The Shape-Shifters — Peter Goldman

Max Christian, the only private investigator known to hold regular conversations with the ghost of Albert Camus, thinks the assignment is simple enough. An old friend running for Congress wants some assistance -- starting with confirming or denying a suspicion her bad-boy husband might be cheating on her. He should know nothing's ever really that simple.

Christian's former NYPD homicide partner, Tina Falcone, has her own problems. Newly married to her longtime girlfriend, Falcone finds herself at the center of a serial killer investigation, hunting a madman who gets his kicks slashing into young women with dreams of stardom.

As the two seemingly independent cases merge, Christian and Falcone find themselves in an ever-changing world of shape-shifters, where mafia types rub shoulders with billionaire bankers and no one is ever exactly who he or she seems to be. Targeted by a vicious hit man, Christian is going to have to make an unhappy self-discovery -- or his next conversation with Camus will be in the afterlife.

A genre-bending mix of comedy, magical realism, and crime fiction, The Shape-Shifters continues the adventures of Max Christian that began in The Last Minstrel Show.