+In the Still of the Night is the sequel to David Lynn Golemon's acclaimed haunted house novel, The Supernaturals. This time Professor Gabriel Kennedy's team is investigating not a haunted house, but a haunted town, and the despicable President of the United States the town wants back.

In the prologue we learn what President Dean Hadley's scheming wife, Catherine Hadley, finds out about a World War II mission her late father-in-law, Colonel Robert Hadley, was in: 'Operation Necromancer'. It's bad enough to fuel all sorts of experienced ghost story readers' suspicions and speculations about what will be going on in the near-ghost town of Moreno, California in the rest of the book. We don't even have to wait for the first chapter for the present-day horrors to start. Most of the famous persons, places and movies etc. listed in the chapter mentions are being used as nicknames or comparisons. The old songs mentioned are usually being played as the characters listen.

NOTES:

Prologue:

a. If you want to read a not-at-all-reverent book about the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), I recommend You're Stepping on my Cloak and Dagger by Roger Hall.

b. A factory explosion in 1962 doomed Moreno. A female reporter isn't having much luck interviewing Harvey Leach.
Mentions: Mayberry and Don Knotts, Goober ('The Andy Griffith Show'), Haight-Ashbury, the Grateful Dead, Lon Chaney Jr. and the original Wolf Man, 'The Sands of Iwo Jima" with John Wayne, Vladimir Putin, Assad of Syria, Kim Jong-un of North Korea

PART I:

Chapter 1: The Supernaturals are being sued and most have been hiding. Among other things, we find out what Leonard did with the millions of dollars he took from a law firm's Cayman Islands tax haven. The reason the last three were caught is a head shaker.
Mentions: Sitting Bull, Al Queda, and ISIS.

Chapter 2: More trouble at the Grenada theater and the White House.
Mentions: Tommy James and the Shondells, ZZ Top, and Janis Joplin

Chapter 3:

a. Kelly's 'Hunters of the Paranormal' show is still on the air after what happened in the first book, but it has new hosts and producers.

b. Ontario, California is meant, not the Canadian province.

c. One of Moreno's ghosts puts in an appearance
Mentions: Sherlock Holmes, Tet Offensive in 1968 (Vietnam War), 'California Dreamin' ' by the Mamas and the Papas, California Angels (baseball), and 'Runaround Sue' by Dion DiMucci

Chapter 4:

a. The Supernaturals have a new client.

b. The real name of 'Drunk Monk's Hill' road is given. There's something strange in the old winery, it's not just the battery-powered record player.

c. Supporting character Casper Worthington shows up. Because part of this book is set in California, I can't help but wonder if he was named for the late car dealer whose commercials at one time began with, 'Here's Cal Worthington and his dog Spot!' (Spot was never a dog).
Mention: 'Johnny Angel' by Shelley Fabares

Chapter 5: Not even the supposed safe house in Virginia is safe.
Mentions: 'Teen Angel' by Mark Dinning, 'Rock Around the Clock' by Bill Haley and His Comets (sorry, I don't know the first reference), and "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" by Neil Sedaka.

PART II:

Chapter 6:

a. The Supernaturals are given a ride in a U.H-60 Black Hawk helicopter. Mrs. Hadley makes her money offer for their help.

b. The ghost of Bobby Lee McKinnon is back, if he ever left. 'Bobby Lee and Spotlights are requested to sing 'Beyond the Sea'. This novel credits Bobby Lee as having co-written and scored the song. (The real life composers were Jack Lawrence and Charles Trenet.)
Mentions: 'Everyday' by Buddy Holly, 'Beyond the Sea' by Bobby Darin

Chapter 7:

a. The last of the families leave Moreno. Harvey Leach and Bob and Linda Culbertson are the last inhabitants.

b. This attack in Virginia results in a special death.

c. We get some background information on Dean Hadley's money and his father. Dean was a green beret in the Vietnam War.
Mentions: Dr. Schweizter, Chief Red Cloud, [Joseph] McCarthy, and the Crypt Kicker Five from 'The Monster Mash' by Bobby 'Boris' Pickett

Chapter 8:

a. Leonard has found information about Sacramento Security.

b. There's a nasty scene in the morgue.

c. Bob, Linda, and Harvey chat about the old days in Moreno before Newberry's Department Store gets weird.
Mentions: Some lines from 'The Monster Mash' and one from 'My Boyfriend's Back and You're Gonna be in Trouble' sung by the Angels (1963).

