Hi. I’m Olivia Watson. I used to have a normal life. But all that changed last winter−in the middle of the night, in the middle of a blizzard.

Before I tell you what happened, I’ll give you an idea of what I look like so you can picture me. I’m 33 and in pretty good shape. I love being outside and run just about every day. I practice kickboxing, which really gets those endorphins popping! I have dark brown hair with auburn highlights and hazel eyes with gold flecks.

I live in an old house in a small town in the Mohawk Valley, in Upstate New York near the Adirondack Mountains. After grad school, I enjoyed working as a reporter for the Syracuse Post Standard, but I was itching to be more independent. Five years ago, I founded The Watson Agency, where I do research for writers and professors. I’ve always been a curious person so researching a wide variety of topics is exciting to me. One of my passions is travel and I also write freelance travel articles. This is great because I can travel all over the world and share my adventures.

So, back to my midnight adventure in the blizzard. One night last February, I woke up from a deep sleep in full panic mode. A man was standing at my bedroom door. OMG! You can imagine how terrified I was. My heart was pounding and my brain was spinning with ways to escape. I was so scared that my body was paralyzed. I couldn’t even dial 911. I lay in bed trapped. All I could do was watch him as he peered in at me. Then a weird thing happened. He shook his head like he was confused. He turned and walked through the wall! Yes, I swear that’s what I saw. When he’d gone, I turned on the light and sat shaking for a half hour. I had a hard time falling back to sleep that first night.

Oh yes, I did say that first night. My mysterious stranger came back every single night for a week. On the second night, I wasn’t afraid for my safety any more, I was too busy wondering if I was losing my mind. Finally, although I don’t know what made me do it, I spoke to him. And he answered.

His name is Steven Blackwell and he’s a cop . . . in 1934. I had done research for a client last fall about that time. I learned that Einstein believed there is no past, present, or future; all time happens simultaneously; and time can fold over. After Steven and I did several experiments, we concluded that this was Einstein’s theory at work. Time had folded over in the house where we both live−80 years apart.

Steven and I have gotten to be good friends. I actually see him more than I see my two best friends Liz and Sophie. We’ve learned how to travel back and forth to each other’s time and spend most evenings together. We usually hang out in his kitchen drinking tea and eating Fig Newtons or in mine drinking wine. We talk a lot about his investigations and I’ve helped him solve some cases, too. That was pretty cool.

Both Steven and I want to learn more about time travel. We’ve devised a plan where I’m going to travel to 1934 and leave the house for the first time. I’m a little scared−what if I can’t get back home? But mostly I’m excited. If it works out, I’m going to spend a day in his house, alone after he goes to work.

There are lots of details to think about for an adventure like this. What do I wear? How do I fix my hair? What words or expressions do I normally use without thinking that could expose me as someone masquerading as a real 1930s person? What stuff do I have to be sure to leave home? We’ve spent hours making our plan.

And of course, there’s always his job. What if somebody is murdered when I’m there? What if I become involved?

You can read more about Olivia in Threshold of Deceit, the second book in the “Blackwell and Watson Time-Travel Historical Mysteries”, released September 24, 2019.

On a sunny spring day in 1934, local lothario Frankie Russo is murdered in broad daylight. It seems no one saw anything, but things are not always what they seem in this small New York town. Tackling the investigation, Detective Steven Blackwell discovers Frankie s little black book, a coded list of dozens of flings, affairs, and one-night stands and a solid motive for the widow. Soon, what appeared to be a straight-forward case gets complicated.

Two months ago, Steven came face to face with 21st-century journalist Olivia Watson when time folded over in the house they share 80 years apart. Now, Steven and Olivia test the boundaries of time travel, risking the exposure of their secret. Olivia travels to Steven’s time, where she is embraced by the community, and unwittingly gets involved in Steven’s investigation, which puts her in danger. Can Olivia outsmart a killer before becoming the next victim? Can Steven and Olivia solve the case of the poisoned philanderer in time to protect her true identity and their time-travel secret?

Every moment’s a masquerade in Threshold of Deceit, the exciting second installment in The Blackwell and Watson Time-Travel Mystery series.

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Meet the author
Carol Pouliot holds a BA in French and Spanish and an MA in French. She has taught French, Spanish, German, and English. She also owned and operated a translating agency for 20 years in Upstate New York. Carol’s work has appeared in Victoria magazine. She is the author of The Blackwell and Watson Time-Travel Mystery series, which includes Doorway to Murder (Book #1) and Threshold of Deceit (Book #2). She is a proud member of Sisters in Crime.

To learn more about Carol and The Blackwell and Watson Time-Travel Mystery Series, visit her website at carolpouliot.com.

All comments are welcomed.