The highlight of this year's fall festival in Crystal Haven is a bonfire with a witch’s cauldron resting over it. Clyde’s best friend, Diana, leads a ritual to divine the future, but it seems no one foresees that one of their own will drop dead—or that Diana will be a prime suspect.
Clyde already has her hands full with her eccentric family, runaway nephew, and burgeoning secret romance with a hunky homicide detective. But after another coven member is attacked, Clyde suspects there’s a witch hunt afoot and focuses her psychic and sleuthing skills to clear her friend’s name and catch a killer.
Series: Family Fortune Mystery Series #2
Release Date: 07/01/2014
Crystal Haven's Roots
by Dawn Eastman
Many, many years ago, I stayed with a relative in Lilydale, New York. Located in Southwestern New York near Cassadaga Lake, Lilydale started as a spiritualist campground in the 1870's. Since then, it has become both refuge and mecca for psychics, mediums, and those seeking to connect with loved ones who have passed on.
My mother, my cocker spaniel puppy, and I piled into the car and drove from Michigan to check out the spiritualist community. During that visit, we stayed in a reportedly haunted cottage. While I didn't have an encounter with the ghosts, the puppy seemed decidedly spooked and refused to stay in the house alone.
We attended healing sessions and ceremonies at inspiration stump where messages are relayed to members of the audience. What was striking to me was not that most of the residents were mediums, or that people had conversations with loved ones who had died years before, but that it seemed like such a normal small town. It is a beautiful little town with a turn-of-the-last-century feel. There is a beach, picnic areas, a post office, a fire station, several restaurants, gift shops, and a library. The streets are lined with adorable Victorian cottages, making it a great place to visit even without the psychic draw.
When I started planning my cozy mystery series I decided it would be fun and would add a unique element to the stories if it were set in a town like Lilydale. My favorite vacation spot is Western Michigan with its beaches, forests, and beautiful summer weather. I combined the two and Crystal Haven was created. My fictional town is not just dedicated to spiritualism. Its residents branch out into herbalism, tarot cards, crystals, and palm reading. I wanted to create a place that would be fun to visit over many stories and also to explore the types of people who would choose to live there.
The result has been a lot of fun for me to write. Crystal Haven has "regular" people, as well as psychics, but not many of its citizens question the validity of messages from other realms. In fact, my protagonist - Clyde Fortune, a psychic herself - is one of the biggest skeptics. The psychic element leads to lots of assistance in solving crimes. Not all of it is helpful.
The cocker spaniel puppy who joined us on that long-ago trip was one of many well loved pets. So, it was a given that the series would include animals. Violet Greer, Clyde's aunt, is a pet psychic with more cofidence than talent. Pall in the Family, the first book in the Family Fortune Mystery series begins with a shih tzu who is witness to murder. Violet's efforts to interrogate the dog are confusing at best.
Be Careful What You Witch For is the second book in the Family Fortune series, and is set around Halloween. A murder occurs at the annual Fall Festival and someone close to Clyde is a suspect. She gathers her family and friends to help clear her friend, but as she gets close to the answer, she also puts everyone closer to danger.
I invite you to come visit Crystal Haven. Pets are welcome.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
.jpg)
0 comments:
Post a Comment