(a Pekin Dewlap Mystery)
Published by: Acorn Publishing
Publication date: March 1st 2019
Genres: Middle-Grade, Mystery

Pekin Dewlap hasn’t seen a ghost since she was twelve. But she’d do anything to get them back. Starting a ghostbusting business with her two best friends, Amber and Scout, seems like the perfect way to accomplish her goal. Of course, playing with ghosts isn’t high on their wish list, so Pekin has to do some arm-twisting to get them on board.

Once committed, Pekin and her friends find themselves in deep, trying to solve the disappearance of fourteen-year-old Miranda Talbert. Miranda went missing in 1918, and her spirit has wandered the halls of Elmwood Manor for the last hundred years.

In the midst of finding Miranda, discovering her budding feelings for Scout, and consoling a terrified Amber, Pekin is met by an angry ghost set on thwarting her plans. Will the Ghosties be able to help Miranda, or will Pekin’s business die before she solves the mystery?

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBooks

Excerpt

Pekin headed down the hallway. She gulped before grabbing hold of the doorknob. It turned, but the door didn’t open. Pekin pushed on the door and jammed her shoulder into it, but it wouldn’t budge. Before she could take her hand off the knob, the house seemed to shudder and moan. She slowly backed away, then turned and ran back to her friends, and they all flew down the stairs.

Scout and Amber turned in time to see what looked like a nickel roll across the floor. Pekin followed the coin as it rolled out the door of the study and made a sharp left turn and then a right before it bumped into the bottom step of the staircase and fell over. She gulped. The coin seemed to have a deliberate destination in mind. She hoped her friends hadn’t noticed, but when she looked over her shoulder she saw two faces looking back.

Amber pointed at the window and stammered, “There was a face. I saw a face.”

“What kind of face?” Pekin wanted to know.

“The scary kind! It was watery and vague.”

“Was it Miranda?” Pekin asked.

“I don’t know. It was wavery. And invisible.” She brushed at the grass on her bottom. “And did I mention it was scary?”

“If it was invisible you wouldn’t have been able to see it,” Pekin said logically.

“Miranda,” Pekin whispered, stepping inside. She whispered again, a little louder, but there was no answer. She stepped back but was pushed from behind. The door slammed shut, plunging her into darkness. Landing on her hands and knees, the flashlight went flying off into the distance. She was too scared to feel any pain where her knees had been skinned raw from hitting the hardwood floor. She crawled around, searching for the flashlight.

She scrambled backwards on her rear end until she felt the door behind her. Jumping to her feet, she grabbed the doorknob. It twisted uselessly in her hand. She was trapped. She pounded on the door, calling for help she was certain would never come. She cried as she thought about how they’d find her cold dead body in the morning. Her ghost would wander the halls of Elmwood with Miranda and the thing under the bed.

A sound came from the direction of the bed, like something heavy being drug out from under. Or was crawling out from under. And scary, scary laughter. She covered her face with her hands and prepared to die as something cold wrapped around her ankle and started to pull her across the floor.

Author Bio:

Pam was born in Arkansas several decades ago. She’s not sure if that makes her a Southern Girl or if moving to Southern California when she was five revokes her Southern Girl card. She started writing later in life when she was challenged by a friend to create a book out of his story idea. Reaching the first 5,000 words was a milestone, but with time and hard work she managed to finish an entire book, much to her surprise. Since then, she’s written several novels, in several genres. Romance, middle grade and paranormal comprise most of her work. Pam has spent over 40 years working as a legal secretary at a law firm in Orange County, California. Aside from writing, she follows the stock market, buying, selling and trading stocks and options. In contrast to that, she loves trips to Las Vegas where she can spend many happy hours at the Pai Gow tables. She shares a condo with her very own My Cat From Hell TV star, Allie, who manages to exude just enough affection to make her scary feral ways tolerable.

Website / Facebook

GIVEAWAY!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

+2

0