Monster in the Dark - Who will be the next victim?

 To my delight readers often tell me that the paranormal events in my stories sometimes creep them out because the events seem so real; and I’m asked how I accomplish the realism. The answer is neither easy nor difficult. You see, my grandmother was a seer. Yeah, I know, it’s weird. However, she always said that her abilities were a curse and not a gift, and she never wanted any of her children or grandchildren to inherit this empathic ability. So, none of her grandchildren were allowed to have Ouija boards, tarot cards, or a Magic 8 Ball; and we were always cautioned to not ever visit fortune tellers.

Honestly, I never intended to write paranormal or scary stories; it seems to come naturally. Perhaps, a large part of this type story telling stems from my childhood.

As a child, I was considered a “little different,” so books became my best friend. My most favorite stories were fairytales with villains and villainess such as in Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Hansel and Gretel, to name a few. 

“Monster in the Dark” book #4 in my Doc Holliday Mystery Series was inspired by such fairy tale monsters. Please enjoy this excerpt from Monster in the Dark.

As one reviewer said, "A dark mystery that grabs you from the beginning and doesn't let go."

Available in Print and Ebook

At first, I thought it was a mannequin. You know, like the ones used in store windows. There was no blood. She was sitting in a chair with her back toward us. The room reminded me of a scene from a horror movie.

Dad said, “Mrs. Gardner?”

I thought about the time I’d been on the movie set of Lights…Camera…Murder where the stunt man was killed, but in this act, there were no supporting actors. In the distance, a dog barked, and there was no movie director to call “Cut!”

I swallowed the bile rising in my throat. The beats of my heart echoed inside my ears. I eased around the table. Oh, God! She was real. She was once…like flesh and blood and bone…just…oh, God! The woman I had thought was a mannequin was a corpse.

It was only the extreme brutality of her death that made her appear as if she were not, as if she was some creation of the most brilliant and lurid mind working in a Hollywood special effects studio.

A heavyset woman, clad in an old-fashioned granny dress, her wrists and ankles wrapped with silver duct tape, securely bound to the chair’s arms and legs, and with a double strip of tape that sealed her mouth shut, stared vacant-eyed at an empty soup bowl.

Dad gasped against the offensive smell. “Which fairy tale character is she supposed to be, Tullah, and how long do you think she’s been dead?”

Monster in the Dark is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iTunes, Kobo, Apple

https://www.amazon.com/Monster-Dark-Doc-Holliday-Mystery/dp/1509250476

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HAPPY READING!