WINGS TO THE KINGDOM is the second book from Cherie Priest featuring Eden Moore, a likable young woman who has the special talent of being able to communicate with the dead. She doesn’t necessarily enjoy having this ability, and can’t control it at will. In fact, the book opens with a scene having Moore turn down a request from an anguished parent who hopes to speak to his lost – and presumably dead – child. It’s a poignant, touching vignette that draws the reader to Moore and directly into the story.

And the story is a corker. Dead Civil War soldiers, whose ghosts haunt the Chickamauga Battlefield, are coming out and bothering picnickers. They are unable to speak, but they point dramatically in a vague direction. All the ghostly activity brings in some professional ghost hunters, which provides a bit of friction. Moore isn’t very interested and tries to avoid the pros, but as you can guess, she inevitably is dragged into the mystery.

She’s intrigued by an apparition named Ol’ Green Eyes, who has been in the area forever. But now this being has left the battlefield, and the soldiers seem upset that he’s gone missing. Exactly what is going on at Chickamauga, and why has Ol’ Green Eyes left the area?

Cherie Priest is really good at creepy set pieces, and she usefully exploits the Southern Gothic atmosphere of moss-hung trees and fog-covered fields that serve as the gravesite for thousands of long-dead men. Priest is also good at character motivations. Her protagonist acts realistically throughout the book, which is a pleasant surprise. Eden Moore tries her best to appreciate and respect her gift, but it has led her into very deep trouble before (there was a wrenching familial incident in the first book, FOUR AND TWENTY BLACKBIRDS) and so she would prefer to just be left alone. But gifts have a way of being used and so Moore tries to solve the mystery of Chickamauga’s ghosts without causing a lot of extra collateral damage.

This is an excellent work, rich in local flavor, nicely steeped in goosebumps, and filled with characters you want to know more about. Well done. –Mark Rose

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