Chapter 9:

a. Hadley is to be transferred to Ringwald Clinic in New Hampshire.

b. Leonard's research has brought up Moreno.
Mentions: the OSS became the CIA

Chapter 10:

a. John Lonetree dreamwalks.

b. We meet Gloria Perry and Jimmy Weller
Mentions: 201 files (military) and Mr. Spock from the original 'Star Trek'

Chapter 11:

a. Moreno was founded on Halloween. Before it was incorporated in 1947, it had been the Alfred Moreno mining concern, named for a Mexican cowboy from the days of the old West.

b. Alfred McDonald, engineer, one of Robert Hadley's OSS team worked in Moreno. Leonard comes across Operation Caged in his searching.
Mentions: Cryin' in the Rain by the Everly Brothers and [Alfred] Hitchcock.

Chapter 12:

a. An unusual dreamwalk takes place.

b. Leonard's grandmother used lavender scent.

c. Gloria Perry sings 'Breaking Up is Hard to Do'.

d. Mrs. Hadley gives the Supernaturals a box.
Mentions: Kansas and Toto, the Ottoman Empire, President Kennedy, Nikita [Khrushchev], Richie Rich, and Howard Hughes.

Chapter 13:

a. Lonetree goes in for yet another dreamwalk.

b. Gloria was probably wearing a poodle skirt. (As for Catholic plaid skirts, my Catholic HS winter uniform skirt was plaid in 1969-1970.)

c. Gloria makes new friends in the winery. She does something Dr. Fromm hasn't been able to do since 1952.

d. Something happens that has Damien take up smoking again.
Mentions: the Super Bowl, the World Series, President Eisenhower, the 1959-1964 'The Twilight Zone' and host Rod Serling, 'Wagon Train,' 'Dragnet', 'Wanted: Dead or Alive', a line or two from the song, 'It's All in the Game,' Bobby Vee, and Roy Orbison

PART III

Chapter 14:

a. There is a momentous mudslide.

b. The Supernaturals and Dean Hadley (not to mention a lot of Secret Service men) are in Moreno.

c. Julie recalls when Damien shot an entire clip at something not human during the Summer Place investigation.

d. Bobby Lee talks about when he knew Freekin' Rowdy Rhoades.

e. We learn a few things about Dean Hadley when he was a 2nd Lt. in Vietnam.
Mentions: President Nixon, 'Sea of Heartbreak' sung by Don Gibson, 'Moody River' sung by Pat Boone, music payola scandal, and Alan Freed.

Chapter 15:

a. Gabriel suspects that Catherine Hadley hates her husband and why Dean makes her mad.

b. Harvey tells them all of the business owners in Moreno served under Robert Hadley during World War II. The Red Goose Shoe Store that was seen a dreamwalk had been owned by Staff Sergeant Jerry Jenks, for example. Harvey tells them how the old vault from the Moreno Savings and Loan was moved to the basement of the Grenada Theater when Robert Hadley's First National Bank of Moreno got a new vault. Leach also tells how Frank Perry died.

c. The stairs at the old Winery have changed, and not for the better.
Mentions: the original 'Psycho' movie with Janet Leigh, King Kong, Injun Joe, and Laurel and Hardy,

Chapter 16:

a. Harvey Leach takes a dreamwalk.

b. The three bullies who were Dean Hadley's pals in 1962 demonstrate what jerks they are.

c. 1962 Dean Hadley thought Dr. Jürgen Fromm looked like Peter Lorre. He finds one of the bad doctor's journals. (Casper's mom was German.)
Mentions: the Zodiac killer, Patsy Cline, Dee Clark, a couple of lines from 'Raindrops,' a song Dee Clark sang, Black Sambo, Sam Cooke, Chuck Berry, 'The Wizard of Oz,' 'I Can't Stop Loving You' sung by Ray Charles, Peter Lorre,

Chapter 17:

a. Another scary scene, another death.

b. Harvey Leach's mother was German, too.
Mentions: J. Edgar [Hoover], the Vietcong, the Ia Drang Valley, Ritchie Valens, [President Ronald] Regan, and Serpico.

Chapter 18: a. The horrific incident took only three minutes.
b. On p. 264 of the first edition, Haskins tells the Supernaturals that unofficially, they moved Hadley out an hour ago. On p. 265, he says the president has to be moved. Huh?
Mention: 'I Fall to Pieces" sung by Patsy Cline

Chapter 19: -Casper Worthington, whose father was the second shift foreman at the plant above Moreno asks a very good question.
Mentions: McDonnell Douglas, Hughes Aircraft, Lockheed, and 'Doctor Who'.

