Heeding the Signs Mark Hersch enjoys a busy summer in his favorite place: with his grandparents in Hartstown, Virginia. Working, saving for college, learning to drive. Getting to know his family and himself. Then one job brings a shiver of warning. Will Mark and his Papaw recognize the danger before it's too late? A Voices through Time Story Also available in the collection Stepping Out of Reality An excerpt from The Perfect Shade of Haint Blue: Learning to Heed Those Strange Warnings Mark frowned, but a quick little thrill of excitement shot through his belly. The change of pace and scenery was doing him a world of good, especially since he was considering coming right back to Virginia for college in a couple of years. But he wouldn't mind a bit of mystery and adventure to spice things up. "Did something strange happen there, Papaw? At the Hartsock place?" "Well no, I can't exactly say that. It's just... I got an uneasy twinge about you going there is all." Mark's father and everyone else in the family often talked about Papaw's twinges, and hunches, and notions, and even dreams. No one ever made much of a fuss about it that Mark could tell. But they never mentioned thinking those twinges were something it was better to ignore, either.
Gold Medalist for Paranormal Fiction in the 2021 Reader's Favorite Contest "Charleston’s favorite ghost-talking divorcée returns in Alexander’s latest supernatural mystery... A well-told, deeply felt addition to a ghostly mystery series." — Kirkus "... a highly engaging paranormal mystery filled with frolic, fun, and genuine nail-biting moments... a really fresh take on the paranormal genre, setting this novel apart from others...." — Readers' Favorite Clairvoyant single mom Tipsy Collins is easing into a post-divorce new normal. She’s solved a century-old murder mystery and brought peace to her house. She’s rebuilding her artistic career and co-parenting with her ornery ex-husband. She’s hopeful that her boyfriend is Mr. Right. Mercurial phantom Henry Mott still haunts her house, but he’s become a dear friend. Tipsy plans to return to her lifelong habit of ignoring restless spirits. A series of sudden financial and personal setbacks leave her feeling like she's back to square one, until a new friendship offers unexpected financial salvation. Ivy More has been haunting a Sullivan's Island cottage since the 1940s. Ivy's eccentric granddaughter, Pamella Brewton, will pay big bucks if Tipsy can figure out how to free her moody, volatile Meemaw. It turns out there was more to Ivy’s death than a simple swan dive off the dock at low tide. To complicate matters, Ivy had a secret lover. Shockingly, he's someone Tipsy has seen before. As Tipsy struggles with heartbreak, her ex-husband's shenanigans, and a growing sense of frustration with life, she turns to Henry for help solving Ivy's mystery. She finds herself learning from her brooding housemate, but also from Ivy, who has far more in common with Tipsy than either of them expect.
The 5 book episodic Way Makers series Overground, Underground, On the Water: a Journey to Freedom tells the story of three 21st century African American siblings: Eleven-year old Rheena Mackey, who is recognized by her tenacity and her thick mane of dark curly locks, and her little brother Zachary, who needs medication to help him focus his energy, and their willful older brother, 17-year-old Hoban Cruz, who has a Puerto Rican father. The three siblings are being raised by their single mom and have lived and played in Brooklyn, NY all their young lives. That is, until they are uprooted from their familiar urban life and moved by their mother, to the relatively safer rural Upstate NY Catskills Mountain home of their grandfather. Papa, as they have come to call this proud old Black man, loves his African American heritage. He alternately entertains, then bores his young family when he shares his accumulation of knowledge and his vast collection old photographs, crinkled newspaper clippings, small carvings, African drum and other artifacts, buttons, beads, stones and the like that clutter his bedroom. Among his treasures is ewe, the talking drum. Papa tells outlandish tales about Africa, of the Middle Passage, American slavery, the Underground Railroad and America’s Black people’s struggle for freedom and civil rights, insisting in his singsong Gullah accent: “It be a magical ting!” and “It be for troot!’ At one point, Hoban, who has fair skin (because he’s part Puerto Rican and part Black,) teases his little sister when he notices that some of the individuals in Papa’s collection of photographs of dirt-poor Blacks bear an uncanny resemblance to her and her their little brother. I came to this story because as a teacher in the inner city I have noticed it is often difficult for 21st Century African American children, or mixed-race children to appreciate what our ancestors have endured for us to exist in the relative comfort of modernity. One Saturday morning, in Over Ground, Underground, On the Water: a Journey to Freedom, during what seems like a typical Catskill Mountain storm …. there is rain, thunder, and lightning • Rheena and Zachary are home by themselves, • Papa has passed away, • Mom has gone to work, • Hoban has spent his Friday evening with new friends, and regrettably has not yet come home, the two MacKey children toy with ewe, the talking drum and are abruptly transported back in time and space to 1847 American, deep into life on a rice Plantation in swampy South Carolina. Not long after they arrive, their older brother Hoban follows them. The Way Makers series is historical fiction; therefore, we are introduced to actual places, events and people who indeed are America’s history. For example, we discover it is Civil War photographer, Matthew Brady who took the photograph that Hoban teased his sister about. We learn of The Pearl, a schooner that secreted runaway slaves from DC to Baltimore, and of the vibrant community of Black Horsemen and women of Philadelphia that still exists to this day. In this past, the trio discover firsthand the harsh realities of plantation life. They learn of the cruel humiliation of slavery and the auction block. The children become separated, • sold off the plantation, • reunited, • they escape from dangers seen and unseen. • they learn what to eat, what not to eat. • They have unexpected friendships and betrayals that follow runaways on the Underground Railroad. • They meet Native Americans and Quakers who become allies. • They discover the salvation of maps in the form of hand-sewn quilts hidden in plain sight. • They walk, travel by sea, pass through tunnels dug under houses, cellars and church basements in Maryland, Ohio, and New York. • They meet the Black cowboys of Philadelphia and attend a Pinksters celebration. • They live in free Black communities in Brooklyn and what is now Central Park in NYC. All on a Journey to Freedom. Is their 21st-century urban wit
NATIONAL BESTSELLER A dark and riveting story of the legacies—of magic and madness, faith and secrets, passion and loss—that haunt one family across the generations. Myra Lamb is a wild girl with mysterious, haint blue eyes who grows up on remote Bloodroot Mountain. Her grandmother, Byrdie, protects her fiercely and passes down “the touch” that bewitches people and animals alike. But when John Odom tries to tame Myra, it sparks a shocking disaster, ripping lives apart. "A fascinating look at a rural world full of love and life, and dreams and disappointment." --The Boston Globe "If Wuthering Heights had been set in southern Appalachia, it might have taken place on Bloodroot Mountain.... Brooding, dark and beautifully imagined." --The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Southern Cunning is a journey through the folklore of the American South and a look at the power these stories hold for modern witches. Through the lens of folklore, animism, and bioregionalism the book shows how to bring rituals in folklore into the modern day and presents a uniquely American approach to witchcraft born out of the land and practical application.
Told by master storytellers Darkness Prevails and Carman Carrion, Appalachian Folklore Unveiled unveils the mysteries behind Appalachian folklore, ghosts, creepy creatures, superstitions, and omens, walking the reader through a little-known land of magic and lore that stretches from Canada to the Southern United States.
Perfect for fans of Wendy Walker and Samantha Downing, in this thrilling domestic suspense novel, a woman fights to hide her secrets as her life's idyllic façade begins to fall apart. Cape Morgan, Maine, is the utopian ideal for a charmed life, and Beatrice Wicker knows it. The multi-million-dollar house on the sea coast. The joint bank accounts. The safety and security that go along with being married to an esteemed architect and community leader. The scenic coastline, perfect for her ambitious plan to turn an abandoned asylum into an artists’ retreat. So what if her husband sneaks off to see his second family now and again? Beatrice is willing to look the other way. It’s simply the price she must pay to keep their life together. Josh doesn’t realize that Beatrice knows about his other life. That’s just one of Beatrice’s secrets. And now, that truth—along with a deadly host of other secrets from the past—is about to upend their false paradise. When there’s an explosion at the local elementary school playground, and a two-year-old boy is abducted, it doesn’t take Beatrice long to make the connection between the missing boy and her husband. It was the son from Josh’s other life who was kidnapped, and Josh can’t do anything about it without revealing the truth. Helping Josh find his son would destroy the façade of her perfect marriage and could put more children’s lives in danger. But that’s not all. It would reveal her deeper secret: Beatrice Wicker is not who she claims to be.
