BLURB:
Hawthorne has inherited a house haunted by the ghosts of two medieval knights, Basil Manneville and Guy Guiscard. Basil is the man of her dreams, her knight in shining armor. She falls in love with him and he with her. Basil soon realizes she needs to live a normal life, a happy life with a mortal.
A lifetime later fate intervenes. Basil, still in love with Elinor, is told her spirit lives on in a young woman and he is given another chance at life to find her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EXCERPT:
Elinor stood in the kitchen head cocked, and listened for another...scream? The sound cut off midstream. All was quiet upstairs.
“Nora, Nora, Nora!" Her friend, Lucy, hurried down the stairs and skidded to a halt in the doorway. Hand to her chest and wild-eyed, she gasped to catch her breath. "I've just seen a ghost!" Arms stretched out, she repeated, “Ghost!” Wild flipping hand motions accompanied the declaration, as if the gesture helped define the word.
"I suppose you think that's funny, screaming like that. I was about to run upstairs. I thought you'd hurt yourself."
"I'm not trying to be funny. I did see a ghost, a knight-like ghost...a Galahad-Lancelot ghost. Cross my heart and hope to die, if you'll pardon the expression. At least it looked like a ghost.” She peered warily over her shoulder. “Oh, I don't know. It happened so fast."
Elinor looked too and saw nothing unusual. “Show me.”
She followed Lucy up the dark oak staircase. Lucy twitched with every creak of the steps as they went. At the top, she paused. Elinor urged her forward and both women moved to the center of the small hallway.
“Where was this ghost, because, I don’t see a thing,” Elinor asked. Under her breath, she said, “I never do,” as Lucy went to the door of the master bedroom and stopped.
She huddled next to Elinor in the doorway and peered around.
“Go on, I’m right here,” Elinor told her.
Lucy took a few tentative steps into room. She stood by the window which gave her a view of the bathroom too.
Elinor leaned against the doorjamb. “Well? Seems like a big nothing so far, no cold spots, no weird lights, no ectoplasmic figures.”
As far back as she could remember Elinor was fascinated by spirits and karma. How many places had she stayed hoping to see a ghost and didn’t? The Mermaid Inn in Rye, the Angel and Royal Hotel in Grantham, the Witchery in Edinburgh, all disappointed her. And now, her avowed non-believer friend claimed one appeared to her in Elinor's own home.
“I don’t know,” Lucy said at last and glanced around the room again. “I’m not sure what I saw.”
“Did you see a ghost or not?” Elinor asked, unsure if she wanted Lucy, the cynic, to say yes.
A gust of wind ruffled the sheer curtain behind Lucy, the hem brushing her elbow. She screamed and bolted past Elinor, down the stairs.
“It’s only the breeze,” Elinor called after her, but Lucy continued her dash for the kitchen.
Unafraid, Elinor walked around the bedroom. She dragged her hands over the newly plastered walls as she circled the room. It had needed a brighter and fresher look. The paint and repair work on the house was one of the first things she did after inheriting the manor.
Elinor checked the bathroom and second bedroom. Like her bedroom, everything seemed normal. At the top of the stairs, goose bumps suddenly dotted her skin and the hair on her arms stood end. Weird. She glanced back, but didn’t see anything strange, or more to the point, Lucy’s ghost. She shrugged and continued down.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I was born and raised in Chicago. My father was a history professor and my mother was, and is, a voracious reader. I grew up with a love of history and books.
My parents also love traveling, a passion they passed onto me. I wanted to see the places I read about, see the land and monuments from the time periods that fascinated me. I’ve had the good fortune to travel extensively throughout Europe, the Near East, and North Africa.
I am a retired police detective. I spent twenty-five years in law enforcement with two different agencies. My desire to write came in my early teens. After I retired, I decided to pursue that dream.
I currently live in the Pacific Northwest with my husband, four rescue dogs and a rescue horse.
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GIVEAWAY DETAILS
Chris will be giving away a digital copy of her thriller, "Golden Chariot" to one randomly drawn commenter at every stop, and a $50 Amazon gift card to another randomly drawn commenter during the tour. One randomly drawn host will receive a $20 Amazon GC.
