#Eventide

Great news! Mae Clair is back with more on her wonderful Hode’s Hill series. Today, she’ll be sharing a bit about the third book in the series, Eventide, including a super excerpt for your reading pleasure. As always, let’s take a look at the fantastic cover for this one. Pretty great, huh?

And now, I’ll turn this post over to Mae. You’ll love what she has to say!

~~~

Many thanks for hosting me again, Marcia. I was here yesterday with the announcement that my publisher has discounted my Hode’s Hill series for the month of February. End of Day and Eventide are currently priced at .99c each. Later this month, you can pick up book one, Cusp of Night FREE from the 20^th through the 25^th.

That means you can purchase all three supernatural suspense mysteries for a total of $1.98, a hard deal to beat. Each book features dual timelines—a mystery in the past, and a mystery in the present—which tie together at the close of each novel.

Today, I want to take a closer look at book 3, Eventide. If you like ghost fiction, I think you’ll enjoy this story.

Three years after the murder of her husband, Madison Hewitt is putting her life back together. She purchases an old home several miles from town along a creek. After a short time in the house, Madison begins to suspect the property is haunted. She asks her sister’s boyfriend, Dante DeLuca to go through the home and give her his impressions. Sensitive to the spirit world, Dante is able to read “folk memories.” In the scene below, Dante, along with Madison’s sister, Jillian, explain what constitutes a folk memory.

~ooOOoo~

Madison glanced up from her cell phone when Blizzard trotted into the drawing room, trailed by Dante. She’d missed a call, but the number was one she didn’t recognize. Most likely, a robocall or junk solicitation. Edgy since Dante left to investigate, she dropped the phone onto an end table.

“Well? Anything?” She leaned forward in her chair, a monstrous claw-footed thing left by the previous owner.

“Not much on this level.” Dante settled on the sofa beside Jillian. “I picked up an audible manifestation earlier in this room. A man and woman arguing.”

So she had heard something. “Could you tell what they were saying?”

“No, the incident was too quick, but the tone was unmistakable.”

“What about the basement?” She thought of the old cistern.

“There’s some kind of residual taint, but it doesn’t feel spiritual. You’ve also got two outside areas with activity.”

“Folk memories?” Jillian asked.

“These are different.”

Madison looked between them. “I’m not sure I understand what creates a folk memory.”

“Think of it as a moment frozen in time.” Dante shifted, allowing Blizzard to settle on the floor near Jillian. “Something happens—usually horrific—and the incident replays over and over.”

“You mean ghosts recreate it?”

“No. It’s the memory of the event itself, imprinted in the place where the tragedy occurred. Like a TV episode on constant rerun.”

“No one is really there,” Jillian added.

Dante spread his hands. “Anyone receptive to the spirit world can usually sense folk memories.”

Her stomach tightened. She regretted the slice of key lime pie she’d had for dessert. “Do you mean…” It was hard to force the words. To dial her mind back to the most heinous night of her life. “Boyd’s death could have left a folk memory in our house at Mill Street?”

“Yeah.” Dante blew out a breath. “It probably did. But it takes time for the residue to become visible. Decades, sometimes centuries. There’s no rhyme or reason why some atrocities leave imprints and others don’t.”

She felt the blood drain from her face.

Jillian stretched forward to clasp her hand. “Put Boyd’s death out of your head, Maddy. That’s not why Dante is here.”

“I know.” She closed her eyes, tears burning the lids. “But the thought of his murder playing over and over…”

“No one will see it, Madison.” Dante’s assertion left no room for argument. “You need to stop seeing it.”

She nodded. Snatched a tissue from a box on the end table. It was time to refocus. “You said you felt impressions outside.” She dabbed her eyes.

“The graveyard?” Jillian guessed.

Dante shook his head. “Near the veranda below Madison’s bedroom, and along the creek bank. The veranda is covered in cold spots.”

Madison crumpled the tissue in her hand. “What about the creek?”

“That was different. I’m convinced something bad happened there. Not enough to create a folk memory, but enough to leave a hostile mark.”

~ooOOoo~

BLURB:

The darkness is coming . . .

The old house near Hode’s Hill, Pennsylvania is a place for Madison Hewitt to start over—to put the trauma of her husband’s murder, and her subsequent breakdown, behind her. She isn’t bothered by a burial plot on the property, or the mysterious, sealed cistern in the basement. Not at first. Even the presence of cold spots and strange odors could be fabrications of her still troubled mind. But how to explain her slashed tires, or the ominous messages that grow ever more threatening?

Convinced the answer lies in the past, Madison delves into the history of the home’s original owners, only to discover the origin of a powerful evil. An entity that may be connected to a series of gruesome attacks that have left police baffled. No matter where she turns—past or present—terror lingers just a step away, spurred on by a twisted obsession that can only be satisfied through death…

Universal Purchase Link

Connect with Mae Clair at BOOKBUB and the following haunts:

So happy to welcome Mae Clair to The Write Stuff today with news of the release of her latest novel, Eventide. I’ve already got this one on my Kindle and after enjoying Books 1 and 2 so much, I can’t wait to read it. And just look at this fabulous cover!

So without further ado, let’s get right to it. Take it away, Mae!

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Hi, Marcia. Many thanks for having me as a guest today! I’m delighted to be here today promoting my upcoming release, Eventide, the final book in my Hode’s Hill series of novels. If you’re unfamiliar with the term, Eventide is an archaic way of saying “evening” or “twilight.” All three books in the series play off this theme:
Cusp of Night
End of Day
Eventide

Each refers to that moment when daylight fades and twilight encroaches. I’ve always considered these “betwixt times,” never fully anchored in one period, but gradually transitioning into the next. From the time I was a child, I was fascinated by the idea. I’ve also always loved the word eventide, but when it came to choosing titles for my Hode’s Hill series, I initially headed down a different path.

The original title for Cusp of Night was The Blue Lady of Hode’s Hill after one of the characters in the book. I had planned to use color in all three titles, but my publisher wanted something short and mysterious. I must have gone through three dozen suggestions before I came up with Cusp of Night. It was the last on a long list I sent to my publisher—tossed on as an afterthought—but the one they ended up choosing. After that, the two successive titles were easy, and the theme was born.

I think it works well for books that are part mystery and part supernatural suspense. There’s even a little bit of cozy in each given the sleuthing my female characters undertake.

In this short excerpt Madison Hewitt is digging for information about an old home she purchased. She talking to a co-worker, Karen, who seems to know something about the home’s previous owner.

