Return of the Librarian: The Haunting of Nathaniel Wolfe by Brian Keaney

Nathaniel’s father cons auditoriums full of people into thinking that he can speak with the dead. With the help of Mrs. Gaunt, who mingles with the crowd before the show, he makes it appear that he can help those desperate to contact their deceased loved ones.  There’s no money for food, but there’s always money for gin.
Booo, hisss.  Victorian London is a harsh and dangerous place for the poor.  Nathaniel often spends half a day toting heavy boxes of fish to earn enough to buy breakfast.  Then, one night, while ushering his father’s show, Nathaniel sees a woman in white appear on the stage.  The temperature drops.  Our boy is frozen in place.  The specter is desperate (and impatient) to communicate something to him.  So begins our chilling mystery.  Someone’s life is at stake.  Can Nathaniel and Lily, a housemaid he saves from robbery (thereby earning the thief’s enmity), figure out what the woman is trying to tell them?