The Handyman (John Wright Series)

This skillful mystery introduces the redneck who speaks for the dead. John Wright is a tattooed, pickup-drivin', beer-drinkin' son of the South. He swaggers when he walks, twangs when he talks, and doesn't care what anyone thinks. And lately, he's found he can see ghosts and talk to the dead, which is a little unsettling—especially when one ghost in particular won't let him be until he unmasks the person who murdered her. Just a year ago, John was a new husband and father, a cocky young construction contractor in Charleston, working hard to build a future. Then came the terrible accident that killed his wife and infant daughter, shredding John's sanity. Now he barely makes ends meet as a handyman, struggling with posttraumatic stress, drowning his guilt in bourbon every night, planning the way he'll end his suffering permanently. When he meets an Old Charleston blueblood who suspects her daughter's apparent suicide was actually murder, the victim herself calls to John to avenge her betrayal and death. Either John's going mad or he truly can speak to the dead; and the only way he's going to find out which is to put aside his own pain and listen to the ghostly voice that will lead him to a murderer.