Catching up after the Thriller on the Beach contest and on to 2019. Cozy Mysteries!
Thank you for receiving these musings,
some philosophical, some mystical, some maybe even a-musing.
**Special Note**
A February Give-Away (for Sharing Your Fave Cozy and/or Mystery Series)
Good Day, Everyone!
Last year, from April 15 – May 15, 2018, Lori L. Robinett coordinated a contest for mystery and thriller readers. There were ten of us writers who donated an e-copy of one of our books in addition to three of Amazon's bestsellers in Mystery, Thriller and Suspense and a terrific Kindle Paperwhite to take to the beach. It was a great contest for readers and helpful promotion for the writers.
As I send out these "Musings" to my list, I want to mention again that those emails that I received in the contest are valued greatly by me. I hope all who receive this newsletter (as you may notice, my newsletter is very infrequent :-) ) will opt to stay with me as I continue on my writer's path.
2019 HAS to be good, because...
Cast in Stone: The Secret of New Moon Mesa, the sequel to Blood Stones, has new hope for publication.
Sammy Peel's story in book two is coming into focus and the supernatural elements in the book are beginning to blend into the off-world aspect of the mystery of the canyon. *Please see a supernatural excerpt from Cast in Stone below.
In the meantime, in-between time, I embarked on a very different mystery genre -
The Cozy!
The Nora Pigeon Mysteries was published in November.
What Makes a Murder Mystery Fun? What makes a Whodunit Cozy?
Well, as it turns out, there are many elements of a cozy mystery that make it - cozy.
Check out my latest Musings for the complete list:
In my opinion, the most important MUST HAVE on the list in the above is "An amateur sleuth" and "A quirky supporting cast."
Happy to say, Nora Pigeon is the amateur with intuitive, psychic abilities and the quirky supporting cast is a crew of human and canine friends that help and hinder her along.
There are three stories in this first anthology that introduce the characters and Nora's use of those "ancient methods of inquiry" to
unravel the mysteries.
Blue Moon Blues
The Doused Witch
The Rune of Her
The Nora Pigeon Mysteries
is available on Amazon
The series will continue with
an upcoming novella:
A Most Curious Conundrum in Cricket Hollow
A February Give-Away
Do you have a favorite Cozy Series -
Or Mystery Series?
Books and TV Series included!
Reply in Comments below and I'll make a random choice to send a copy of The Nora Pigeon Mysteries (ebook or paperback) and either a Panera Gift Card so the winner can enjoy a cuppa and a scone in the spirit of Nora's and her partner, Frannie's favorite tea-time respite, OR a Starbuck's card. (Starbucks has little scones that come in threes. They're more like donuts, so I call them Sconuts. YUM!)
A Supernatural Excerpt:
Visit again the haunted
“Canyon that Sees the Sun” in Book 2,
Cast in Stone: The Secret of New Moon Mesa.
Sammy Peel braves "the curse"of Sunset Canyon to search for his aunt. He enters the mysterious red rock landscape on the night of a super new moon called the Ghost Moon.
This moon is seen only four times a century on the Vernal Equinox and possesses a powerful magic for one who haunts the canyon.
- The Day of the Rescue
Sammy came to, face down, on a cold, gritty surface.
He stirred, took a breath then coughed out sand and dirt. He opened his eyes a slit and blinked several times. The same grit was in his eyes. Nothing came into focus. He only knew it was cold, damp, and dark.
And water trickled somewhere in the distance.
A shift of his arm delivered a shooting pain from shoulder to hand. He moaned out a hoarse whisper, “Where am I? What's going on?”
He pushed against stiff muscles to get to his hands and knees then sat back on his heels. He couldn’t catch his breath. He spit and tried to rub his eyes which scraped a film of dirt across his lids and did little to help his vision. He turned his head side to side and squinted into a dim, red-hued gloom until he made out the murky dimensions of a cavern.
Yeah, we were in a cave…right?
But why? He looked down at his jacket and jeans and noticed they were torn. He ran a hand over his stomach. God, it hurt like he’d been sucker-punched. “What the hell? Where is everyone?”
The only thing he remembered was walking behind Alan. Aunt Darcy followed a little ways back with that Indian woman. Yeah, that shaman, Moon Cloud, who said she knew where Aunt Dea was. There was something wrong about her. Alan didn’t like her. She told Alan to give her that old leather-bound book.
Shit! She’d tried to get it from him, then…something happened. What was it?
Blowing out a shallow breath, he forced his body to stand. Nausea gripped his sore stomach and bile rose in his throat. He swallowed it down and stumbled forward before leaning over and putting his hands on his knees. “Something about that book. About Alan, and…?”
No answers came to him, but a dark image played in his mind just beyond the reach of memory. A black mist swirling. Voices at the end of a tunnel.
Shivering, but less nauseous, Sammy adjusted his backpack, and turned up the collar of his jacket. The cave was coming into better focus. A thin sheet of water flowed down the face of the stone wall to his left and the strong scent of wet earth and ancient crumbling rock hung heavy in the still air. Another odor became noticeable. Ozone.
At the far end of the cave something moved. A shadow shifted, then a flash of a reflection. A dark, haloed shape resolved out of the dull light. He walked forward, tripped over the uneven floor but stayed upright. “Alan? Aunt Darce?
No answer.
The pungent odor of ozone grew stronger and scalded the inside of his nose. He grimaced, squeezed his eyes shut and put his head in his hands. Then bang. Everything that had happened before tumbled into his mind like a landslide of hard, terrorizing moments.
His body started to shake. He drew in a shallow breath and looked back at the shadowy form which now floated, black, round and rimmed in light like a solar-eclipsing moon. It started a slow rotation. He couldn't look away. Was this the Ghost Moon, he wondered then couldn’t think why he thought now of that old legend about the spirit that comes alive when the Ghost Moon rises. And death always follows…
The moon-orb shuddered then grew, elongated and changed shape, morphing into a human form as it swept toward him until it stood only a few feet away. Long hair whipped around a face that was featureless except for the eyes. They were bright as a blue, sun-washed sky--and focused right at him. In a flash he recognized her. He knew who she was.
He’d seen her before. Long ago. At the river.
She raised her arms then reached both out to him. Shaking his head, he moved back. After a pause, she pointed a finger at him and then shifted to the side and started to write in the air.
Her movements left a bright trail of letters written against the dark like a plane traces words with smoky exhaust, except her letters quickly dissipated. Shocked, Sammy shook his head. "Wh..what was that?"
Again, the spirit wrote in the air. This time, Sammy read it.
"They are coming. You must go."
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REMEMBER TO LEAVE A COMMENT WITH THE NAME OF A FAVORITE COZY MYSTERY OR OTHER MYSTERY SERIES OR STAND-ALONE OR EVEN A TV SERIES. I'LL PASS ALONG YOUR FAVES IN THE NEXT MUSING UPDATE. THANK YOU!!!
