Occupation: Manager of Through the Wardrobe
I’m Jenna. I work in Oyster Bay’s bookstore, Through the Wardrobe, and I am beyond excited! A major celebrity is coming to our grand opening to sign his books this weekend. Silas Black, the famous novelist and director of the wildly popular television show, No Quarter, is coming here! I still can’t believe it.
People will come from all over North Carolina to meet Mr. Black. He’s originally from our state. Ocean Isle Beach, in fact. His parents ran a souvenir shop there. Maybe that’s how he developed his love of pirates—reading all those books on pirate lore and legends.
Anyway, he’s not the only one signing here this weekend. Millay’s book is coming out on Thursday. Her first book ever! She’ll be the first of the Bayside book writers to be published and Olivia is pulling out all the stops for this launch party. After all, our bookstore isn’t just a bookstore anymore. It’s now a super hip café too. Old world charm meets contemporary chic—connected by a giant wardrobe door. You literally step from one world into another.
I just hope Olivia and her father, Charles, can get along. Things can get a little frosty between the two of them. They’re both so headstrong and it’s not always easy for them to work together. And with all the people that will be coming here dressed as pirates, or as the gryphon or wyvern riders from Millay’s book, we’ll have enough chaos as it is!
Anyway, Olivia’s on her honeymoon with Chief Rawlings, so I’m sure she’s not worrying about this weekend. I was kind of surprised when I heard that she and the chief had decided to honeymoon on Palmetto Island. Not only is that place super spooky at night, but hundreds of sailors have also drowned off its shores. And then there’s the story of the lady ghost who’s been spotted walking the southern beach. She wears a white dress and carries a lantern. They say she’s searching for something, or someone, that she lost. She’ll never stop roaming that stretch of beach until she finds what she’s looking for. Olivia and the chief rented a house on that beach. Could they be in danger?
Oh, listen to me. I think I’ve been reading too many of Silas Black’s books.
You can read more about the happenings in Oyster Bay in Writing All Wrongs, the seventh book in the “Book By The Bay” mystery series, published by Berkley Prime Crime. The first book in the series is A Killer Plot.
Writing All Wrongs – Books By the Bay #7
The New York Times bestselling author of Lethal Letters returns to the North Carolina Coast, where aspiring novelist and amateur sleuth Olivia Limoges discovers crime doesn’t take a vacation.
After Olivia and Chief Rawlings enjoy a brief honeymoon on Palmetto Island, they’re joined by the rest of the Bayside Book Writers for the Coastal Carolina Crime Festival. The festival’s highlight is Silas Black, celebrity screenwriter and television producer, who is currently working on a popular television show in North Carolina.
As the festival gets under way, a trickster seems to be bringing famous local ghost stories to life. But when the body of a woman close to Black is found on the beach, Olivia and her friends must deduce who on the island could resort to murder—before the sands of time run out for someone else.
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GIVEAWAY: What about you? What’s your favorite ghost story? Leave a comment by 12 a.m. eastern on Friday, November 13 and you could win this charming lighthouse teapot for one (because even on her honeymoon Olivia Limoges needs to be near a lighthouse). (US entries only, please.) Good luck everyone!
About the author
Ellery Adams grew up on a beach near the Long Island Sound. Having spent her adult life in a series of landlocked towns, she cherishes her memories of open water, violent storms, and the smell of the sea. Ms. Adams has held many jobs including caterer, retail clerk, car salesperson, teacher, tutor, and tech writer, all the while penning poems, children’s books, and novels. She now writes full-time from her home in Virginia. Visit Ellery at elleryadamsmysteries.com
My favorite ghost story is The Ghost and Mrs. Muir! Love it! Thanks for the chance!
The story of the Headless Horseman has always fascinated me.
I enjoy this series and look forward to reading the newest addition. It seems like a lot of changes have happened to Olivia and the gang. 🙂
Thanks Dru for featuring this book, and thanks to Ellery for the fun and unique contest.
oops :p I forgot to mention my favorite ghost story…maybe because I don’t really have a favorite, I like them all. However I do have one that happened to a friend of mine that comes close to the top of the list…
I love J. J. Cook’s Sweet Pepper Fire Brigade’s ghost Eric. Thanks for the chance to win.
I like a lot of different ghost stories. I actually love reading the Haunted America books. Right now I am reading about the local Air Force Base in Haunted F.E. Warren by Jill Pope. But for fictional style books there was a few ghost ones I read in my teens but I can not remember the titles. Think they could have been Stephen King or Dean Koontz.
What a delightful sounding series. And set in one of my favorite locations. My favorite ghost story? It’s an oldie. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. I spent time in the area and loved seeing the locations in ‘real time.’
My favorite ghost story is based on the tale of The White Lady of Wopsy Mountain also known as Wopsononock Mountain (near Altoona, Pennsylvania). According to legend, a carriage carrying a husband, wife, and baby rounded a sharp curve on the mountain road and the baby was thrown from the carriage and the husband was killed. Since then, the ghost of the women is spotted along the mountain road searching for her baby. If nothing else, the tale causes drivers to slow down when they reach this dangerous bit of road.
