The Fortune Teller's Secret
A Cavendish Brown Paranormal Mystery Book 2
by Ron D. Voigts
Genre: Paranormal Mystery
Expanding the Witch World
By Ron D Voigts
The original idea for witches in the series was for them to blend into society and for the most part to function like their human counterparts. They’d hold jobs, drive cars, fall in love, and live somewhat normal lives. Their witchcraft becomes an aptitude, like speaking well, being intelligent, painting pictures, singing songs, and writing books. Like talent with us poor mortals, some things are easier for some witches and totally out of the reach of others.
In The Fortune Teller’s Secret, I expanded on some of their capabilities. One of them is seeing ghosts. I Cavendish Brown (aka our hero) this talent and Rosalie (aka the fortune teller) too. In her case, she has a familiar, a dead soul who has attached himself to her and can tell her all kinds of secrets about the living and dead. Technically, she’d be considered a medium. You might ask: what about Cavendish? Is he a witch? Come back for future books in this series and find out.
Alexandra’s talent leans more toward the physical, like moving things and changing appearances. One nifty thing she can do is unlock what is locked. Cavendish became aware of this in the first book though she always had an explanation. The back door was unlocked. I found a key. Someone left a window open. She also has a few times brought somewhat back who had just died, the witch version of CPR. In The Fortune Teller’s Secret, we learn she can do glamour spells on herself or someone else and temporarily change hair color, complexion, eye color, and a quick makeup do-over.
The most powerful witch in the series is Jane, described as a mentally disturbed psychic. She functions at the level of a ten-year-old but is very gifted. She can hold an object and tell whatever happened to the last person who touched it. She also sees auras. One of her newest skill it levitation and can, in fact, float herself, something that will develop more in future books.
There is a hodge-podge of witches’ talents in Book 2 of “A Cavendish Brown Paranormal Mystery” series. Future books will show more abilities. Now, will they ever throw fireballs and stop time? Come back and see.
A dead man on a Ferris wheel and a cold-case murder take Cavendish Brown into a world of carnival freaks, ghosts, and killers.
The annual carnival comes to Maiden Falls, a small town in the West Virginia Mountains, but everything is not merry.
The ghost of a woman appears to Cavendish Brown, a carnival worker lies dead aboard a car on the Ferris wheel, and a bullied teenager plots to kill people at the carnival with a homemade bomb. More complications arise. Cavendish again butts heads with the local sheriff, Clinton Pike.
Marbella Wellingway, owner of the newspaper where Cavendish works, receives a visit from the Angel of Death. And a Fortune Teller at the carnival knows something that could forever change Cavendish’s life.
With the aid of Jane, a disturbed psychic, and Alexandra, a Goth witch, he must find the killer, help the mystery woman, and risk his life to prevent more deaths.
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From the darkness came a whisper.
“Help me.”
I heard the woman’s voice clearly. Yet everywhere was black. A void. Impenetrable and empty.
“Help me, please.”
Sounds beyond the woman’s plea filled the vacuum. Somewhere a happy tune played on a pipe organ, the music dancing in the wind, a prelude to a circus parade with clowns and acrobats and a dancing bear. Children and adults laughed and cheered. Wonderful scents lingered in the air. Sweet cotton candy and popcorn elicited memories of happy times.
Something else filled the atmosphere. The smells of dampness and dirt mingled, forcing back the joy. Decaying leaves and rot stung my nose. I retched at the stench of death.
Disjointed images, fuzzy around the edges, traveled toward me then fell away into nothingness. A farm tractor. A wood rail fence. And a sign, blurred except for the words “GATE MUST BE KEPT CLOSED.”
With the snap, the darkness returned.
In the black, a speck of light grew into an image, taking form and shape. A woman stood in front of me, dressed gaily in a short ruffled pink skirt below a yellow long-sleeve shirt with triangles of black print. Leg warmers like a dancer might wear were bunched around her ankles. A blue ribbon tied in a bow kept back wild, unruly hair.
Her wide blue eyes stared at me, unblinking. Her lips, painted bright red, pursed.
“Help me.”
A dark wet spot appeared in her brown hair on the left side of her head, growing like a stain. Blood trickled from the edge of her ear and to her throat. Her head twisted, and a deep gash formed on its side.
She stretched out her arms as if crucified and fell backward in slow motion, tumbling away, then crashing with a deep thud. Her head struck the earth and the blue ribbon came loose. She twisted at an impossible angle, arms and legs bent like a broken doll.
A man in a denim jacket hovered above her, clutching a rock. He stared at the blood covering his hand. A shiver passed through him. He released the rock, letting it vanish into the shadows that surrounded everything.
Another man with his back toward me sauntered up to the woman and stopped at her feet. He wore a white T-shirt with a cigarette pack rolled into the sleeve. He scratched the back of his head, mussing his hair. “What did you do, Johnny boy?”
“I killed her!” The man in denim fell to his knees.
The one in the T-shirt took a drag on a cigarette and tossed it aside. “I’ll take care of things.”
Shadows swelled around them and eclipsed everything except the woman’s face. Her eyes opened. Her lips parted. The whisper came once more. “Please, help me.”
“No, no.” I wanted to run and flee this place of death, to be away from these evil men. “No.”
The Witch's Daughter
A Cavendish Brown Paranormal Mystery Book 1
Investigative reporter and recent widower, Cavendish Brown, is unemployed and floundering. Coerced into returning to his childhood home by the town's eccentric matriarch, Cavendish finds himself involved in murder, deceit, and a not-so-subtle attempt at matchmaking. Joined by Jane, a disturbed psychic, and Alexandra, a young Goth woman with uncanny abilities, they follow leads into the hills of West Virginia to catch the killer. A sheriff who shoots first and asks questions later makes solving the case difficult for the trio. Adding further complications is an ex-girlfriend with a mob hitman on her trail who seeks Cavendish’s help.
Immersed in a never-ending spiral of clues and secrets, he must unlock the darkness that surrounds the enigmatic Jane, stay ahead of the law, and come to terms with his own grief.
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Ron D. Voigts lives in Raleigh, North Carolina and sometimes somewhere else. When back in Raleigh, he enjoys time with his family, watches old movies and shoots lots of pool. He has his own private writer’s retreat in La Vale, MD where he spends lots of time working on his next novel while enjoying the mountains and eating ice cream.
