Top Ten Reasons Why Shadow Valley Manor is Not Your Average Retirement Home
1. Its owner. The Manor was recently acquired by Phil Evers, known to other paranormal investigators as the 007 of the paranormal world. The question must be asked: what on earth does a man like this want with a retirement home?
2. Its history. The Manor has only been a retirement home for a few years. The site was initially part of a military installation built during the cold war. When the site was decommissioned, the property was acquired by an unknown entity as a Home for Unwed Mothers, known to the locals as HUM. There are some strange tales told in Shadow Valley about HUM, and some people say they are true.
3. The undertaker's daughter. When deaths occur at the Manor, Sophronia often shows up to claim the body. People whisper that she has power and that maybe sick folks die a little faster around her than they might if they were alone.
4. Ghosts. This is not surprising, really, given how many people have died in this place.
5. Secret Passageways. Many structures built during the cold war have underground rooms. Not all of them have secret passageways or a hidden, underground laboratory once used for nefarious purposes
6. Frequent deaths. Sure, elderly people die. At the Manor, they die a lot. Is it always from natural causes? Maybe. Maybe not.
7. The cook. Matt is drop dead gorgeous and knows how to brew the perfect cup of coffee. He's also a shade too proficient with his knives and has some kick-ass reflexes that might make you wonder where he acquired those skills.
8. The sheriff. Jake Callahan has a reputation for being a good guy. But something about those shark gray eyes and the way he gets his hackles up at mention of the word paranormal does make you wonder if he's hiding some secrets.
9. The residents. Take Gerald Vermeer, for example. Just a gnarled, toothless, bald old geezer in a wheelchair. His belief that he's a vampire is clearly delusional, but still, the old guy is creepy.
10. Maureen Keslyn. It's not unusual to have a resident a bit under retirement age, if said person is in need of rest and rehabilitation after illness or injury. But when that person is an experienced paranormal investigator with more than her share of secrets and a shared history with Phil Evers, the 007 owner of the Manor, it makes you wonder what she is up to…
Dead Before Dying
by Kerry Schafer
February 9th 2016
by Diversion Publishing
Paperback, 236 pages
Twisting and eerie, sharp and unforgettable, DEAD BEFORE DYING brings a heroine worthy of Sue Grafton to a terror worthy of Dean Koontz.
In this supernatural thriller, shot through with biting wit, Maureen Keslyn checks herself in to Shadow Valley Manor to recuperate and rehabilitate from her last job. There, she runs afoul of the stern director and makes friends with some of the other residents, mostly older, all harboring either a secret or a grudge. With secrets of her own, like why she has her own Federal Agent checking up on her, and how she injured herself in the first place, Maureen fits right in, even as she sticks out like a thorn.
But Shadow Valley isn t just for rest. Maureen is working undercover, seeking to find and eradicate whatever forces are picking off the residents (and staff) at a grisly clip. With her resources dwindling one death at a time, and unnatural forces seething to rise up once more, Maureen s experience fighting the supernatural will be her only hope to destroy a clever and powerful evil and her only chance at surviving it. She'll need people as paranoid as she is from the sheriff, to the undertaker's daughter, to a cook whose knife skills in the kitchen could prove deadly out of it if she is going to bring rest to the weary, and peace to the dead...
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Kerry Schafer writes fantasy with its teeth sunk into reality, mystery that delves into the paranormal, and women’s fiction that embraces the dark and twisty realms of humanity. The first two books of her Between trilogy (Between and Wakeworld) were published through Ace Books/Penguin. Due to the ever-shifting landscape of publishing, the concluding book of the trilogy - The Nothing - was released as an Indie book, thanks to a successful Kickstarter campaign. The first book in Kerry's Paranormal Mystery series, Dead Before Dying, will be released by Diversion Books on Feb 9, 2016. She also writes Women's Fiction as Kerry Anne King.
Kerry Schafer writes fantasy with its teeth sunk into reality, mystery that delves into the paranormal, and women’s fiction that embraces the dark and twisty realms of humanity. The first two books of her Between trilogy (Between and Wakeworld) were published through Ace Books/Penguin. Due to the ever-shifting landscape of publishing, the concluding book of the trilogy - The Nothing - was released as an Indie book, thanks to a successful Kickstarter campaign. The first book in Kerry's Paranormal Mystery series, Dead Before Dying, will be released by Diversion Books on Feb 9, 2016. She also writes Women's Fiction as Kerry Anne King.
GIVEAWAY
one print copy of Dead Before Dying (US only)
