TOUR
SCHEDULE:
The Medium Trilogy takes place in one
of the most historical and romantic neighborhoods in San Antonio--the
King William
District.
Three Ramos siblings, Danny, Rose, and
Ray, all have King William connections. Danny sells historic homes at
Vintage Realty. Rose lives in a King William mansion she inherited
from her grandmother. And Ray is renovating another mansion so that
he and his partner can flip it for a profit. But all three have a
hidden talent--so well hidden, in fact that they it's a secret even
from them. They're all descendants of the Riordan family: legendary
mediums and sworn enemies of the ancient ghosts known as the Old
Ones.
Medium Well, the first book in the
Medium Trilogy, is Danny's story, released by Berkley Intermix on
February 19.
Real estate agent Danny Ramos has
always had a knack for selling homes, but when his boss saddles him
with a neglected carriage house, Danny discovers that his abilities
are more than simple intuition...
On his first visit to the house, Danny
is confronted with visions of a violent murder. His assistant, Biddy
Gunter, doesn’t seem affected, and Danny starts to think he’s
going crazy—until he gets a visit from his mother, who suggests
that Danny’s uncanny talent to sell old houses may stem from his
family inheritance: psychic empathy.
When Biddy reveals to Danny her own
strange dream about the carriage house ghosts, they team up to
investigate and discover both the house’s dark history and their
own unexpected attraction. But as the hauntings turn from unsettling
to downright dangerous, Danny and Biddy need to figure out how to rid
the house of its ghostly inhabitants, before their budding romance
meets an untimely end...
Buy a copy at Amazon
or at Barnes
& Noble.
Excerpt:
He gave himself a quick mental kick. At
this point he was supposed to be wise, sophisticated, urbane, all
that stuff. Unfortunately, his urbanity seemed to be taking the night
off. He felt like a sixteen-year-old coming home from the junior
prom, hoping he’d get to first base at least.
Danny closed his eyes. He was a
lunatic. That much had been clearly established by the events at the
carriage house. But he wasn’t a stupid lunatic. He was not—repeat,
not—going to put any moves on Biddy Gunter.
“Danny?” Her voice sounded anxious.
“Are you okay?”
“Super.” He managed to come up with
a smile that seemed halfway authentic, although he’d never used the
word super before, outside of the McDonald’s drive-through line.
“Well . . .” She
didn’t sound entirely convinced, but she produced a slightly shaky
smile of her own.
And then he did something absolutely
boneheaded—he leaned close enough to smell her faint scent of
performance sweat and gardenias, the mixture of sweetness and musk,
the essence of woman that clung to her skin. Immediately, he was a
goner. Almost before he knew what had happened, he leaned further and
pressed his lips to hers.
Her mouth was warm and soft and faintly
startled. Or maybe it was her eyes that were startled. He tried his
best to pull back, not to lose it completely. But pulling back
suddenly didn’t seem to be an option.
His logical half screamed at him. Get
the hell back. Make it quick. Say something clever and move on. Do
not—do not—get involved with Biddy Gunter. Your assistant. The
manager’s sister. The one who’s watched you becoming a
first-class nutcase day by ghastly day.
And then Biddy’s arms looped shyly
around his neck, almost as if this was her first kiss, yet when her
mouth moved against his, he knew it was far from her first. He
pressed his hands along her sides and gently pulled her closer,
feeling the warmth and softness of her breasts pressed against him.
His logical half shrugged its metaphorical shoulders and took a hike,
while other parts of his body began to clamor for attention.
For a few moments, he let himself feel
the heat, the clenching in his chest, the rush of need in his groin,
and then he pulled back, slowly, to rest his forehead against hers.
“Holy crap, Biddy,” he whispered. “What was that? What just
happened here?”
A millisecond later he wished mightily
that he’d confined himself to a simple Wow.
She stared up, her forehead furrowed.
“That was . . .” He
fumbled through the meager stock of adjectives his numb brain could
supply. “. . . very terrific. Very, very terrific.”
Okay, the results were official. He was
both a lunatic and a moron.
Her brow had furrowed even more. Of
course it had. He was obviously certifiable and an idiot to boot.
“Terrific,” she said, slowly.
“Very, very terrific.”
Her lips trembled, and, for one
agonizing moment, he thought she might cry. Then he realized she was
more likely to giggle.
He closed his eyes again. Once upon a
time, he’d been able to handle a simple kiss without making his
partner crack up. Of course, it hadn’t been exactly simple, had it?
Before I came to Texas twenty years
ago, my husband and I lived all around the U.S., including Kansas,
Iowa, Washington, Oklahoma, Alabama, Colorado, Massachusetts, and
Pennsyvania, with brief visits in California, Connecticut, and New
Mexico. In fact, one of my favorite things to do (in pre-gas price
hike days) is to travel around the country, preferably off the
Interstate.
A couple of years ago my husband took a
new job in the Colorado foothills, so I've now relocated to the
northwest Denver suburbs. It's a big switch, but my mom grew up on
the Western Slope, and she gave me an abiding love of the mountains,
so I'm not expecting too many problems (and no, I don't mind the
snow).
In Texas I taught English, desktop
publishing, Web design, and editing, among other miscellaneous
things, before finally retiring after putting in my twenty-five. At
the same time, I worked as a freelance writer and editor, on projects
ranging from computer manuals to underwater photography books.
My husband and I managed to raise two
wonderful sons, along with a variety of cats and a couple of dogs. We
still visit South Texas, and we still love to wander around the
country when the spirit moves us, although these days we're likely to
fly in and rely on public transportation (let's hear it for light
rail trains!).
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Thanks for the spotlight! I'm looking forward to reading this series
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteMEDIUM WELL takes place in San Antonio--the King William District.