Guest- Carol Perry and a Giveaway!

by Posted on

Jessie: In New Hampshire where it is cold enough that Sam, the poodle, needs a jacket for morning walks!

I am so pleased to welcome Carol Perry to visit with us today. I met her in person for the first time last month at a conference down in Florida purely by chance. I was sitting alone at a table at lunch and she happened over and sat next to me. We were both surprised and delighted to discover we already knew each other online and had a lovely chat. If you add to our chat here by leaving a comment you will be entered into the giveaway for a chance to win a pair of books in her Haunted Haven series! Without further ado, take it away, Carol!

“Ghoulies and ghosties and long-leggedy beasties and things that go bump in the night!” How I love them all! And why wouldn’t I? Born in Salem, Massachusetts on Halloween eve, this day has always been a special one for me in so many ways. An only child and avid reader, mysteries have long been my genre of choice. My dad had a shelf full of Erle Stanley Gardner, Rex Stout and Raymond Chandler paperbacks.  We listened together to “I Love a Mystery,” and “Lights Out.” My own shelves housed an ever-growing collection of Nancy Drew, and Judy Bolton books. Later I favored Phyliss Whitney, Agatha Christie and Helen McGinnis stories No wonder then, that after a career as an advertising copy writer, I began writing mysteries of my own, beginning with my Witch City Mystery series. (Book #13 coming next year!)

            One day my editor at Kensington Books called. “Can you write a paranormal cozy series?” she asked. Naturally, when an editor asks a question like that, the only sensible answer is “Sure. Of course I can.” (Then you go and look up “paranormal” in the dictionary.) Thus began my literary relationship with ghosts. .(Although I once lived in a real haunted house in Gloucester, Massachusetts.  But that’s another story.)  

Haunted Haven Mysteries began with Be My Ghost. My protagonist, Maureen Doherty, has lost her job as ready-to-wear buyer for an old-time brick-and-mortar Boston department store. Then her golden retriever, Finn, flunks his guide dog test for being too friendly, too curious. So both of them are out of work and almost out of money when the letter from a Florida attorney tells her she’s inherited an inn in Haven, Florida from a mysterious benefactor.

Maureen believes it’s a good place to make a fresh start with a new business venture, but she gets more than she bargained for when she finds a dead body in a rocking chair on her front porch and meets some of the inn’s inhabitants in the form of ghosts who lend their otherworldly talents to help her solve the mystery.

The Haven House Inn, of course, is delightfully haunted—and I have come to love my ghosts. Lorna DuBois is a deceased movie starlet who appears only in black and white. Babe Ruth drops by when the Yankees play the Rays. It’s Maureen’s first Halloween in Florida and she meets more ghosts, and because this is a cozy mystery—there’s that pesky murder to be solved.

Just released last week is the second entry in the series– High Spirits. More ghosts, more murders and Maureen and Finn celebrate their first Christmas in Florida –replete with lighted palm trees and pink plastic flamingoes wearing Santa hats. 

I’ll be giving away a set of signed copies of both Haunted Haven Mysteries: Be My Ghost and High Spirits to one luck commentator.

Readers: Do you believe in ghosts?

https://caroljperry.com

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.

72 Thoughts

  2. Hello. I love the cover. I don’t know about ghosts but I do believe in spirits. I think my dad and Nona are here with me alot of the time.

  5. I absolutely believe in ghosts and spirits of all kinds. I’ve had my own interactions with such over the years. Nice to meet you! You’re a new author to me. Happy Belated Birthday and Happy Halloween!

  6. I love the premise of this series. You are new to me, so I am going to be checking out your other series.

  7. I do believe in ghosts and today is a perfect day to be thinking about them. I also happen to love pink flamingos! Your books sound like a fun read!

  8. Congratulations on the recent release of “High Spirits”!

    That question can be complicated in answering. I guess my answer would be I believe in good spirit that can help lead one in a certain directions. I’ve never “seen” a ghost, but have felt like their presence has been close a time or two. So is it really a ghost or my desire to have someone that’s passed on to be with me? Either way it’s a comfort to me.

    Fabulous sounding series that I will be checking out and I’ve already added to my TBR list. It would be amazing to be selected and be able to read and review both books in the Haunted Haven Mysteries series. Thank you for the chance!
    2clowns at arkansas dot net

  9. Congratulations on your new release, Carol! I believe ghosts exist. Just because I can’t see them, doesn’t mean they aren’t there. Cheers! 🎃

  10. My cat Sox died of cancer back in 2013 and he still shows himself every now and then to let us know he is still around. Thank you for this chance at your giveaway. pgenest57 at aol dot com

  14. I’ve never seen any ghosts but I’m open to the possibility of their existence. And ghosts sure are fun to read about!

