the club members, and they are nice guys as well. Although they live in luxury compared to the locals, they aren’t so full of themselves that they look down on the locals.

There are some moral questions dealt with as well, but no answers are offered. The issue surrounds the right to die with dignity versus how we have typically done everything in this country to keep someone alive who will inevitably die anyway. Shouldn’t people have the right to die how they choose? The question is hard to answer, and there are several discussions about quality-of-life issues. In this case, the question surrounds people who have a terminal diagnosis. The question becomes harder if you turn to people who suffer mentally.

There’s some tension on a personal level between the Sheriff and Sean. Although they are both seeing other people, there’s an obvious spark. The two have a respect for each other that shows, and also a great friendship going. Will it be more in the future? Only time will tell. They are written as two realistic adults with baggage, and may or may not find out they have more in common down the line. Sean’s girlfriend is dealing with her aging cat, which also draws a comparison to the quality of life issues. Martha is dealing with a relationship that is faltering, but isn’t quite sure why.

I don’t know much about fly fishing, but I still found the talk to be very interesting. I understand that the idea is to create a lure that attracts fish by fooling them into thinking it is an insect on top of the water. For this reason, many readers say the book is geared towards men. I did enjoy the book overall, even if I thought the writing for the female characters was a little weak. McCaffery describes the scenery and the setting so well, I could picture just how beautiful this area is.

The audiobook is narrated by Rick Holmes, who also narrated the first book in the series. His voices here are good, as I could distinguish which character was talking just by the voice. His female voices aren’t so great, but it wasn’t a huge problem here, as there’s less female interaction in this book than in the first.

Even though I figured out what was going on in The Gray Ghost Murders early on, I did enjoy this book. The characters are interesting and advance a bit from the first book. The mysteries here ask a number of tough questions that don’t have easy answers. The setting is gorgeous as well. It’s not a perfect book, but I did like it.

Previous book in the series: