CRYPT SUZETTE: A Five-Ingredient Mystery
"In literature, the ghost is almost always a metaphor for the past."-- Novelist Tabitha King
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In writing Crypt Suzette, I incorporated a number of things associated with Halloween: sweet treats, of course, since I’m writing a culinary mystery, but also ghosts, costumes, a haunted house, and a black cat whose favorite haunt is a graveyard. The ghosts in Crypt Suzette are metaphors for the past. My sleuth Val, a café manager, and her grandfather team up to solve the mystery of a young woman who’s been renting a spare room in Granddad’s house.
Suzette, who's working her way through college, is secretive and fearful. She never talks about her family or her job. She’s apparently avoiding someone, taking roundabout routes home from the hotel where she works. When she’s found dead of an apparent accident, Val and Granddad suspect foul play. Delving into Suzette’s past, they discover that her demons weren’t imaginary and may have finally caught up with her. Crypt Suzette also explores a lighter side of ghosts. When a haunted house tour stops at the old Victorian that Val shares with her grandfather, he hits on a new money-making scheme. He announces that he’s gotten rid of their ghost and offers to do the same for other people with ghost-infested houses. He’s soon fielding calls from prospective clients. His ghost-hunting surprisingly nets a real criminal and a suspect in the hit-and-run that killed Suzette. At the end of the book, Val comes up with a way to trap the murderer. Her scheme, which involves creating the illusion of a ghost, unmasks a killer as haunted by the past as the victim was. Ghost and paranormal stories have a long literary history. I tapped into that history by borrowing the names of characters in and authors of eerie tales. I re-purposed those names for my suspects and secondary characters. As you’re reading the book, those names might remind you of literary ghosts, those haunted by them, or those who created them. I hope you enjoy both the mystery and the ghost-hunting in Crypt Suzette. |
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ISBN: 978-1-4967-2242-3
From the Kirkus Review of Crypt Suzette: "Granddad is a hoot to live with, and his jobs as a food reviewer and part-time detective provide endless possibilities for fun and murder."
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