William F. Nolan is a true grandmaster of the art of writing. Probably best known for writing Logan’s Run which went on to spawn a successful movie and a moderately successful television series, Nolan’s body of work covers a great deal more.

Kincaid: A Paranormal Casebook (2001) featuring paranormal investigator David Kincaid continues Nolan’s pleasure at creating on-going characters. The original novella, of which there are three in the book, as penned was produced for a movie and proposed television series, The Norliss Tapes, which unfortunately never got off the ground. So, a quick change of name from Norliss to Kincaid and Nolan had a free hand to develop his character in story form.

Situated in L.A., Kincaid runs a moderately successful business as a speaker and writer on all things paranormal. He also works as an unpaid advisor to his cop friend Mike Lucero, who spends much of his time worrying about Kincaid’s bachelor status.

In Pirates Moon bodies start to pile up, their heads and hearts have been removed and a mysterious feather has been left by each corpse. Lucero approaches Kincaid for information about the feathers. Although Kincaid has no idea what they mean he is quickly on the trail of the answer, picking up clues and meeting Kelly Rourke, a beautiful woman who will play a part in both his life and his subsequent cases.

Pirates Moon is an odd introduction to the character. Although, it is a tale of cannibalism, it contains little of what could be considered paranormal, nor does the central character display any unusual powers. In fact, and I suspect that this is due to the brevity of the story, Kincaid follows a very linear path to the stories conclusion.

The paranormal aspects of the stories increase with the concluding two tales, Hellhunt and The Horror at Winchester House, the first involving demons, the second a new take on the haunted house theme.

As expected from such a seasoned author, the stories are well written and entertaining, a breath of fresh air in a market soaked with teenage angst ridden vampire.

8

Charles Packer