~~~~~

Madison sighed. “The house is really old, and I’m trying to find out whatever I can about the place. If you know something—”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know.” After several unusual experiences, she needed Karen to be forthcoming. “It’s just…an odd place. You mentioned rumors. Said there were things that happened there.”

“Yeah.” Karen’s hands stilled. She stared at the letters in front of her as if debating something. After a moment, she closed her eyes, drew a breath, then shifted her attention to Madison.“You remember I told you I had a cleaning business? Vera Halsey was one of my clients.”

“The woman who owned the house?” Madison had never made direct contact with her during the sale. “I understand she passed away in a nursing home.”

“That’s what I heard, too. But she stopped my services months before she got sick. She was only in her early sixties, but something happened, and she started wasting away.”

Madison had always assumed she was up in years, eighty or more. “That’s horrible.”

“Strange is how I see it.” Karen smoothed an envelope between her fingers. “Everything about her was odd. The house, too.”

“What do you mean?”

“I wish I could explain it better. I had two people working for me. Both said they’d quit before going back again. I was the one who ended up cleaning for Vera. After a while, I got used to”—she looked away—“things.”

Madison’s pulse ticked higher. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t want to scare you.”

Madison held her gaze.

“Okay.” Karen leaned forward and lowered her voice as if sharing a secret. “It was just a sense of something always there…like being watched. The girls I had working for me said they heard people arguing when no one was around.”

Madison’s fingers tightened on her coffee cup. “Did you?”

“Once. Maybe twice. There were other things, too. Doors that shut on their own, cold spots, rancid odors. Sometimes I’d see someone from the corner of my eye and turn, but no one was there. Occasionally, some of my supplies would go missing only to show up in another room. The last week I was there, I swear someone tried to shove me down the steps.”

~~~~~

Sound a little creepy? There’s much more to the history of this house. You can discover the complete story by reading Eventide and discovering the secrets that lie within. Thank you in advance for your consideration! 🙂

Universal Purchase Link

BLURB:

The darkness is coming . . .

Order Eventide HERE