My favorite story is a local story of a baby that shortly after birth started turning into stone. The local cemetery has a grave with a figure of a young baby laying with it’s head on a stone pillow and encased in a glass case on the headstone. It is rumored you can hear the baby cry when visiting the cemetery.
I really liked “That Old Flame of Mine” by J.J. Cook. It’s about a New fire chief in Sweet Pepper, TN that solves a mystery with the help of ghost, Eric Gamlyn.
This sounds like a great series. My favorite ghost story is, Ghost and Mrs Muir , I watch it all the time , so romantic . Every house I’ve lived in has had spirits , none like Rex Harrison though lol
No favorite ghost story but I love this series! <3
My favorite ghost story is The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. Thanks for the chance!
Another book in this series, great! And great giveaway, thanks.
I have fond memories of watching Topper (2 ghosts). I like reading ghost stories of all types. Thanks for the giveaway.
I live close to the Stanley Hotel, the hotel featured in the Shinning movie. There are a lot of stories about the ghosts that haunt the hotel that are fascinating and spooky. Thanks for the giveaway.
My husband was the curator of an historical museum housed in a Victorian Era home. The home had been built on the site of a previous graveyard. [This is a true story.] There was definitely a ghost. She was seen by many people.
I can’t wait to read this story. My two favorite ghost stories are by JJ Cook, Eric from the Sweet Pepper Fire Brigade series and the ghost stories in Juliet Blackwell’s Haunted Home Renevation’s series.
Please, please, please! I love this series and I love teapots.
My favorite ghost story of all.is found in the children’s book called Shadow Castle.
I love the local and personal ghost stories you’re sharing! I never get tired of hearing them. I’m like a tween girl at a sleepover, I guess! Thanks for commenting and for supporting Dru’s blog and cozy mysteries.
I was in a serious auto accident (hit head-on by a van). I remember being above the card, looking down at the scene. I guess it wasn’t my time because I came back and I’m still here almost 30 years later.
We have a ghost in our house that visits us every so often. We make up our own theories on who she was.
My favorite ghost story is “A Christmas Carol”, Charles Dickens.
My favorite ghost story is of Resurrection Mary who appears on the south side of Chicago near Resurrection Cemetery.
I used to work the Ghost Tours and my favorite is the child Ghost of the old Coffee House. She died in the 1800’s but numerous people have heard her laughing and running up and down the House. She unplugs the Christmas tree lights and gets into all kinds of mischief…
Marilyn ewatvess@yahoo.com
I love the Canterville Ghost with Margaret O’ brien. It is delightful. Oh and the Legend of Sleepy Hallow. Anything scarier than that is more than I can handle
This is a personal experience , not a story. My mother died in June of 1962 when I was 11. I couldn’t believe it when it happend and one day after I brought my newborn son home. I put him in his bassinet and I went outside the door to talk to my dad. We looked into the room when we heard my son stir and low and behold my mother was standing by his bassinet. This happend after the birth of my other 3 children as well. Then in May of 1994 I was diagnosed with stage 5 Cervical Cancer and had to have a radical hysterectomy while they were prepping me just before they put me under my mother was standing at my side, she touched me and said you’ll be fine baby girl just fine. I’ve not seen her since. I miss her.
My favorite book about ghosts is The Legeng of Sleepy Hollow and a local hauting Of the Glensheen mansion. Thanks for the chance
The Pit and The Pendulum was the best and still is.
I would love to read this next book in the series. I have read a few previous books in this series and loved them as I enjoyed stories about the coast and love stories set on New England too. My favorite ghost story is the Legend of Sleepy Hollow, but my real life favorite is that of when my Dad owned a country inn here in MA for a few years, and our countless unusual happenings during that time. Not a story per se but fun things to report to family for awhile. (harmless and fun filled spirits).
Thank you for your great blog Due Ann..
So many choices for favorite ghost story, but right at the top of the list would have to be The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and any of the books in the Haunted Bookshop Mystery series by Alice Kimberly. Thanks for the chance to win.
My favorite ghost story is “A Christmas Carol” with the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future. It’s a timeless tale and a haunting one, especially appealing near the holidays. Plenty of others to choose from. The Ghost and Mrs. Muir is one of my favorites, as well, and I loved the Legend of Sleepy Hollow. My family and I visited there this summer (more fun to see in the fall), but it’s a great place and the story is classic.
TJ O’Connor writes my favorite ghost stories. 🙂
My favorite ghost story is The Turn of the Screw–there’s something really creepy about the governess and her lover–are they really ghosts or not?
Ghost story? Patrick Swayzy, of course. Not sure who wrote the movie screenplay. As for books, I have a feeling Ellery Adams’ 7th in this series is a contender.
I think my favorite ghost type story is A Christmas Carol–not too scary!
contest is closed.