#SaturdaySpotlight: Susan Coryell with Beneath the Stones!

Good Morning!

Today let's welcome Susan Coryell to our blog with her novel, Beneath the Stones.....

Q: What genre is BENEATH THE STONES?

A: Actually the novel is a stand-alone sequel to A RED, RED ROSE. Both are cross-genre cozy mystery/Southern Gothics.

Q: What are the outstanding themes in BENEATH THE STONES? 
A: The major theme is that what happened in the past can come back to haunt us in the present. Layers of history--events, people, even emotions can affect us now and in the future.

Q: Setting?

A: Set at contemporary Moore Mountain Lake in Southern Virginia, BENEATH THE STONES reflects Civil War happenings at Overhome Estate where Ashby Overton lives.

Q: Tell us a bit about your protagonist, Ashby.

A: Having inherited Overhome Estate, her decades-old ancestral home, twenty-five year old Ashby deals with spirits from the past as she tries to save her beloved home from financial ruin and prepare for her wedding at summer's end. She is plucky, resourceful, optimistic, and increasingly aware of her sixth sense.

Q: Why would we want to read BENEATH THE STONES?

A: There are mystery, history, romance and ghosts. What's not to love?

BIO:

A career educator, Susan has taught students from 7^th grade through college-level. She earned a BA degree in English from Carson-Newman College and a Masters from George Mason University. She is listed in several different volumes of Who’s Who in Education and Who’s Who in Teaching.  Susan belongs to Author’s Guild, Virginia Writers, and Lake Writers. She loves to talk with budding writers at schools, writers’ conferences and workshops. Her young adult anti-bully novel EAGLEBAIT is in its third edition for print and e-book, updated with cyber-bullying. EAGLEBAIT won the NY Public Library's "Books for the Teen Age," and the International Reading Association's "Young Adult Choice."

A RED, RED ROSE, first in a cozy mystery/Southern Gothic series, won a literary award with the Library of Virginia. BENEATH THE STONES, the sequel, was released in April of 2015.

The author has long been interested in concerns about culture and society in the South, where hard-felt, long-held feelings battle with modern ideas.  The ghosts slipped in, to her surprise.

When not writing, Susan enjoys boating, kayaking, golf and yoga. She and her husband, Ned, love to travel, especially when any of their seven grandchildren are involved.

Please visit Susan Coryell’s website: www.susancoryellauthor.com and blog: www.susancoryellauthor.blogspot.com or contact her on Facebook and Twitter.

Ashby Overton has everything to look forward to, including a promising writing career and her wedding at summer’s end. But, Overhome, her beloved historic family estate in Southern Virginia, is in financial peril and it is up to Ashby to find a solution.

Interfering with Ashby’s plans is a dark paranormal force that thwarts her every effort to save Overhome.  Supernatural attacks emanate from an old stone cottage on the property rumored to be a slave overseer’s abode, prior to the Civil War. As the violence escalates, Ashby begins to fear for her life. Who is this angry spirit and why is his fury focused on Ashby?

Mystery, suspense and romance flourish against a backdrop of Civil War turmoil and ancestral strife--where immortality infiltrates the ancient air breathed by all who inhabit Overhome Estate.

Excerpt: 

Luke climbed down cautiously, the old boards of the steps groaning and

creaking under his weight. When he reached the bottom, he turned, held out

his arms and said, “Come on down, Ashby. Just go slow.”

“Not to worry. I’ve done this before,” I told him, reaching for the first

step with my foot. Carefully, I moved toward the bottom, one step at a time, leaning against the wall for support. I was half-way there when it happened—so suddenly that I had no time to react. Frigid air swooshed down on me from

behind, freezing my face so that I screwed my eyes tight shut at the same

time something strong and determined pushed against my back violently—so

violently that I stumbled, then tumbled forward, to be caught in Luke’s

outstretched arms from several stairs below.

“Whoa!” Luke exhaled from the impact of my body on his. “My God, Ashby.

What happened?”

I slumped against him, unable to utter a single word, my breathing shallow

and rapid. At last I found my voice. “Something pushed me, Luke. I don’t

know what—or who—but it was powerful and deliberate.”

Luke glanced up to the top of the stairs. “Nothing there. I’m going back to

the loft to look.”

I stopped him. “I doubt you’ll find anything.” I sniffed the air, expecting

a new infusion of foul odor. “And what would you do if you did find

anything?”

Just then we both heard it. Hollow, chilling, trailing away from us with

every syllable: “Go away. He’s dead. He’s dead. He’s dead....”

Well Friends, hope you enjoyed the spotlight!

Visit next week for more Tuesday Treasures, Thursday Thoughts and Saturday Spotlight!

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Until later.... take care & God Blesss!

PamT