Table of Contents
Praise for the Ghost Hunter Mysteries
Ghouls Just Haunt to Have Fun
M.J.s back and reluctantly ready for her close-up in the latest funny, yet chilling, adventure by gifted storyteller Laurie.... Goose bumps and ghosts are plentiful in this creepy, utterly entertaining murder mystery.
Romantic Times (4 stars)
[A] fun, suspenseful, fast-paced paranormal mystery. All the elements combine to make this entry in the Ghost Hunter series a winner.
The Romance Readers Connection
A hair-raising tale that will keep readers engrossed in the ghost-driven action. Ghouls Just Haunt to Have Fun has as much dark and danger-filled action as ever, and introduces a wonderful new character that readers will be hoping to see more of in the future. This is a must read in the series!
Darque Reviews
A lighthearted, humorous haunted hotel horror thriller kept focused by graveyard serious M.J.
Genre Go Round Reviews
Demons Are a Ghouls Best Friend
Ms. Laurie has penned a fabulous read and packed it with ghost-hunting action at its best. With a chilling mystery, a danger-filled investigation, a bit of romance, and a wonderful dose of humor, theres little chance that readers will be able to set this book down.
Darque Reviews
M.J.s first-person worldview is both unique and enticing. With truly likable characters, plenty of chills, and even a hint of romance, real-life psychic Laurie guarantees that readers are in for a spooktacularly thrilling ride.
Romantic Times (4 stars)
Whats a Ghoul to Do?
A bewitching book blessed with many blithe spirits. Will leave you breathless.
Nancy Martin, author of the Blackbird Sisters Mysteries
Lauries new sleuth, M. J. Holliday, is a winner.... Laurie makes everything that her characters do ring true, which can be a feat in a paranormal story. This highly entertaining book has humor and wit to spare.
Romantic Times
Praise for the Psychic Eye Mysteries
Victoria Laurie has crafted a fantastic tale in... [her] latest Psychic Eye Mystery. There are few things in life that upset Abby Cooper, but ghosts and her parents feature high on her list... giving the reader a few real frights and a lot of laughs....
Fresh Fiction
Fabulous.... Fans will highly praise this fine ghostly murder mystery.
The Best Reviews
A great new series... plenty of action.
Midwest Book Review
An invigorating entry into the cozy mystery realm.... I cannot wait for the next book.
Roundtable Reviews
A fresh, exciting addition to the amateur sleuth genre.
J. A. Konrath, author of Dirty Martini
Worth reading over and over again.
Bookviews
The Ghost Hunter Mystery Series
Whats a Ghoul to Do?
Demons Are a Ghouls Best Friend
Ghouls Just Haunt to Have Fun
The Psychic Eye Mystery Series
Abby Cooper, Psychic Eye
Better Read Than Dead
A Vision of Murder
Killer Insight
Crime Seen
Death Perception
Doom with a View
For my cousin, Hilary Laurie,
the funnier half of the Tee-Vee Variety Show
Acknowledgments
Most of my novels are inspired by some paranormal event that Ive personally experienced or heard about and this particular story is no exception.
About four years ago I had the scariest and most real dream I can ever recall. I vividly remember being in a cold, damp house that was rapidly decaying. The walls were gray and crumbling, the floor was littered with debris, and the atmosphere was so oppressive it felt claustrophobic.
I dont quite remember the beginning of that dreamhow I came to be in that exact spotbut I do remember my sense of panic. I knew I had to get a mother and her two children out of that house, but they were hidden away in a room that I couldnt find. I could hear them, thoughthe laughter of the children at play, and their mothers voice in the backgroundand my panic worsened.
About the time that I finally found the door to the room they were in, someone came into the hallway where I was. It was a woman and evil wafted off her in thick heavy waves. I remember being acutely afraid of her, and I shouted in alarm for her to leave the children alone. I know she thought very little of my efforts to warn them; in fact, I knew intuitively that she thought very little of me in general.
And her presence only made my own panic mount. The mother and her children seemed completely unaware of her presence and I just knew the little ones were in danger.
But I wasnt able to warn thembecause in the next instant, I woke up. It was the middle of the night and my heart was still racing from the dream. I can remember thinking, That was bizarre! and I probably chalked the whole thing up to the bean burrito Id had for dinner. But the dream lingered in my thoughts, and I never really did get back to sleep.
The next night I was watching one of my favorite showsMost Haunted. It comes on Friday nights usually around ten p.m. and it is one spooky hour, let me tell you! The premise of the show is that a team of British paranormal investigators travel around Britain to the most haunted locations they can find and document anything thats willing to go bump in the night on camera.
This particular episode was a two parterId missed the previous show, but they ran a few clips of what had taken place. The team was at a remote farm and there were two separate buildings that they were investigating. One was an old crumbling barnlike structure; the other was an abandoned house. A family lived in another house nearbya father, a mother, and their two young daughtersand they were quite frightened by the negative energy that seemed to permeate the two crumbling buildings and the surrounding grounds.
The night I tuned in, the team was investigating the abandoned house. The barn was said to have been the place where a coven of witches killed the small children theyd kidnapped from the surrounding countryside. The head of their coven was said to be a particularly evil and cruel woman, and it was thought she liked to torture the children before she sacrificed them.
I remember a shivery chill going up my spine as the clips of the previous nights investigation rolled across the TV screenbut that was nothing to what I felt the moment the Most Haunted team entered the abandoned house. The camera zoomed in on the crumbling gray walls, the debris-littered floors, and the claustrophobic feel that permeated the place.
I remember staring wide-eyed at the televisionnot believing what I was actually seeing. It was an exact replica of the house Id been trapped inside the night before in my dream!
I then quickly muted the TV and called my close friend (and agent) Jim. I explained everything that had happened to me in the dream the previous night and how I was looking at the very same location on the television as in my dream. What should I do? I asked him, pacing the floor and eyeing the screen nervously.
I know exactly what you should do, he said with confidence.
What?
Stop watching that show!
Ah, if only it were that easy. I dont know how or why I ended up having that experience, but I truly believe there is a lot more to this paranormal stuff than meets the eye. And it was such a powerful experience that I knew someday Id get around to telling the story. Or at least an idea inspired by that experience. (And on a quick side note, the village of Queens Close is a complete fabrication, just in case any of you were thinking of taking off for that particular part of haunted Scotland.)
