Cooper Shaw lives his life under a pen name and enjoys the anonymity it provides during his journeys across the globe as a seasoned writer for a travel magazine. When his job lands him in his hometown of Salem, Massachusetts to cover the famous Festival of the Dead, he soon realizes that he can’t stay invisible forever as he faces ghosts from a past he’s been trying to forget ever since he left.

The city holds nothing but bad memories for Coop until he meets a quirky young woman with an old soul and curious insights by the name of Finnley Pierce. While she acts as his tour guide through a town he thought he knew, Finn helps him unearth the truth of his childhood and might even begin to open up his heart.

By unraveling the mystery of his father’s murder, Coop may finally accept who he is, where he came from, and perhaps even realize what he wants for his future.

 



“Raymond, I’m tired. I don’t have time for this to-”

The woman standing behind the front desk spins to see, not Raymond, whoever the hell that is, but me. As she comes to the realization that I’m not who she thinks I am, I get the feeling she still thinks I’m someone as she finishes her sentence.

“Night.”

Her long, brown hair looks as though it’s trying to escape the ponytail she’s pulled it into. Her eyes are dark, fierce even. It feels like she’s peering straight into my soul, or piercing it, as they stare across the front entry way toward me.

Her mouth falls open slightly as her eyes narrow, and now I’m getting the impression she’s trying to place me or, maybe she already has placed me.
Not good.

She looks away when her eyes catch up with mine and I approach with caution. As she begins to type away at the keyboard in front of her, I try to side step the awkwardness beginning to form by clearing my throat.

“I’m um-”

“I know who you are,” she cuts me off, sharply.

“You do?” I ask.  Blood begins to rush through me. I clench my jaw, waiting for the judgmental comments to arrive.

Her eyes soften then, and she simply nods with a thin line forming across her lips.

She studies me, then twists her mouth up as though she’s disappointed of all things.

I get it. Just about half the town thought I was the one that killed my father, even after my mother confessed,

“Seems like every other Tom, Dick, and Harry in the media’s shown up already. You may as well join ‘em,” she says, and I’m surprised yet relieved at her words. In a way.

“You think I’m...?”

“You’ve got paparazzi written all over you.”

She arches an eyebrow.

I don’t mean to but I laugh out loud from the sheer relief that she has no idea who I am. I also feel the need to defend myself because I’m not a fan of being lumped in with the paps.

“I’m not-”

“The funeral’s not for another week, ya know,” she informs me, going back to her computer.

“You’re mistaken,” I insist, even though she’s right. I am media. Technically.

“Really," she replies, like she’s not quite buying it. So I push harder. I’m very convincing when I want to be.

“Yes. Really,” I tell her and now she’s back to eying me and we’re staring each other down for a minute or two.  I’m convinced she’s going to fight me on this but in the end, she bites her tongue and goes back to banging away on the keyboard.

“In town for the festival then?” she asks, changing the subject. Like whatever just happened didn’t happen at all, which both intrigues and irritates me at the same time.

I watch her a bit while she busies herself with the computer. The way she tucks some stray hairs behind her ear and then lets her fingers graze her neck before she goes back to typing. The easy way her fingers fly across the keyboard. And how she is most definitely avoiding eye contact with me for some reason.

I spot her name tag. She doesn’t look familiar to me but you never know.

Betsy.

Betsy, Betsy, Betsy.

I can’t think of a single Betsy I knew growing up.

She looks up and her eyes narrow again. It’s only now that I’m aware of the fact that I’ve been glaring at her for the past couple of minutes without saying a word. I clear my throat and forget to speak when she licks her lips and then takes the bottom one in between her teeth.

I am officially an ape.

She lets it go.

I stare some more.

“So . . . ?”

“What?” I snap, a tad more abrasive than I intend.

“Do you have a reservation?” she asks, trying to be polite without letting on that she most likely thinks I’m the slowest dolt on the planet.

Jesus.

Maybe I am crazy.

Maybe it runs in the family.

I gather my senses and shake off the odd feeling of vertigo I’m having.

“No,” is all I give her. Then I drop my bags and rest my elbows against the counter. My eyes close as I rub my temples, anxiously waiting to hear her tell me they’re all booked up, forcing me to drive those extra miles after all.

I mean, what would it take? Ten, twenty minutes tops to get there?

“Helloooo.”

My lids open to see her staring at me with curled eyebrows and a worried look in her eyes. They look so familiar to me again.

I just can’t...

“Are you drunk?” She asks. It takes me aback.

“What?”

“Because I’m not in the mood for-”

“I’m not drunk,” I assure her, wishing I was.  As she eyes me carefully once again, I feel her staring straight through me.

 

 

Available on Amazon

This was a fantastic story. I give this story four and a half hearts.

This paranormal mystery is journey of self-discovery and realizing that childhood memories change over time. A story full of twists and turns that kept me trying to figure out what would happen next. Author J.R. Richardson did a fantastic job at keeping her readers guessing. I had to know what made Cooper Shaw run and never want to go back to Salem, Massachusetts.

From the moment Cooper Shaw’s boss told him his next piece for the Monthly Traveler will be in Salem, Massachusetts to visit the Day of the Dead Festival. Cooper starts babbling all the reasons he could not go. No one knows about Cooper’s past. He had made certain of that. What could be so bad you don’t want to visit your home town? For Cooper there is plenty.

The moment Cooper is back in his home town strange things start to happen to him. He refuses to pay attention to the signs and swears he is being harassed. He meets a mysterious girl named Finnley Peirce “Finn.” When she decides to be his tour guide she slowly eases him into the world he thought he knew. With her help Cooper learns about the town he wrote off years before.

I was laughing out loud when Finn would put Coop in his place. This girl is quick-witted and full of life. The way Cooper described her outfits would make me tilt my head. Finn was such an old sole with a twist. Finn sets out to show Coop his home town and the history around it isn’t such a bad place after all.

I loved the romance aspect Author J.R. Richardson gave us. It wasn’t your typical boy meets girl and bam! They are in love. It was fun and exciting and Coop had to realize he what he wanted.

Both characters grow so much throughout this story. I do not want to give away the fantastic revelations the author has in store for you. Please give this story a read. You will not be disappointed.

 

I’m a movie fanatic, a writer of stories, a lover of life.

I grew up in Maryland with four siblings, three parents and an endless number of cousins within the vicinity - but it was too cold up North for this thin blooded girl. So today, I live in Florida with my two girls and a husband that shares my same sense of humor and basic take on life as we know it.

Life is too short to put dreams on the back burner.

I've always loved writing and always will.  I tell stories with romance, humor, the supernatural, the paranormal, suspense, mystery, action and anything else I can think up.

In 2012, I wrote Cursed be the Wicked, a character driven, paranormal mystery romance that was picked up by Soul Mate Publishing and released in March of 2014. It hit #40 in its category on amazon.com on day one. Since publishing Cursed, I've also written a couple of short stories and am currently working on a romantic comedy that I hope to get out to the public soon.

If you give any of my stories a read, I hope you enjoy them, and may you have some fun.



Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ISBVAJI

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20526985-cursed-be-the-wicked

 

Lost in Christmas, a short story included in Soul Mate Publishing’s 2013 Christmas anthology

LINK: http://www.amazon.com//dp/B00GH2I458

Dealing with the Dead, a short prequel to Cursed be the Wicked in the voice of Finnley Pierce. (Available for FREE on Wattpad)

LINK: http://www.wattpad.com/story/14894422-dealing-with-the-dead

 

 



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