Duplicity [Paperback]

Charlie Johnson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 25, 2003

Duplicity tells the story of Carlos, '60's counterculture refugee, who earns a meager living as a psychic detective in New York City in the '90's. Prompted by a message seen on a blackboard, Carlos embarks on the kind of case he relishes--a mystery from the past. In 1930, New York Supreme Court Judge Joseph Crater vanished, never to be seen again. Aided by psychic friends, Carlos seeks out Crater's spirit. Angry at being called to answer questions, the spirit issues a warning: Carlos will learn Crater's fate, but will suffer for it. The mystery follows Carlos, revealing Crater's past of violence, dual personality and psychic murder. Powerfully intermingling the lives and consciousness of two men-one dead and the other alive-Duplicity demonstrates the power of the dead over the living. For Carlos, it's a journey into pos-session by an evil spirit and the merging of his personality with Crater's reliving the last days of the missing man's life-revealing themes of disappearance, dualities of existence, and personal disintegration, ending with Crater's death-and perhaps Carlos' death as well.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Charlie Johnson has spent the past 30 years in the professions of student, itinerant historian, freelance writer and jack-of-all trades. He has written about landmark Colorado buildings, Charles F. Lummis, and California railroads and worked as an editor, museum tour guide, bookkeeper, keno writer and electronic watch repair technician.

Product Details

• Paperback: 198 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse, Inc. (June 25, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595280919
• ISBN-13: 978-0595280919
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,919,909 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars delightful otherworldly urban noir, December 20, 2003

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Duplicity (Paperback)

In New York City, Carlos ekes out a below sustenance living as a psychic detective. Though he knows that present day clients pays the bills, Carlos prefers mysteries of the darkened past. So when he read a strange missive on a blackboard, Carlos decides to use his psychic friends starting with Joe Davidson to make contact with Judge Crater, who vanished in the 1930s.

Carlos and friends make contact, but the Judge is not a friendly ghost and is a bit upset by being disturbed. Crater informs Carlos that he will find out the truth of what happened to him, but will also be punished by what he learns. Though concerned because he understands the strength of the other side, Carols begins investigating the life of Judge Joseph Crater before he disappeared. The judge lived a life filled with violence, suffered dual personality disorder and appears to have been the victim of a psychic murder that might end in the present with a second homicide from the afterlife; the target being Carlos.

DUPLICITY is an entertaining tale starring several delightfully way out characters, especially the hero and his trio of psychic pals. Everyone wants a Joe passing a stock market tip to them (adds realistic sense to ESP). The story line is fun to follow as it blends an otherworldly scenario with an urban legend inside a noir. The use of Judge Crater who ranks with Jimmy Hoffa for vanishing acts adds a sense of reality to the plot. Though Carlos' motive to conduct the inquiries seems weird even for a weirdo like him, fans of paranormal mysteries will enjoy the DUPLICITY of life and afterlife that this tale so delightfully provides its audience.

Harriet Klausner

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A pageturner detective story filled with colorful psychics, December 17, 2003

By 

Stephen O. Murray "Stephen O. Murray" (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Duplicity (Paperback)

DUPLICITY is the kind of mystery novel that might have resulted from a collaboration between E. L. Doctorow, Stephen King, and Charles Bukowski-with a bit too much King and not enough Doctorow for my own tastes.

The book is easier to surrender to if one believes some psychics are legitimate and in ghostly possession, but I was able to enjoy it as a story about someone who works with psychics he believes provide him at least clues (and who doesn't believe in ghosts). Carlos, the "psychic detective" narrating his investigation into a long-ago disappearance does not claim to have psychic powers and acknowledges that most psychics are fakes, but has consistently gained insights from a few. The three he involves in his quest for New York Supreme Court Justice Joseph Force Crater, who disappeared during the 1930s, are the novel's most interesting characters.

The novel is a page-turner and fits into the detective genre in having a knight-errant drop-out from the conventional world glimpsing a lot of official corruption. The voice of the 1930s judge does not ring quite true to me, but my primary frustration is with Carlos's motivation to stir this particular congealed murk and the puzzling lack of following through to the fruits of his search.