Chapter 20: Dean Hadley is on the move and John Lonetree is dreamwalking again.
Mentions: Royal Crown Cola, 'American Idol', a few lines from 'Tears on My Pillow,' sung by Little Anthony and the Imperials.' Donna Reed, and boxer [Rocky] Marciano

Chapter 21:

a. There are children on Moreno's main street this dark and stormy Halloween night -- children Harvey and Casper have seen before, but not remembered until now.

b. Lonetree is having a split dreamwalk. Gloria first visited the vault in 1958, when she was 12.

c. We learn why mercury was used.
Mentions: Quick Draw [McGraw], three Vincent Price horror films: 'The Tingler,' "The House on Haunted Hill,' & 'The House of Wax,' Troy Donahue, Kookie Byrnes, Fabian, Nancy Drew, the Boris Karloff 'Frankenstein' movie, Alley Oop, 'Can't Help Falling in Love' sung by Elvis, Liberty Valance -- probably referring to the film, depending on when in 1962 the song was released - both were titled 'The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,'

Chapter 22: Damian mentally compares what they're facing now to Summer Place. Summer Place is losing out. Things are ramping up,
Mentions: 'Children of the Corn', the invasion of Saipan, Anthony Perkins, 'Rebel Without a Cause,' 'Forbidden Planet,' 'Puppy Love' sung by Paul Anka, and Frankie [Avalon] & Annette [Funicello] beach movies

Chapter 23: Damian makes a joke(?) about the old 'It was a dark and stormy night' line as he and Gabriel head for the theater.
Mentions: Edgar Allan Poe {in a way that suggests the character believes the lies Griswold told about him in his biography), the Creature From the Black Lagoon, Black Bart,' John Wayne and his film, 'Hatari!', and Connie Francis.

Chapter 24: We find out the truth about what happened to Moreno before.
Mentions: ' 'Come into my parlor,' said the spider to the fly.' 'In the Still of the Night' song, there are a couple of lines from 'Sea Cruise' sung by Frankie Ford, [Dean] Martin and [Jerry] Lewis, William Castle theater tricks during showings of his horror movies, including the first two titles the Grenada planned to show, Steve McQueen, 'The Blob' (1958), Huntley and Brinkley (the newscasters), the Cold War, NASA, Wednesday Addams,

Chapter 25: The Niles Compton mentioned by Gabriel Kennedy is a character from Mr. Goleman's Event Group series.
Mention: An old intermission cartoon for movies, which you may see at YouTube if you look under 'Let's All go to the Lobby! Intermission Bumper',

Epilogue: What I hoped would happen to Catherine Hadley didn't happen, but I'll settle for what did. As for the last two pages, I am satisfied.
Mention: 'Heart and Soul' sung by the Cleftones.

When I read The Supernaturals, I thought this was going to be an ongoing series, not a book and its sequel. The ending is left open for a third book should the author ever want to write one, but I think it would be hard for him to top this haunted town story. I want to reread the first book because this seems much worse in terms of the horror. I also have a sneaking suspicion that, given when this book came out and the type of person President Dean Hadley is, there's some wish fulfillment going on. I won't say that if a character appears on the page for the first time, that character will always be dead before the book -- or even just the chapter -- is over, but I wouldn't get attached. I feel a little sorry for some characters who didn't even get a name before their very unpleasant deaths.

I enjoyed the lines from songs of my childhood opening each part of the book. If you enjoy ghost stories with more than a small or modest number of gruesome deaths, this is definitely the book for you. In fact, if you love kaiju (Japanese giant movie monsters such as Godzilla/Gojira) movies where humans, including the military, police, and government agents, are absolutely helpless during the rampaging creature scenes, you'll probably love this book.

DOG LOVERS might well enjoy Casper Worthington's brave little Yorkie, P*ckerwood. ( )

I read the first book in the series...[The Supernaturals]...and found it to be one of the best haunted house stories that I had ever read. The way the book ended though I wasn't sure that it was meant to be a series so when [Supernaturals II: In the Still of the Night] came out I was overjoyed to say the least. All the team with all their "ghost hunting talents" were back together...but they didn't have quiet the same pizzazz that the first book had. This one is sometimes a little hard to follow but the story in itself in intriguing. Anyone that craves haunted house and ghost stories as I do will be thrilled with this offering. I do sincerely hope there will be a third one. ( )