I’m SO happy to have Mae Clair, one of my best online friends, visiting us today, and I know you’re going to enjoy learning all about her latest book, so without further ado, here she is: Take it away, Mae!
Hi, Marcia! Thank you so much for hosting me on your blog today. I’m delighted to be here, sharing my upcoming release The Keeping Place, a dual timeline mystery which is now available for pre-order! Most readers know me as someone who loves weaving urban legends and threads of the supernatural into my stories. The Keeping Place took an entirely different turn.
Well… there is a small thread that does involve an old town legend and a ghost, but nothing that takes center stage as in my other books. This one is about relationships, and what happens to an estranged mother/daughter when the remains of the youngest daughter are discovered ten years after she disappeared. It’s more of a “quiet” mystery than I usually write.
In its heyday, Hornwood was the launching point for the Boone Rail Line which served passengers in the early 1900s.The line has long since been abandoned, but the original rail shack still stands. It’s here where the daughter of the town founder died after being cast out by her father.
During my “past” timeline of 2013, the shack has become a local teen hangout and a dumping ground. A huge tree known as “the Hornwood Oak” dominates the location. In this excerpt, twelve-year-old Janie Seabrooke discusses the rail shack with a woman who works at the restaurant her mother owns.
As you’ll discover in the excerpt, Janie’s mom has her own unique backstory.
EXCERPT:
Phyllis’s smile was her best feature—wide and toothpaste white. “So, what are you doing today? It’s gorgeous outside.”
“Going for a bike ride.” Janie closed her notebook. The restaurant wasn’t busy, the lunch crowd over, dinner still hours away. Sometimes when it was like this, mostly empty, she’d sit and study the old photos on the wall, wondering what life would have been like if her mom had become an A-list Hollywood star. Would they live in a mansion and have a long black limo with tinted windows? Would she go to a private school, bodyguards trailing her every move?
Life would be different, with no time for lists or her secret keeping place where she squirrelled away castoff trinkets like coveted pirate booty. Other girls giggled over boys and wanted to experiment with makeup, but she was more interested in the way a rock glinted when the sun washed over it, or the dance of a bat when it swept the night sky for bugs.
Mom said it was because she’d been in the hospital for a long time when she was a baby, and that made her look at things differently. Sometimes kids in school called her strange or backward, but Janie knew her brain just fired on odd cylinders.
Phyllis slid into the seat across from her. “I remember the days when I could bike from the Hornwood Oak to Kocher’s Market without getting winded.” Heavy creases at the corners of her eyes, combined with excess weight she laughingly called jelly rolls, told Janie those days were far behind.
“I always heard you shouldn’t go to the Hornwood Oak.”
“You shouldn’t.”
Janie fiddled with her pen. “But you did.”
“That was a long time ago, when I was a kid.”
“Weren’t you afraid of Lettie Boone’s ghost?”
“That’s just an old legend. I was more afraid of snakes slithering from weeds in the rail beds.” Phyllis laughed. “My friends and I would tell ghost stories under that big oak tree. Every now and then, we’d invite someone new and hold a snipe hunt.”
“What’s that?”
“A bit of old foolishness. Nothing anyone your age would be interested in today.”
“Did Mom go?” Janie tucked her notebook along with the envelope into her backpack. “To the Hornwood Oak?”
“Sometimes. I think she’d meet your father there, but that was before Rod Barrett convinced her she could make it in Hollywood.” A trace of vinegar soured Phyllis’s voice.
“Mom said he wasn’t a bad agent.”
“He wasn’t the best, either, or your mom would still be making movies.” Phyllis shook her head. “Listen to me jabber. You just forget everything I said.” With a grunt of effort, she shoved to her feet. “I need to get back to work, and you should go enjoy your bike ride. It’s refreshing to see you’re not glued to your phone or some other device like most kids your age.”
Janie smiled. “Mom calls me an old soul.”
“She’s right about that.” Phyllis turned away then shifted back with a raised eyebrow. “One more thing—be sure to stay away from the Hornwood Oak. That old shack out there is held together with spit.”
As in most dual timeline mysteries, The Keeping Place delivers a mystery in the present as well as the past. I hope the blurb will tempt you further:
Even if it means killing again.
Thanks again for hosting me today, Marcia. I appreciate the opportunity to share The Keeping Place with your readers. I’ve held onto this novel for two years, uncertain how I wanted to publish it. As an author, I naturally like every book I’ve written, but The Keeping Place is my personal favorite—perhaps because it’s so different in tone from my other mysteries.
I still utilize dual timelines, but rather than having centuries between them, my timelines are separated by a mere ten years. It’s my sincere hope readers will enjoy the story!
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