When Betsy's Aunt Maggie wants to drag her along on a ghost hunting excursion at the local abandoned tuberculosis hospital she isn't sure if she quite believes in ghosts. When she comes upon a fresh spirit in the form of a body, she starts to rethink about what really is haunting the hospital.
Betsy must solve the murder in spite of her father, who is a lieutenant on the Pecan Bayou Police Force, town citizens worried about the effect of the occult on their children, and handsome stranger from Dallas. How do you get blood out of a silk blouse? Betsy Livingston can tell you in her newspaper column, "The Happy Hinter". When she's not writing, or taking care of her young son, she's busy solving mysteries in the tiny Texas town of Pecan Bayou.
Teresa Trent writes her Pecan Bayou Mystery Series from Houston, Texas. With a father in the army, her family moved often finally settling in Colorado. Living in Texas for the last 18 years she loves the people and even the weather. Teresa includes Danny, a character with Down Syndrome in her Pecan Bayou family and in real life is the mother of an adult son with Down Syndrome/PDD. Creating the character of Danny and all of the other inhabitants of Pecan Bayou has been a joy for her. Even though she lives in the big city, her writing is influenced by all of the interesting people she finds in small towns and the sense of family that is woven through them all.
I loved this writing this character. Whenever I would write scenes, I would find Judd and Rocky, the newspaper editor, showing up over and over. If I had to cast this part, it would be played by the actor Tom Skerritt. Moustache and all.
Book Excerpt
A Dash of Murder
Having your dad working for the police department could be a blessing and curse all at the same time. He could be disagreeable and stubborn, which made him an outstanding police officer, but every once in a while his soft side would show, much to his dismay. He wouldn’t let me date until I was sixteen, and even then he followed along behind us in his squad car. It was a little intimidating for any young man. When he found out my husband had skipped town, he put a dragnet out on the guy. It was one of the few cases he hadn’t solved. He had worked as a lieutenant to our police chief, Arvin Wilson, for the last decade. Time spent on a small-town police force could make a man cynical and not as trusting as the rest of us. I loved my dad and all the things he was for me and Zach, but still I wouldn’t want to be on the wrong side of the law from him. He had worked a few murder cases in the past that were mostly the result of domestic disturbances and some “good ol’ boys gone bad.” An all-out whodunit was probably a welcome challenge for him.
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