{"id":3735,"date":"2026-10-11T17:44:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-11T17:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/garisonfitch.com\/?p=3735"},"modified":"2026-11-11T01:18:14","modified_gmt":"2026-11-11T01:18:14","slug":"ghosts-of-families-past","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/garisonfitch.com\/?p=3735","title":{"rendered":"Ghosts of Families Past"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

a Bat Garrett mystery – book 8<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bat Garrett becomes a mail carrier because regular pay and maternity insurance are useful when one\u2019s wife is expecting a baby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then a trading post explodes as he arrives to deliver its mail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jody recognizes the presumed victims as the people who once kidnapped her, replaced her identity, and disappeared. Bat wants proof they died in the fire. Jody initially wants distance from the subject.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trail gives neither of them what they want: a stolen car, an empty house, erased records, bodies without reliable identities, and a locket belonging to somebody\u2019s family. Whatever happened at the trading post, Jody\u2019s past has reached Flagstaff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Available now on Kindle<\/a> and in paperback<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read a Sample Chapter<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bat Garrett happens to be on hand when the Native Sun Trading Post blows up. Two bodies are found in the rubble, presumed to be the owners of the trading post. But Jody has seen them before. Jody knows that, if there\u2019s anyone in the world with motive to want the two shop-owners dead \u2026 it\u2019s her.
\nYears before, Jody was kidnapped and brainwashed to think she was the child of Robert and Helen Alexander. When Bat discovered her and rescued her, the Alexanders disappeared. Most assumed them dead, but Jody was never sure. Now, to find out that they had been living near her has Jody rattled. She, with Bat\u2019s help, has to find out just why the Alexanders have stayed so close to the one person who had the most reason to hate them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4103,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1997,1998],"tags":[2050,2038,1567,1075,2051,2052,1327,1277,1058],"class_list":["post-3735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-detective","category-mystery","tag-arizona","tag-batandjodymystery","tag-batgarrett","tag-fiction","tag-flagstaff","tag-jodygarrett","tag-murder","tag-mystery","tag-samuelbenwhite-2"],"yoast_head":"\nGhosts of Families Past - the Bat Garrett mysteries<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Jody Garrett knows that there is one person with a motive to have murdered the two people just found dead: her.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/garisonfitch.com\/?p=3735\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ghosts of Families Past - the Bat Garrett mysteries\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Jody Garrett knows that there is one person with a motive to have murdered the two people just found dead: her.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/garisonfitch.com\/?p=3735\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"the Bat Garrett mysteries\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-10-11T17:44:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-11-11T01:18:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/garisonfitch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Ghosts-of-Families-Past-600.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"samwhi371\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"samwhi371\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garisonfitch.com\\\/?p=3735#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garisonfitch.com\\\/?p=3735\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"samwhi371\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garisonfitch.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/07e2191f0ee4a8f05e16936d655346f1\"},\"headline\":\"Ghosts of Families Past\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-10-11T17:44:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-11-11T01:18:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garisonfitch.com\\\/?p=3735\"},\"wordCount\":128,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garisonfitch.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garisonfitch.com\\\/?p=3735#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garisonfitch.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/10\\\/Ghosts-of-Families-Past-600.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"#Arizona\",\"#BatAndJodyMystery\",\"#batgarrett\",\"#fiction\",\"#Flagstaff\",\"#JodyGarrett\",\"#murder\",\"#mystery\",\"#SamuelBenWhite\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Detective\",\"Mystery\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garisonfitch.com\\\/?p=3735\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garisonfitch.com\\\/?p=3735\",\"name\":\"Ghosts of Families Past - the Bat Garrett mysteries\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garisonfitch.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garisonfitch.com\\\/?p=3735#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garisonfitch.com\\\/?p=3735#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garisonfitch.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/10\\\/Ghosts-of-Families-Past-600.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-10-11T17:44:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-11-11T01:18:14+00:00\",\"description\":\"Jody Garrett knows that there is one person with a motive to have murdered the two people just found dead: her.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/garisonfitch.com\\\/?p=3735\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garisonfitch.com\\\/?p=3735#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garisonfitch.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/10\\\/Ghosts-of-Families-Past-600.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garisonfitch.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/10\\\/Ghosts-of-Families-Past-600.jpg\",\"width\":400,\"height\":600,\"caption\":\"A new life, a new baby on the way, and a ghost from the past.\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garisonfitch.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garisonfitch.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"the Bat Garrett mysteries\",\"description\":\"Is the hunter actually the hunted? Read a sample now!\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garisonfitch.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garisonfitch.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garisonfitch.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"the Bat Garrett mysteries\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garisonfitch.