Title: The Spiricom
Author: Roslyn Reid
Genre: Paranormal Mystery
Book Blurb:
She was killed on their wedding day…but he couldn’t let her go. Tall, handsome Dr. Spencer Py was a well-respected environmental scientist…until a limo crash killed his new bride Melanie and left him in a wheelchair. He is racked with despair over his failure to save her until the fateful night he discovers plans on the internet for the Spiricom, Thomas Edison’s electronic device for communicating with the departed. Determined to be united with his beloved Melanie, he builds the device—never imagining his unexpected results would draw an unsuspecting James Early into the scariest case of the Maine detective’s life.
Excerpt:
“You must be Jimmy’s niece, Saffron.”
“All day long.” She wiped her hands and shook one of his.
“My uncle said you’d be by here today.”
“Looks like you’re doing some serious repairs.”
“And I’ll be glad to take a break. I’m busier than a one-
legged guy in an ass-kicking contest.” She grinned and
perched on the fender of a nearby wreck, undoing the purple
bandana around her head and shaking loose a cascade of long
brown curls. “Excuse my French. What’s on your mind, Mr.
Early?”
“You can just call me Early. Jimmy said you were here last
year when the limo from Spenser Py’s accident came in.”
Her pretty face clouded as her gaze fell to the ground.
“Oh,” she mumbled, smoothing her dirty overalls. “Yeah, I
was here. Do we have to talk about that?”
“I’m afraid so.” Early put his hand on her shoulder. “Saffron,
I’m sorry to cause you any distress, but please try to
understand. These questions are part of my job, which is to
determine whether there was anything suspicious about the
accident.”
Saffron looked up. “Suspicious? Like what?”
“That’s what I need to find out. Do you recall seeing the
wreck come in?”
She took a deep breath. “Yes. I gave it a good looking-over
after everyone left. The blood, the hair. I even found a—a
finger.” She choked and buried her face in her hands.
Shit, I really put my foot in it. Smooth move, Early. He waited
for her to stop sobbing and pull herself together.
“Early, I can’t tell you the awfulness of it,” she sniffled.
“One of the worst things I ever seen.”
He figured she hadn’t seen many awful things in her
young life, but it was obvious the trauma of seeing the limo
would be with her for a long time. “Are you okay?”
She nodded. He gently ventured another question. “You
mentioned something you found?”
“A finger. Uncle Jimmy called the police and they sent the
EMTs to take it away.” She started to whimper, then broke
into full-press crying again. “There was a wedding ring
on it.”
She’s right, there couldn’t be many things worse to see than that. I need to distract her. Maybe if I focus on the car.
He handed her a hanky. She blew her nose and wiped her
eyes. “You’re familiar with cars,” he said. “Did you notice
anything unusual about the limo? Something that didn’t look
right?”
She thought for a moment. “Hard to say. The car got
mangled real bad, and I didn’t want to go near it again after I
found that—that finger.”
“Did you see anything odd about the brakes, or the brake
line?”
Her brow furrowed. “I don’t remember them at all.”
“I’m wondering if the line looked like it had been cut.”
She picked up on what he had laid down. “Cut, not
broken? That ain’t easy to do.”
“I know, I’ve worked on brake lines.” He gestured toward
his Chevy.
“And that barge is still running.” She flashed her gleaming
white teeth.
“What’s Jimmy been telling you?” Early growled.
“Now that I know who you are . . . well, your car is kind
of legendary around the Tarbox.”
He didn’t know whether the legend was good or bad, but
he was glad to see her smile again. “As far as you could tell,
nothing was wrong with the limo which could have caused it
to crash?”
She shrugged. “We all figured black ice. Considering what
the limo looked like when it got here, figuring out if anything
was wrong with it before the crash would have been pretty
much impossible.”
Early hated to think he’d reached another dead end, but
that was the only logical conclusion he could come to
when even a trained mechanic like Saffron wasn’t able to
spot any tampering. Or, had she been too freaked out by
the finger to examine the car closely? He had no way of
knowing.
“What did my Uncle Jimmy say about the limo?”
“He said it wasn’t even good for parts. He thought you
might have noticed something he didn’t.”
“I had no reason to be suspicious about it. Just another
wreck to us. They were everywhere that day.”
Early leaned against the fender of the car she was on.
“Your uncle said some guy showed up here a few weeks later
to ask about the wreck.”
“The insurance guy?”
“No, a different guy.”
“Oh. That guy.” She grimaced. “I didn’t say much to him.”
“Jimmy mentioned that. Do you remember anything
about the guy?”
“I sure do. He came back a couple days later when Uncle
Jimmy wasn’t here. He said his name was Al.”
Early got excited. Aha, pay dirt at last. Could this be the mysterious Cal? Finally, the murderer? “And?”
Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub):
Amazon US https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09FS4LGJR
Amazon CA https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B09FS4LGJR
Amazon UK https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09FS4LGJR
What’s your favorite thing about the fall season:
Cooler weather!
What inspired you to write this story:
The Ghost of 29 Megacycles, John Fuller’s book about George Meek and his Metascience Foundation
Giveaway –
One lucky reader will win a $75 Amazon (US) gift card.
Open internationally. You must have a valid Amazon US or CA account to win.
Runs September 1 – 30
Drawing will be held on October 1.
Author Biography:
Amazon best-selling author Roslyn Reid lives with her corgi, Great Pyrenees, and husband in Downeast Maine, where she gardens, lifts weights, & hikes. A former model, she has contributed to Llewellyn's annual almanacs for several decades and written for a few of the local newspapers. She is a Platinum Most Valuable Member & Top Contributor at the Author's Guild and can be found on Goodreads, LinkedIn, BookBub, and Pinterest.
Social Media Links:
Visit James Early’s Facebook page! https://www.facebook.com/JamesEarlyMaine
AllAuthor: https://roslynreid.allauthor.com/
Authors Guild: https://go.authorsguild.org/members/4715
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/paulnroz/boards/
Library Thing: https://www.librarything.com/profile/RoslynReid