As the editor of Moonlight & Misadventure: 20 Stories of Mystery & Suspense, it’s my pleasure to introduce Kate Fellowes, author of ‘Currency of Wishes,’ one of my favorite stories in the multi-author anthology. Here’s a Day in the Life of her protagonist, Mallory Vogel:

One of my favorite books begins with the sentence, “Nothing ever happens to me.” I could say the same thing. My name is Mallory Vogel and I have a steady job at a big insurance company where I do pretty much the same dull things every single day. For some people, that’s the definition of paradise, I suppose, and I guess this is what I signed up for when I majored in Communications at college. I figured that knowledge would be useful in almost any field, but I’ve always expected something more from life than just punching a clock, even though I’m salaried now.

I’ve been with the company for a few years and am steadily climbing each rung in the ladder. I got my own office not long ago, a huge improvement from a cubicle. It’s not the corner office, but it does have a lovely window that looks out onto the square below. I’ve put a pot of red geraniums there, to make a bright spot of color every day and cheer the place up. When things get dull, which is frequently, I find myself gazing out that window, people watching. I see a lot of the same people every day, drawn by the beautiful fountain at the center of the square. Lots of them stop at the edge of the fountain to make a wish and toss in a coin. We have that in common.

Every morning I drop a coin in and make a wish, too. I won’t tell you what it is, but I will tell you I thought it was on the brink of coming true, once. Imagine that, your dearest dream, coming true. It felt amazing.

When I first met Josh, he was making a wish, too. Feeling bold, I struck up a conversation with him, which is totally not like me. I’m usually shy around guys, especially good-looking ones. I’d seen him before, though, in the diner across the square with an older man I thought had to be a relative. What kind of young man chooses to spend time with an older relative? Well, the good kind, of course.

When Josh and I began talking, I felt as if I’d known him forever. We were so comfortable together, right from the start. He told me he was interning at the museum, which seemed like such a cool thing. He had to be smart, right? To work in a museum and know all about history and ancient things? After that day, we started meeting each other by the fountain for lunch together all the time. At work, as I processed claims and filed reports and made phone calls, in the back of my head I was thinking about lunch. About him. In the morning, when I tossed my coin in the fountain, my wish had a face. His.

It was a magical summer, falling in love with him, and I’ll admit my wishes got a little more specific. I wondered if he had the same thoughts as we added our coins to the fountain, which was positively knee-deep with them by the end of the season. But we never talked about what we wished for. I was afraid that would jinx our luck and spoil this wonderful thing we had. Now, I only wish I’d known what he’d been thinking every day by the fountain. . .

Nothing ever happened to me, until it did. Life is full of lessons, I guess, and some of them are harder to learn than others. Here’s what I learned: coins really are “the currency of wishes,” and we pay for our dreams one toss at a time.

Moonlight & Misadventure: 20 Stories of Mystery & Suspense, edited by Judy Penz Sheluk
Series: Superior Shores Anthology #3
Genre: Mystery & Suspense
Release: June 2021
Purchase Link

Whether it’s vintage Hollywood, the Florida everglades, the Atlantic City boardwalk, or a farmhouse in Western Canada, the twenty authors represented in this collection of mystery and suspense interpret the overarching theme of “moonlight and misadventure” in their own inimitable style where only one thing is assured: Waxing, waning, gibbous, or full, the moon is always there, illuminating things better left in the dark.

Featuring stories by K.L. Abrahamson, Sharon Hart Addy, C.W. Blackwell, Clark Boyd, M.H. Callway, Michael A. Clark, Susan Daly, Buzz Dixon, Jeanne DuBois, Elizabeth Elwood, Tracy Falenwolfe, Kate Fellowes, John M. Floyd, Billy Houston, Bethany Maines, Judy Penz Sheluk, KM Rockwood, Joseph S. Walker, Robert Weibezahl, and Susan Jane Wright.

Meet the author
Kate Fellowes is the author of six mysteries, most recently A Menacing Brew. Her short stories and essays have appeared in several anthologies. A founding member of the Wisconsin Chapter of Sisters in Crime, her working life has revolved around words—editor of the student newspaper, reporter for the local press, cataloger in her hometown library. Find her at katefellowes.wordpress.com.

About the editor
A former journalist and magazine editor, Judy Penz Sheluk is the author of two mystery series: The Glass Dolphin Mysteries and the Marketville Mysteries. Her short crime fiction appears in several collections, including The Best Laid Plans, Heartbreaks & Half-truths, and Moonlight & Misadventure, which she also edited. Find her a judypenzsheluk.com.

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