It's January 2011, can you believe it?
My good news is this... Faerie Cake Dead was released as of August 16th, as an ebook only, but will be released as a paperback this year. I am so psyched about this, I can hardly wait.
Faerie Cake Dead takes place in Maine, includes faeries, pixies, a handsome hero, a feisty heroine and a tea & cupcake shop where murder and mayhem abound. Sounds fun, doesn't it?
Here is an excerpt for your reading pleasure:
Chapter One
Nine tables, dressed and ready for patrons, lay scattered about the room. Soft light behind Luna cast a pale glow across the darkness as she stared through the doorway. The faerie cakes, all baked, frosted and ready to serve sat in the lower level of the building. She’d managed it all in the span of a few wee morning hours.
Her eyes narrowed, adjusting to the gloom of the room beyond her. She registered the shadowy figure sitting at a table in the center of the room, his back toward her.
“Hello?” Luna Devere’s voice trembled and echoed across the shadowy room. “C-can I help you?”
No answer.
Head bowed, the figure sat upright. Luna could see the outline of his body clothed in a dark suit. She reached for the light switch next to the door and flicked on the overhead lights. Her hand fluttered to her slender throat. She stared at the man whose thin gray hair lay scraped over his dome. He hadn’t moved or acknowledged her.
Questions slipped through Luna’s mind faster than the click of a camera shutter. What was he doing here? When did he arrive and from where? How did he come to be sitting in her tea shop this early in the morning? How had he gotten in? Had she left a door unlocked yet again? The shop didn’t open until ten each morning and closed at five each evening, except for Mondays when she took the day off.
Luna crept closer. The elderly stranger’s wrinkled parchment-like skin sagged under his chin. His pale hands rested on the table, a spoon clasped in one of them. A teapot huddled next to the cup and saucer before him.
She reached out a hand and touched his shoulder. The body slumped forward. With a gasp, Luna jumped back in fright. Unconscious of her actions, she wiped her fingertips across the apron swathed around her slender form. She backed toward the door. Nothing was out of place other than the dead man sitting at a table set for tea.
Luna lifted the phone from the base and dialed nine-one-one. A disembodied voice asked what her emergency was.
“There’s a dead man sitting in my dining room,” she stammered.
“Ma’am, did you say you have a dead man in your dining room?”
“Yes,” she said. “My name is Luna Devere, owner of Faerie Cake Junction on the outskirts of Swanscott, Maine. The shop is number 711 on Old Meadow Road.”
The calm voice asked, “Are you certain he’s dead?”
“Uh huh, he didn’t answer my questions, it’s just after four in the morning, and the shop doesn’t open until ten o’clock, so yeah, I think he’s dead.”
“Emergency services have been notified and are on their way.”
“Okay, then.” She paced back and forth in front of the sparkling glass pastry cases. What should she do next? She wondered. Nervous, a soft melody thrummed in her head and then issued from her throat. Never understanding why it happened, Luna just understood it would. She propped the phone back into the cradle and hustled outside.
Instead of bravery, never Luna’s strength, optimism topped the list of her attributes. She’d heard the town folk considered her eccentric, and while that was so Luna believed in things other people couldn’t see. Her trust in faeries caused many to scoff, but Luna knew they existed since she’d been born with the sight. She could see faeries and on the rare occasion she experienced clairvoyant visions while in their midst.
Faeries lived in the meadow and woods behind the shop. She knew it, she spoke with them often. Their early tolerant relationship had turned into friendship over time. She rarely mentioned them to outsiders since it tended to make her look a bit strange, stranger than she was all ready perceived anyway.
Leaning against the handrail on the rear veranda of her building, Luna gulped deep drafts of fresh, crisp air. Nerves taut, she peered into the darkness. Tiny lights flickered on and off. People thought these were mere fireflies, but Luna knew the colors meant the presence of faerie folk. Lights danced closer and closer until a small swarm gathered within the purple hydrangea bushes just off the veranda.
“What have you seen, Luna?” the tiny blue creature asked in a singsong voice. She swept closer to Luna, her translucent wings shimmering in the moonlight while she swayed in the faint breeze.
“I found a man in the tea room. He’s dead,” Luna’s soft voice quivered.
Iridescent wings fluttered faster, the blue faerie jittered back and forth.
“We have seen movement of humans this night,” the faerie said and fluttered toward the doorway.
Luna knew the faerie would never enter the domain. These faeries refrained from confined spaces such as houses. They lived free in the wood empowered by energy from all natural growing things. Blue faeries often appear in many guises, but always blue representing purity, a higher consciousness and a merciful quality. A blue faerie, a guardian spirit, often appears as a bluebird or blue firefly, and can dispel terror, anguish and despair.
“How many humans were there?” Luna asked.
“More than one, but no more than three,” the faerie darted away.
Luna’s gaze followed the light and she called, “Two? There were two humans? Were they both walking or was one carried by the other?”
The tiny faerie flitted forward, fast like a hummingbird. A twitter of noise arose from the hydrangea bushes where other faeries watched the exchange.
“One carried another, one stayed behind. I must leave you now.” Her beautiful voice lilting, the faerie began to drift away. “Rest easy, the images will come.”
The entire mass gathered together fluttering away into the night. Luna watched them disappear within a thick stand of wood.
She returned through the back door, entering the shop. Lights flashed from the roof of the emergency vehicle rolling to a stop out front. Three paramedics strode up the steps.
Luna rushed to unlock the double doors and flung them wide open. The sheriff parked his car alongside the rescue.
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| This is the latest in the Vinnie Esposito series. To win a copy of this ebook, simply visit my blog at http://www.mycozymysteries.blogspot.com and leave a comment under the New Years resolution article. Contest ends January 15th, so don't wait to enter.
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AND THE DECEMBER WINNERS ARE......
In December, my contest winners were Lois Harry and Kackie Wisherd. Thanks for registering to win,ladies! They were quite excited about their winnings, too. Enjoy your freebies!
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