Writing Ghosts of Days Gone By: When Keegan Stands Alone


Writing Ghosts of Days Gone By: When Keegan Stands Alone

I am editing the next Keegan novel, and one that sets up the logical end of the series. That's tough for me, as Keegan's been around as long as I have been writing, and change can be difficult. Plus, I want to make sure the setup works here, as the next books rely on it. 

While reading through it, I see the struggle Keegan has with change as well. He hasn't lost anything yet, but I know what's coming, and just his temporary separation from Pauline screams as wrong, even if it is necessary. When you're with someone that means so much to you, time away feels like the loss of a limb, a misplacing of something so important, you walk around in circles in the same room desperately trying to track it down. 

Keegan faces this as tensions in the NYPD bear on him. He has a television show that's doing well and his last case brought way too much attention. There comes a time in every detective’s career when they look around and realize there’s no one left to watch their back. For John Keegan, Ghosts of Days Gone By is that moment.

Keegan has always been the kind of detective who thrives in the chaos of New York City, but this time, he’s truly on his own. Pauline, his wife and partner in more ways than one, has taken a step away—from the job, from him, from their life together. The silence she leaves behind is deafening, and Keegan, naturally, fills it the only way he knows how: with work.

But this case isn’t just another murder. It’s a déjà vu nightmare, dragging Keegan back into the shadows of a case that nearly broke him fifteen years ago. A young woman, found dead in Central Park, a crime scene that feels all too familiar. The past is clawing its way back into the present, and Keegan, despite all his experience, is making mistakes. Big ones. Without his center point, Pauline, Keegan spirals.



The Spotlight Burns

Just when he thinks things can’t get worse, the media turns him into a sensation. John Keegan, NYPD’s most controversial detective, front and center. He took down a corrupt mayor and some cronies along with her. Most of the city sees him as a hero, but many in the NYPD want him gone. He gets the nickname 'Keegan the Destroyer' and all eyes watch his every move. It would be amusing if it wasn’t so damn infuriating. And to make matters worse, the person leading the media circus? His ex.

Elena Moreno, the one who got away—or maybe the one he pushed away—has returned to New York, microphone in hand, ready to dig into his case, his reputation, and his personal life. The city loves a scandal, and Keegan, already spiraling from his failing marriage and a murder case pulling him into the past, is one wrong move away from handing them one.

The Choice That Changes Everything

Then comes the offer. A lifeline? A death sentence? Maybe both. The mayor, his distant cousin, wants to put Keegan behind a desk—high-ranking, powerful, but off the streets. It’s the kind of job most detectives would kill for. It’s also the kind of job that would end Keegan’s career as an investigator.

Keegan’s never been one to play it safe. But with every move he makes being scrutinized, and his own department ready to cut him loose if he steps out of line, he’s left with a choice: take the job and walk away, or fight the system that’s been waiting for him to slip.

If you know Keegan, you know how well he handles being backed into a corner. Which is to say… terribly. When the commissioner, jealous of Keegan's successful television show, fires his close friend Jacob, Keegan goes off the rails, and his two best friends in the department, Karl Lavin and Arianna Nunez, cannot get him back on track.

Ghosts of Days Gone By is one of the most personal Keegan books I’ve written. It’s about what happens when a man loses his center and has to find his way back—if he can. It’s about unfinished business, past sins, and the weight of decisions made long ago. And it’s about a detective who refuses to go quietly.

Preorder now and join Keegan as he takes on the ghosts of his past—and his future.

[ PREORDER NOW ]

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