Description
David A. Ek’s Bisbee and the Haunted (Psycho-Mystery 27 on Acid) is a strange book in the best way. It is half ghost story, half psychological mystery with some small-town fever dreams added in. It is crowded, moody, and occasionally excessive. It also has real nerve, which counts for a lot.
The novel is set in Bisbee, Arizona, at The Inn at Midnight Rock, a historic hotel that is always one repair bill away from trouble. The place survives on charm, ghost lore, and the stubborn hope of its owner, Graeme. Ek understands how much atmosphere a setting can carry, and he puts that knowledge to work. The hotel is the book’s great asset. Its creaking halls, themed rooms, old well, and patched-together grandeur give the story texture from the first pages.
Ek also makes a risky choice that pays off more often than not. At times, the story speaks through Midnight Rock itself. The stone watches the human mess below with age, pride, and a little contempt. That voice gives the book a larger scale. It reminds the reader that the people in this story are temporary, while the land and its scars run much deeper.
At the center is Jordan Smithers, the hotel manager, whose devotion to The Inn and to Graeme carries more strain than either wants to admit. Around them gathers a lively supporting cast: a reporter looking for fraud, a rival hotel man with too much power, and a pair of workers whose bad choices keep making bad situations worse. Ek likes big feelings and sharp turns. He does not hold back, and the novel is livelier for it.
What gives the book its force is that the haunting never feels like a simple gimmick. The ghosts matter, but so do grief, shame, memory, and the ways people attach themselves to places that may not love them back. Ek keeps pushing toward the idea that buildings absorb damage, just as people do. The result is a mystery that feels haunted from the inside out.
The book is not clean or spare. Some scenes go on too long. Some characters are broad. The symbolism can be heavy. But the novel has conviction. It believes in its own weirdness, and that confidence helps carry it.
Readers who want a neat, efficient mystery may resist it. Readers open to a shaggy, haunted story with strong atmosphere and a taste for the offbeat will find a lot to enjoy. Bisbee and the Haunted is uneven, but it is never dull, and dull would have been the real failure here.
