Who Likes Ghost Stories?
My kids loved Halloween. I didn’t. Nights were usually cold, sometimes rainy. The kids wanted to start early and finish late. Instead of a cute plastic pumpkin for their candy, they took pillowcases—more room for their haul. Candy—in many shapes and forms—were strewn on the floor afterward while they picked out the “good stuff.” Sometimes they ate too much candy and…you know.
But one thing we all loved was a good ghost story.
Years ago I wrote a book called Ghosts and Legends of San Juan Capistrano, my second non-fiction book. Research was fun. Being raised in the fifth oldest town in California helped because I had relatives who’d grown up with wonderful stories about devil dogs, white ladies, headless monks and weeping women who wandered the banks of the river.
Not all the ghost stories in my book related to the distant past. One story was about a woman who lived in a modern housing development, but who insisted she had a malicious poltergeist. When I confessed to a walking-tour group I had never seen a ghost, but many people believed in them, a woman on the tour raised her hand and said, “The story’s true. I’m the one with the poltergeist.”
If you’d like to listen to these stories you can now. The audiobook is available with a terrific narrator for just $6.08. Here’s the link:
My Books Are Back on Amazon
All eleven of my historical novels are back up on Amazon. The reviews and ratings are not yet there but old copies of the print books still have them attached and they are also available on Goodreads. Soon they will be on Draft2Digital with the intent of making them available to libraries. So good things are happening. The contemporaries never left and can still be purchased from Barnes and Noble, Apple, and Kobo.
My Latest Christmas Novella
Lily’s Scandalous Secret is a Christmas novella that spins off from the Scandal series. It tells the story of Lily Whittington, Emily Sinclair’s aunt, who first appears in Scandal’s Promise. Here’s the description:
For years widowed artist Lily Whittington has hidden herself away, reluctant to socialize because of a scandalous secret in her past. When her niece persuades her to come to London, she reluctantly agrees only to find herself wooed by Alastair Kinkade, a man she once promised to marry, but reluctantly discarded.
Lily’s instinct is to flee, even when her heart implores her to stay. But it soon will be Christmas, the season of joy and forgiveness, and if she stays the magic of the Mistletoe Ball just might lead to a second chance at love.
Now a stand-alone, this novella first appeared in The Grand Mistletoe Assembly, a Christmas anthology. Here is the link: