We are delighted to welcome back suspense novelist Matty Dalrymple to Omnimystery News today.
Last week Matty wrote about "The Sense of Place — The Story Behind the Story" for us, and we asked if she might provide us with an excerpt from her new mystery The Sense of Reckoning (William Kingsfield Publishers; October 2015 trade paperback and ebook formats). She generously agreed, setting the stage for a scene from the book.
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My novels The Sense of Death and The Sense of Reckoning follow the exploits of Ann Kinnear, a woman who has the ability to sense spirits. At the beginning of Book 1, The Sense of Death, Ann's ability is generally limited to sensing the lights or smells emanating from a spirit, but it develops over the course of the book to the point where she can perceive certain spirits as they appeared in life — a progression triggered when a murder victim demands that Ann help avenge her death.
A key relationship in the books is the one between Ann and her mentor, Garrick Masser. In Book 2, The Sense of Reckoning, Ann visits Garrick at his home on Mt. Desert Island, Maine, seeking help dealing with the ghostly repercussions of the events described in Book 1. Ann has been hurting her hands, and she, her brother Mike, and Mike's partner Scott have been debating the cause of the injuries. Ann thinks it might be her psychological reaction to her desire to discontinue the sensing business she has been engaged in.
Whereas Ann is conflicted about her abilities, Garrick is a true scholar of the spirit world, as demonstrated in this scene where Ann and Scott are visiting Garrick in the offices of his own spirit sensing business.
***
GARRICK STOOD. ANN GATHERED UP HER parka and knapsack and they crossed the hall to the waiting room. When Garrick opened the door, Scott turned, his hands clasped behind his back, from where he was peering at a small book on a book stand. Its pages were held open with a weighted strip of leather.
"You have very interesting reading material in your waiting room, Mr. Masser. Much better than old copies of National Geographic."
"Quite." Garrick crossed to the book stand.
"And very appropriate for your business," said Scott, gesturing to the page to which the book was open.
"'I think a person who is terrified with the imagination of ghosts and spectres,'" quoted Garrick, looking out the window, "'much more reasonable than one, who, contrary to the reports of all historians, sacred and profane, ancient and modern, and to the traditions of all nations, thinks the appearance of ghosts fabulous and groundless.'"
"Wow," said Scott, raising his eyebrows. "Very impressive."
Ann joined them. "You want me to help out with a sensing, tell me there's no reason for me not to, and then you have a book in your waiting room talking about someone who is terrified by ghosts?"
"Steel your heart, Ms. Kinnear," said Garrick tartly. He removed the strip of leather and flipped the book closed, revealing a gaudily marbled cover. "The author — a physician named John Alderson — is quoting Joseph Addison, but the purpose of the book is to refute that position. Alderson argued that the belief in apparitions arose from secondary physical causes."
"Ah HA!" said Ann.
Garrick raised his eyebrows at her. "Ah ha?"
"Sounds like an explanation for a physical reaction to sensings."
"You misunderstand the author's intent, my dear. He believed the perception of apparitions to be the result of physical causes — injuries to the head, excessive alcohol consumption, chronic medical conditions — whereas you are arguing that the physical condition is the result of the appearance of the apparition." He waved to the other books. "For any position you may care to take on the subject, I can provide a carefully researched position defending or debunking it." He closed the book and placed it on the book stand. "You may borrow it if you wish to read further."
Ann started to respond, but then realized that Garrick was talking to Scott.
"Really?" He picked it up from the book stand. "It looks quite old. Is it valuable? I'd be nervous borrowing it if it's very valuable."
Garrick waved his hand. "Not terribly old. 1823."
"Why thank you, that's very generous of you."
At the front door, Ann turned to Garrick. "So how did Alderson solve the problems of the people who were seeing spirits?"
"Bleeding, leeches, and purgatives," said Garrick briskly.
"Great," said Ann, turning to leave.
Scott followed Ann to the car, then stepped ahead of her to open the door. When he had gotten in she said, "My, aren't the two of you chummy. What would Mike think?"
"I won't tell if you won't," said Scott with a grin. "Where to now?"
"I need you to drop me off somewhere, I'll give you directions."
"What are we going to do?" said Scott, starting the car.
"You are going to drop me off and I'm going to go for a walk."
"Not with me?"
"Nope."
"Hmm, very mysterious," said Scott agreeably.
***
Although not an enthusiastic practitioner of the sensing profession, Ann finds herself in The Sense of Reckoning in a position where she must stretch her skill to actual communication with the dead in order to reveal a family secret sprung from the devastating Maine fires of 1947 and to save — or, one might say, restore — the life of someone close to her.
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Photo provided courtesy of
Matty Dalrymple
Matty Dalrymple lives with her husband and two Labrador Retrievers in Chester County, Pennsylvania, the setting for much of the action in The Sense of Death. In the summers they enjoy vacationing on Mt. Desert Island, Maine, where The Sense of Reckoning takes place. Her husband is a pilot and she has logged time in a Piper Warrior, a Cessna 150, and a 1946 Stinson Voyager … and is considering an aviation-based plot for the third Ann Kinnear book.
For more information about the author, please visit her website at MattyDalrymple.com and her author page on Goodreads, or find her on Facebook and Twitter.
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The Sense of Reckoning by Matty Dalrymple
An Ann Knnear Suspense Novel
Publisher: William Kingsfield Publishers
After solving the Philadelphia Socialite murder, Ann Kinnear should be riding high. Instead, she's depressed and considering abandoning her spirit sensing business. To add to her problems, Ann has suffered a series of injuries to her hands — could these be the ghostly repercussions of the violence that ended her last case?
Ann goes to Maine to solicit help from fellow spirit senser Garrick Masser. Ann and Garrick find more trouble than they bargained for in a tale of obsession and misplaced loyalty that has its roots in a crumbling summer hotel, international art theft, and the historic wildfire that destroyed large swaths of Mount Desert Island in 1947.
Unless Ann can fit together the pieces of the past while staying ahead of whatever — or whomever — is causing her harm, her future, and that of her friend Garrick, may be very brief indeed.
— The Sense of Reckoning by Matty Dalrymple
