I’m Visiting Teri Polen at Bad Moon Rising Today

October 7, 2026October 7, 2026 ~ John W. Howell

I am at Teri’s place today. Bad Moon Rising is a feature now in its Eleventh year. An outstanding lineup of authors answers three of Teri’s fun questions and three about writing.

Here they are:

So come join in on the fun. Comments are closed here, but you can leave them at Teri’s place. Here is the link: https://teripolen.com/2026/10/07/badmoonrising-detour-on-the-eternal-road-by-john-w-howell-supernatural-paranormal-giveaway/

Teri not only blogs but is also a terrific author.

Teri’s books can be found at https://www.amazon.com/stores/Teri-Polen/author/B01MYOUA6V

About Teri

Teri Polen reads and watches horror, sci-fi, and fantasy. The Walking Dead, Harry Potter, and anything Marvel-related are likely to cause fangirl delirium. She lives in Bowling Green, KY, with her husband, sons, and black cat. Her debut novel, Sarah, was named a horror finalist in the 2017 Next Generation Indie Book Awards.

You can contact Teri at tpolen6@gmail.com, on Goodreads, or on Facebook.

Guest post – Mae Clair – The Keeping Place #newbook

February 28, 2024February 27, 2024 ~ John W. Howell ~ 106 Comments

I’m very pleased to have the very talented author Mae Clair as a guest. She has a new book and would like to give you the details. If you have read Mae’s work, you know her books are wonderful. If you have not read her work, this might be a good time to start. Thanks for the visit, Mae. The post is yours.

Hi, John! Thank you so much for hosting me on your blog today. I’m delighted to be here, sharing my upcoming release The Keeping Place, a dual timeline mystery which is now available for pre-order! Most readers know me as someone who loves weaving urban legends and threads of the supernatural into my stories. The Keeping Place took an entirely different turn.

Well… there is a small thread that does involve an old town legend and a ghost, but nothing that takes center stage as in my other books. The story is more of a “quiet” mystery than I usually write.

In the tale, Nicole Seabrooke returns home after ten years of estrangement from her mother, Glory Larkin, who was once a B-movie-actress. A decade earlier, Nicole’s younger sister, Janie, vanished on a night Nicole was supposed to be looking after her. It’s always been believed Janie drowned in a nearby creek, but Janie’s remains have recently been discovered with new evidence suggesting homicide.

In the excerpt below, Jude Beck, Hornwood’s Chief of Police visits Glory and Nicole to ask about a bracelet he found which bears an unusual inscription. Janie wore a similar one.

EXCERPT:

Jude dug a clear bag from his pocket, placing it on the table. