Vi whispered, “You don’t have to choose.”
“And then it gets better?” Rita sounded broken again, but it wasn’t quite so hopeless as before. Her gaze was fixed on Lila, who nodded firmly.
“It gets better,” she said solemnly. “I promise.”
“What comes next?” Rita asked, her gaze moving from person to person.
“Another sunrise.” Denny told her, surprising them all. “Another sunset.”
Rita didn’t stop crying, but she said, “That’s sounds nice.”
“It is,” Vi said. “And, as long as we have each other, it’s enough.”
“But if it isn’t—” Denny snaked his arm around Lila’s waist and pulled her closer. “There’s always garrotes, hidden cemeteries, and picnics over unhallowed ground.”
“As long as we have each other,” Rita laughed. And it really was enough.
The END
Hullo friends! I am so grateful you dove in and read the latest Vi book. If you wouldn’t mind, I would be so grateful for a review.
The next book in this series is available for preorder now.
All Hallows 1926
Violet and Jack have been invited to a masquerade by someone who doesn't name himself and gives no details other than all the guests are coming under the same circumstances.
They know something is afoot, so they aren't even surprised when there's been a murder. What surprises them is the invitation to all those in attendance to solve the crime.
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The next Poison Ink mystery is also available now.
Georgette Dorothy Aaron is a busy woman. She's gone from being a lonely old maid to the matriarch of an growing family. Her writing career has expanded and for some reason the women in her life turn to her for advice. She's not sure she's qualified to help, but she does what she can.
Only a series of letters reveal that she's become important to someone else. Someone she doesn't know. And they're asking for help--before it's too late.
Now, she's racing to piece together clues and find her pen pal before it's too late.
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Beth also has a fun new historical mystery available right now.
October 1925
Severine DuNoir was twelve when she discovered the bodies of her parents, and the day after the funeral, she was sent to a convent in another country. By the time she resolves to go home, her sole focus is to reveal what happened to her parents.
Coming home, however, unveils a far more sinister plot than she could have expected. It’s clear from her first night that something is afoot. The motives are many and the target is clear: Severine herself.
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If you’re interested, you can keep on scrolling for a one chapter preview of this book.
A Sneak Peek of Mystery at the Edge of Madness
“I don’t understand,” Severine said, feeling particularly dim.
The gentleman smiled kindly. “I’m your guardian.” He had said it more than once, and his tone and delivery had turned slow to the point of speaking to someone who wasn’t quite capable of understanding.
It wasn’t that she didn’t know he was her guardian. Of course, she did. Regardless of her confusion, she was not an idiot. She’d heard of the mysterious Mr. Brand who watched over her inheritance in trust, but she hadn’t expected this fellow. He was not that much older than she. She’d expected a life-long school chum of her father or perhaps one of his mentors. A much older man filled with wisdom and a shared history with her father.
That was the key factor. Severine would turn eighteen in two days. This fellow had to be in his late twenties. Which meant, given her parents had died almost exactly six years ago, that he had control of the DuNoir estate when he was barely old enough to have his legal majority. He looked as if he were a mere year or two older than herself, so how had he looked six years before? The fellow had pale, nearly white, blonde hair, the sort of pale skin that showed every passing emotion with the shade of red he turned, and the blue eyes that revealed his thoughts. He was tallish, broad-ish, thinnish, and handsome-ish. He was very medium, Severine thought. Unremarkable really, except for that pale, pale skin, which wasn’t very remarkable to her considering her own pale, pale skin.
“Your father came to me just before he died, and he asked me to look after you. We had quite a long conversation, really.”
Her father, who had two brothers, business partners, a best friend, and a slew of friends, had discussed her with him when this man was barely a legal adult himself..
Severine took a deep breath. “It’s not that I don’t understand your words,” Severine repeated. “It’s that I have a half-brother who could have served if Father was going to choose someone so young.”
“Your father didn’t want your brother to look after you. He wanted you to have your freedom. Your half-brother is of quite a different cloth than I am.”
“But Father didn’t love me. Mother either.” Her gaze moved to the convent where she’d lived since her parents’ death. Being raised in a convent didn’t inspire one to imagine a future of early freedom, let alone control of her inheritance and the two houses.
He coughed and avoided her gaze as he cleared his throat and blushed enough for her to be sure that Mr. Brand had suspected the same thing she’d known since before she could read.
“Perhaps rather than trying to understand your father’s reasoning,” Mr. Brand suggested softly, “we can accept him at his word. He wanted you to be safe as you grew up and be free of the meddling of his friends and relatives.”
“Father was murdered,” Severine told him precisely.
“He was,” the man said, looking sympathetic but without answering.
Why! Severine wanted to shout, but she guessed this man was being purposefully vague. He wasn’t looking at her at the moment. He was staring at the statue of Mary and baby Jesus in the garden
