Sandra Tooley says she was afraid of everything when she was young. Even the movie "The Wizard of Oz" gave her nightmares.

Now, Tooley, the author of nine books including the just released "Chasing Ghosts," the fourth in her Chase Dagger mystery-fantasy series that she writes under the nom de plume of Lee Driver, works at scaring us.

"As a child I liked the mysteries of Nancy Drew," says Tooley who lives in Highland but grew up in Hegewisch.

"Now I like to combine that with Stephen King and Dean Koontz. As for the Lee Driver books, I think of that as Rambo and MacGyver meet 'Dark Angel,' which is one of my favorite TV shows."

Tooley does like to mix it up. Writing under her own name, she also writes the Sam Casey series such as "Echoes from the Grave" as well as the Remy and Roadkill mysteries for young adults.

Her Sam Casey hero is a cop who hears the dead speak ("think medium with a Native American twist" is Tooley's description on her Web site), while Remy and Roadkill are about two young detectives who solve mysteries in a fictional suburb patterned after Plymouth, Ind.

"Remy and Roadkill are the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew mixed with 'CSI,' " Tooley says.

Tooley has always been interested in writing.

"I remember as a kid writing screenplays for my favorite TV shows," she says.

"I wrote two screenplays for 'Moonlighting' that never saw the light of day, but I learned how to create a hook that got people interested."

FYI: "Chasing Ghosts" by Sandra Tooley writing as Lee Driver (Full Moon Publishing LLC)