  15. Welcome and congratulations on the new book! I’m not sure about ghosts. If their friendly sure I’ll believe. But if their evil nope, no such thing.

  17. I do believe that there are spirits here among us. There are those that are good and those that are evil.

  19. Happy Halloween 🎃 👻 Absolutely, I believ in ghosts. I haven’t encountered one but I have heard family stories about my Grandmother and her Dad encountering his first wife for a brief moment.
    I really enjoy the Witch Cty cozies and because of them, I have added Salem in October to my bucket list of cozy inspired trips. Thank you for the giveaway, I have added your new series to my TBR list.

  20. Delighted to meet you, Carol. I don’t believe in white-sheeted ghosts floating down lonely hallways, but I certainly feel the spirit of my daddy who died in 1974. He said he would always be there to help me when I needed it, and he still is. Thanks, daddy.

  21. Welcome to the Wickeds, Carol! Rather than the spirits of dead people, I prefer to believe in the existence of thin spaces where people from our time can catch glimpses living people from another time as they work and play and otherwise go about their business in their own time.

  22. I can’t say that I fully believe in ghosts or other paranormal occurrences, but am open to their reality. I have had a number of experiences throughout my life that can’t be fully explained which help me lean closer to belief!

    Like you, I am a lifelong mystery reader, but in my case it was my mother who was my guide. I started with Trixie Belden before moving on to Mom’s books and Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. I look forward to reading your new series!

  24. Happy birthday, Carol!

    Yep, count me as a believer. I’ve seen two for sure, both associated with real estate I owned. The first was a lady sitting on my couch. She asked where the piano was, then faded away. Turned out the room I used as a dining room had been her music room-fifty years before. The second-when we returned to Maine I came out into the kitchen in the early morning hours to find the original owner standing at the counter. He was quite the character in life, and had always showed up whenever I baked chocolate chip cookies. I figured he was looking for an earthly supply.

  25. Yes I do. I live in a house that’s 105 years old if not older and I’ve seen strange/odd/unexplained things with my own two eyes. I guess it would be good ideas for a book or two.
    Happy Halloween and Happy Birthday

  26. Happy Birthday and Book
    Birthday and Halloween to you, dear Carol. I absolutely believe in ghosts. Many years ago we lived in an antique house in Connecticut and shared it with a friendly ghost who used to borrow my clothes, no kidding. She always returned them, though. I named her Eunice.

  27. I sort of believe in ghosts. I haven’t actually seen one. I am not afraid I will, but I am not sure that there isn’t sometimes some almost perceptible thing happening around me that is reaching out to my senses to tell me something. Congratulations on the book and series. I have read a few of your Witch City books and love them. I could use something light like those right now! I should be looking at your titles!

  28. I absolutely believe in ghosts and spirits. Love your book cover! You’re a new author to me. Thanks so much for the chance!

  29. Happy Birthday and Happy Halloween! I believe in Spirits, I don’t know about ghosts. Are they the same or different?
    Would love to read this series! Thanks for the chance.

  30. The topic of ghosts is interesting. I know that the life that we know is not all that there is. There is a spiritual reality, too. The Bible talks about both angels and demons, and I believe in both, but I don’t believe it is possible to communicate with the dead. (I had better stop right now before I write a long comment!) Carol, I would love to read your books!

  31. I don’t exactly believe but don’t disbelieve either. I like both your series. I got introduced to the Witch City one by receiving a free book from Kensington. Happy Halloween!

  32. Happy Birthday Halloween girl! Hope that it has been a great birthday. We have a ghost dog in our house. Our precious Punkin died in our house (from cancer) and about a week later, a neighbor saw her face in the window. Then when we finally got a new dog named Needa (after a year without a pup), and she started to do things that we had not taught her yet, but that we had taught Punkin. And this has passed down to the most recent dog Texie but not as much as with Needa (who also passed away in our house from a heart problem). They were all Golden Retrievers, so your books are right up my alley and having a movie theatre in the above cover is just my thing as my father was a district manager in a small Texas town of 4 movie theatres. The Arcadia is where I spent my growing up years.

  33. No. I do not believe in ghosts, but I enjoy reading about them in fiction. Thank you for sharing. God bless you.

  34. Even though I have not had any personal experience with them, I do believe spirits do exist.

  39. I certainly do believe in ghosts. Both my hubby and I have encountered them. Your series sounds wonderful! I am also from MA. It’s the place to be on Halloween. And a very Happy Birthday to you!
    Carol

Comments are closed.