Rom-Com Ghost Mysteries by Award-Winning Author Maggie Shayne Johnny’s would-be girlfriend has called it quits, his newfound grandfather has pulled a vanishing act, and his odd connection to the dying has mutated into something else altogether, something he doesn’t understand. Suffice to say, he was already having a lousy week when a kid came tearing out of the woods like the devil was chasing him and right into the path of his truck. Teenage Ryan isn’t too badly hurt, but it turns out the seventeen-year-old has a serious ghost problem. He was convinced no one would believe him or be able to help him even if they did. But that was before he met Johnny and the gang at Spook Central. Johnny takes Ryan and his gorgeous older sister Breia to Kiley and Jack’s no-longer-haunted Victorian money pit, which is also the gang’s ghost-busting headquarters. But Kiley’s not so sure the house is phantom-free. She says she’s heard a female's smoke-and-whiskey voiced laughter a couple of times, which is weird as she's a total muggle. Maya, their resident Wiccan, sets wards around the place to keep ghosts away while Johnny sets wards around his heart to stay in the friend-zone where she's put him. Her reasons are both practical and ridiculous since she’s as drawn to him as he is to her. Also, he’s pretty sure their fates are entwined. Soon, however, they’re both too busy trying to protect a young boy and stay alive while doing it. Spirits the likes of which they've never encounter, unleash hellish fury on them all, and survival takes precedence over their own star-crossed journey to love. A romantic comedy ghost mystery.
Perfect for fans of A Winter in New York by Josie Silver and Always in December by Emily Stone, Christmas at Reedy Falls is an opposites-attract, wholesome Christmas romance that will leave readers believing in the magic of the holiday—and how it brings people together. When Mamie Morrow, a fledgling Charleston journalist, is offered an assignment covering the Grand Bohemian Lodge in Greenville, South Carolina, at Christmastime, she jumps at the chance. Her grandfather recently passed away and left her a mysterious box of objects from the time she spent with him in New Mexico when she was three. Mamie has zero recollection of her time with her grandfather, but she now knows that he was Navajo—and as the majestic Grand Bohemian is filled with Native American art, she hopes being there will help her regain those memories. Robert Fitzpatrick is an upstart photographer from South Boston. Through equal parts inspiration and perspiration, he’s managed to compile a stunning portfolio, and he’s just relocated to slower-paced Charleston for its lush beauty and creative community. He’s also looking for the one—a girl to whom he can give his whole heart forever. But he harbors family secrets of his own. Rob is smitten with Mamie’s energy and pluck, but to Mamie, career comes first. As Christmas Day approaches, the two grapple with the complications that arise when dreams confront reality—and witness the Christmas magic that can happen when you put your faith in love.
Death and the law in a small South Carolina town. It's springtime in 1978 and Elizabeth Chase, a young public defender from Boston, returns to her ancestral home of Weenee, South Carolina, to attend the funeral services for her grandfather. But when the county sheriff pulls a severed head from the bottom of the Weenee River, Elizabeth becomes involved in the most shocking homicide the small town has ever seen. Reluctantly, Elizabeth agrees to defend the African-American man accused of the gruesome murder. It isn't long before she starts to realize that nothing in Weenee-from a new romance to the eccentrics who drink bourbon in the afternoons-is what it seems. Evocatively set in the rural South, this suspenseful and realistic novel draws upon the author's own experiences as a public defense attorney and judge in a small town to probe themes ranging from racial tension and voodoo to drug trafficking and revenge.
