With you in spirit

the long version

"My father’s body was found floating face down in the waters off Chappaquiddick. Naturally, everyone assumed a Kennedy did it." Well, perhaps not everyone, as Graydove Hoffenstein, the Native American Jewish heir to a parking meter empire discovers after his mother, Celeste Garrison Hoffenstein, is arrested and sentenced to life in prison for the murder of her husband, Colin Lightfoot Hoffenstein. But Gray believes in his mother’s innocence, as does his sister Chaka, who arranges a seance at the family’s Martha’s Vineyard home with the renowned -psychic Brenda Cloudholder, who arrives in a Yugo driven by her spookily mysterious chauffeur, Derderva. So begins Steven Cooper’s rollicking tale of love, murder and ghosts, where skepticism meets spiritualism, ghosts communicate using lemons and Gloria Gaynor’s "I Will Survive," and family eccentricities hold the key to just about everything. As Gray tries to juggle both a police investigation and Brenda Cloudholder’s increasingly weird communications with the afterlife, he has problems beyond getting his mother out of jail. His best friend, Stevie, has begun dating Gray’s younger sister Skye; his Puerto Rican boyfriend, Pedro, has decided to become a woman named Carmen Cuernevaca; and his sister Chaka has decided to become black. *With You in Spirit* charms and delights as it races toward a resolution, which is not just rewarding but deeply moving as well. Steven Cooper’s debut novel is an uproarious blend of mystery and camp humor that will have you begging for a sequel.