Cryptic drawings, maps, strange symbols. This is what twelve-year-old Mike Hilliard discovers as he investigates the long-dead, ruthless millionaire Titus Morley. As these strange symbols and drawings hover in his dreams, Mike rambles through the listless Cleveland Heights summer with Billy Hayworth, a photography intern at the Western Reserve Historical Society, where Mike's uncle, Robert "Otto" Hilliard is an historian. After his death in an 1872 refinery explosion, Titus Morley's treasure trove of rare grimoires and ancient masks disappeared. Could the drawings and maps provide clues? Mike and Billy are determined to find out. But after rambling through a nearby cemetery at midnight, Mike's confidence is shaken, Billy is not the same, and a soul-stirring horror has been awakened. A fortune in missing books and masks. A long-dead millionaire who wanted out of his body and wanted to command the dead. Bodies missing from morgues and graves. What can these things possibly mean to a boy spending the summer with his uncle?

Author Biography

Tom Hayes draws on his love for both Cleveland Heights and John Bellairs' books in his foray into gothic thrillers. Mr. Hayes also writes plays and has been produced at several local theaters in Northeast Ohio. He grew up in Ohio and lives in Cleveland Heights with his wife, daughter and son, and three cats.