An Announcement

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Jessie:  In an unseasonably warm New Hampshire, not missing white at Christmas at all.

Every writer has a project they’ve toyed with for a long time. Or a character that keeps whispering in their ear, nagging to be written about.

IMG_0027A few years ago my family started spending the summers in Old Orchard Beach, Maine. One of those ideas and one of those voices started to develop as I walked the beach or bought fries at the pier. I’ve always loved history and in Old Orchard it’s everywhere. Which brings me to an annoucement.

Come September, 2016 Berkley will be releasing my first book in my new Change of Fortune series,  Whispers Beyond the Veil. Here’s the official back cover material:

First in a dazzling new historical mystery series featuring Ruby Proulx, a psychic with a questionable past who suddenly finds her future most uncertain…

Canada, 1898. The only life Ruby Proulx has ever known is that of a nomad, traveling across the country with her snake-oil salesman father. She dreams of taking root somewhere, someday, but, until she can, she makes her way by reading tarot cards. Yet she never imagined her own life would take such a turn…
 
After one of her father’s medical “miracles” goes deadly wrong, Ruby evades authorities by hiding in the seaside resort town of Old Orchard, Maine, where her estranged Aunt Honoria owns the Hotel Belden, a unique residence that caters to Spiritualists—a place where Ruby should be safe as long as she can keep her dark secret hidden.
 
But Ruby’s plan begins to crumble after a psychic investigator checks into the hotel and senses Ruby is hiding more than she’s letting on. Now Ruby must do what she can to escape both his attention and Aunt Honoria’s insistence that she has a true gift, before she loses her precious new home and family forever…

I’ve really loved researching and writing this book and I hope some of you will enjoy hearing Ruby’s voice as much as I have.

Readers, do you like historical mysteries? Writers, do you carry around ideas and hear characters long before a story comes together?

Published by Jessie Crockett

Jessie Crockett wears a lot of hats, both literally and literarily. As Jessie Crockett she is the Daphne Award winning author of Live Free or Die and the nationally bestselling Sugar Grove series. As Jessica Ellicott she has received starred reivews from Publishers Weekly and Library Journal for her historical mystery Murder in an English Village. As Jessica Estevao she writes the Agatha Award nominated Change of Fortune Mysteries. She loves the beach, fountain pens, Mini Coopers and throwing parties. She lives in northern New England where she obsessively knits wool socks and enthusiastically speaks Portuguese with a shocking disregard for the rules of grammar.

43 Thoughts

  1. This is SO exciting, Jessie! Or should I call you Jessica now? It’s a fabulous premise and I know how much it has meant to you to write the first book and sell the series. I had a similar experience with my historical midwife, Rose Carroll, and my 1888 setting. They just refused to go away!

  3. Characters tell me their full names before I even begin a book. They’re not always major characters. Does anyone else get ID before plot? Or am I just weird?

    1. I have that happen too, Carol. I know names almost as ssonas the character comes to mind and occassionally, the name pops into my head even before I have an inkling of who they will be or which book they will inhabit.

      1. Thanks for that, Jessie, The new book sounds deliciously mystical. I used to go to Old Orchard occasionally when I was a little kid. I remember that the water at that beach was beyond icy cold!

  5. I’m sure my grandmother would be thrilled–she visited a spiritualist (in New York City!) for years. She was always convinced that she and I had been together in a prior life, one that usually involved a royal court somewhere.

    I dance around writing historicals in my Relatively Dead series, where I can explore things like the Revolutionary War and the Salem Witch Trials by way of my ancestors while keeping a modern voice. I think those ancestors are trying to tell me something.

    Best of luck with the new series! I’s great that Berkley is behind it, and it sounds like a lot of fun.

    1. Your grandmother sounds like such a delightful woman! I visited a Spiritualist camp in Etna, Maine last summer and had a great time so I can understand her enthusiasm.

  7. I am so happy for you, Jessie! I can’t wait to read this series! And you’re inspiring me to work on some story ideas that have been whirling around in my head for awhile.

  8. Jessie, this is such exciting news. Congratulations! I can’t wait to read the first installment. The psychic element appeals to me tremendously.

    I have a character dancing in my head right now who’s dying to help out her crazy cat lady aunt.

    Have a wonderful holiday.

  9. Jessie, your new series sounds fabulous! I cannot wait to read about Ruby’s adventures. I’m so happy for you! (but sad we have to wait until Sept. 2016)

  13. Can’t wait for September!!! I don’t read enough historical mysteries, but I certainly do enjoy them. Congrats!!

    And I take if from Edith’s comment that this is written under a pen name? What name?

    1. Thanks, Mark! I can hardly wait myself. And actually, it isn’t a pen name but I should have included a clarification in my post.I will be writing these books as Jessica Estevao to distinguish them from my contemporary mysteries. My name is actually Jessica but I’ve been called Jessie most of my life. Crockett is my maiden name and Estevao is my married name. So, none of the names are pen names but rather facets of me.

  16. I am excited to read about someone as “out there” as myself. Thanks for listening to your voices..💞 Lauri Maloney

  17. Great news. I am just going to be happy to have more books to read by a fabulous writer. I hope your humor carries over to historical. I cant wait. Now I have to go see if pre-order is available

  18. Congratulations!So happy for you. Going go be a long wait,but I’m sure it will be worth it.

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