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garisonfitch.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garisonfitch.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/11\\\/cropped-The-Firebird.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garisonfitch.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/11\\\/cropped-The-Firebird.jpg\",\"width\":250,\"height\":250,\"caption\":\"the Bat Garrett mysteries\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garisonfitch.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garisonfitch.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/07e2191f0ee4a8f05e16936d655346f1\",\"name\":\"samwhi371\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/8dfdc678e94cff17d1c3ee1878149f092a6ad39fe6f2f4093dfaa2e054710d4c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/8dfdc678e94cff17d1c3ee1878149f092a6ad39fe6f2f4093dfaa2e054710d4c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/8dfdc678e94cff17d1c3ee1878149f092a6ad39fe6f2f4093dfaa2e054710d4c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"samwhi371\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garisonfitch.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ghosts of Families Past - the Bat Garrett mysteries","description":"Jody Garrett knows that there is one person with a motive to have murdered the two people just found dead: her.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/garisonfitch.com\/?p=3735","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ghosts of Families Past - the Bat Garrett mysteries","og_description":"Jody Garrett knows that there is one person with a motive to have murdered the two people just found dead: her.","og_url":"https:\/\/garisonfitch.com\/?p=3735","og_site_name":"the Bat Garrett mysteries","article_published_time":"2026-10-11T17:44:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-11-11T01:18:14+00:00","og_image":[{"width":400,"height":600,"url":"https:\/\/garisonfitch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Ghosts-of-Families-Past-600.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"samwhi371","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"samwhi371","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/garisonfitch.com\/?p=3735#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/garisonfitch.com\/?p=3735"},"author":{"name":"samwhi371","@id":"https:\/\/garisonfitch.com\/#\/schema\/person\/07e2191f0ee4a8f05e16936d655346f1"},"headline":"Ghosts of Families Past","datePublished":"2026-10-11T17:44:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-11-11T01:18:14+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/garisonfitch.com\/?p=3735"},"wordCount":128,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/garisonfitch.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/garisonfitch.com\/?p=3735#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/garisonfitch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Ghosts-of-Families-Past-600.jpg","keywords":["#Arizona","#BatAndJodyMystery","#batgarrett","#fiction","#Flagstaff","#JodyGarrett","#murder","#mystery","#SamuelBenWhite"],"articleSection":["Detective","Mystery"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/garisonfitch.com\/?p=3735","url":"https:\/\/garisonfitch.com\/?p=3735","name":"Ghosts of Families Past - the Bat Garrett mysteries","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/garisonfitch.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/garisonfitch.com\/?p=3735#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/garisonfitch.com\/?p=3735#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/garisonfitch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Ghosts-of-Families-Past-600.jpg","datePublished":"2026-10-11T17:44:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-11-11T01:18:14+00:00","description":"Jody Garrett knows that there is one person with a motive to have murdered the two people just found dead: her.","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/garisonfitch.com\/?p=3735"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/garisonfitch.com\/?p=3735#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/garisonfitch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Ghosts-of-Families-Past-600.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/garisonfitch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Ghosts-of-Families-Past-600.jpg","width":400,"height":600,"caption":"A new life, a new baby on the way, and a ghost from the past."},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/garisonfitch.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/garisonfitch.com\/","name":"the Bat Garrett mysteries","description":"Is the hunter actually the hunted? Read a sample now!","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/garisonfitch.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/garisonfitch.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/garisonfitch.com\/#organization","name":"the Bat Garrett mysteries","url":"https:\/\/garisonfitch.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/garisonfitch.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/garisonfitch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/cropped-The-Firebird.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/garisonfitch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/cropped-The-Firebird.jpg","width":250,"height":250,"caption":"the Bat Garrett mysteries"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/garisonfitch.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/garisonfitch.com\/#\/schema\/person\/07e2191f0ee4a8f05e16936d655346f1","name":"samwhi371","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8dfdc678e94cff17d1c3ee1878149f092a6ad39fe6f2f4093dfaa2e054710d4c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8dfdc678e94cff17d1c3ee1878149f092a6ad39fe6f2f4093dfaa2e054710d4c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8dfdc678e94cff17d1c3ee1878149f092a6ad39fe6f2f4093dfaa2e054710d4c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"samwhi371"},"url":"https:\/\/garisonfitch.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/garisonfitch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/garisonfitch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/garisonfitch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garisonfitch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garisonfitch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3735"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/garisonfitch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3735\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4133,"href":"https:\/\/garisonfitch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3735\/revisions\/4133"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garisonfitch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/garisonfitch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garisonfitch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garisonfitch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}