About Ghost Cat at the Mystery Hotel
Ghost Cat at the Mystery Hotel (A Tenth Life Cozy Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
3rd in Series
Setting - Oregon Coast
Independently Published (May 30, 2024)
Number of Pages: 246
Digital ASIN : B0CW3DGRK3
The game is murder at the Mystery Beach Hotel.
When Camelia Collins meets her old college friend Anne Pine for a murder mystery weekend at the coast, death becomes more than a game.
Accompanied by her ghost cat companion Soji, Camelia begins to discover clues that have nothing to do with the role-playing storyline. A lurking stranger spies on Camelia from the house next door. A vengeful spirit haunts the hotel.
A winter storm rages outside, threatening the old building, while a murderer roams the halls, threatening those within.
Will Camelia's keen senses and Soji's feline wiles be enough to catch the killer before they kill again?
EXCERPT GHOST CAT AT THE MYSTERY HOTEL
Penelope stared around the room, her face tight with shock. “But… it’s gone!”
Dr. Lance took her elbow to steady her. “What is gone?”
“The body, you silly man! It was right there.” Penelope pointed to a leather wingback chair, the one where Camelia had briefly seen the phantom.
“Hey,” Octavia demanded. “What are you trying to pull here, Penelope?”
“What do you mean it’s gone?” Millie furthered. “Where could it go?”
“Perhaps they weren’t dead at all,” Sage offered optimistically, “and you just thought they were.”
The huddle at the door began talking at once.
“Maybe they were only wounded and managed to crawl away…”
“Wounded? If someone had been wounded, there would be blood. I don’t see any blood…”
“I don’t see anything at all. I’m going back downstairs to finish my cocktail…”
Camelia ignored the protestations. She was beginning to get a funny feeling, a feeling she’d experienced many times before. As her eyes roamed the chamber, they finally landed on the thing she was seeking.
Soji was there after all, or maybe she had gone and come back, returning from a brief spin in the ether. At any rate, Camelia now saw her clearly. She was in her solid form, short black fur and emerald-green eyes, sitting loaflike on the mantelpiece.
Staring at Camelia with unabashed amusement, the ghost cat hopped down to the large oak writing desk and then onto the chair in question. Carefully avoiding the seat itself, she jumped instead onto the chair back where she settled on the lace antimacassar. Giving Camelia a slow, ponderous blink, she said, “Extinguish the light.”
“What?” Camelia exclaimed, forgetting for a moment only she could see or hear the little black spirit.
“What what?” asked Beth.
“Extinguish the light,” Soji repeated.
“Turn off the light,” Camelia relayed to Beth. “Please, just do it.”
Beth looked confused but did as she was bid. Stepping to the wall, she glanced back at Camelia who nodded. With a flick of the switch, the room was plunged into darkness. Now, within the gloom, Camelia could see clearly what she had only glimpsed before.
In the big chair sat a woman dressed in a long skirt and a jacket, the colors of which oscillated like a rainbow seen through a sprinkler. Her blank face was so pale and glass-like as to reflect the wavering hues. Though her eyes were open, black orbs against the mists of her visage, no life glimmered from within.
Soji transmuted to her spirit form and flowed down into the woman’s lap. With the ghost cat’s touch, the woman’s face lit, her empty expression morphing into that of a puzzled but normal young girl.
Help me, she mouthed to Camelia. Though no sound accompanied the moving lips, Camelia understood.
“Help you?” Camelia whispered back. “How?”
The ghost girl stared at Camelia a moment longer, then slipped her filmy gaze past Camelia into the hallway and beyond. Her face cleared, and she gave the sweetest of smiles.
I see, she intoned with a nod of her pretty head.
Justice has already been served.
The ghost began to flicker and fade, and soon she was little more than a trace. Then she was gone, leaving only Soji curled up on the leather cushion. In another moment, Soji winked out as well, and Camelia was staring at nothing but the dark.
About Mollie Hunt
Cat Writer Mollie Hunt is the award-winning author of two cozy series, the Crazy Cat Lady Mysteries and the Tenth Life Mysteries. Her Cat Seasons Sci-Fantasy Tetralogy features extraordinary cats saving the world. Mollie also released a cat-themed COVID memoir. In her spare time, she pens a bit of cat poetry as well.
Mollie is a member of the Oregon Writers’ Colony, Sisters in Crime, the Cat Writers’ Association, Willamette Writers, and Northwest Independent Writers Association (NIWA). She lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband and a varying number of cats.
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Hi, Mollie here. I'm traveling and I can't log into Blogger, but I wanted to say thanks for the spotlight!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for spotlighting my new cozy mystery, and for publishing the excerpt!
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