Laying Ghosts

A strange message. A deserted beach house. A shocking incident from the past …

When a text message from a long lost friend lures Selkie Moon to Crystal Cottage, the chilling events from a house-party four years earlier wrap her in ghostly fingers and turn her life upside-down.

EXTRACT

The text message makes me jump.

Help me at Crystal Cottage. Rina.

Rina? I stare at her name. How long’s it been? Four years without a word. My best friend Marina Polivanova. Rina for short. And then she abandoned me to chase after that creep Frank. I was gutted. Still am. And I was worried about her, worried what Frank would do to her. There were a few texts, then she stopped writing altogether.

Hey, babe*, I text back.* Long time. Welcome back. How did you guess I’ve got a free weekend? Spooky.

We were always saying that: spooky. Especially when we ended each other’s sentences like twins. It reminds me just how much I’ve missed her.

The reply is swift.

Help me at Crystal Cottage. Rina.

The same words again. Spooky is right. It’s as if some troll has hacked my phone. Is the message from Rina at all? And why Crystal Cottage, the scene of that unspeakable weekend? What happened there still gives me nightmares.

Read Laying Ghosts for a 60-minute adrenaline rush and as a taste of the Selkie Moon Mystery Series: The First Lie, The Second Path and The Third Note.

You can also discover the chilling power of folklore in the companion book of adult folktales that inspired Laying Ghosts: Leaving Birds.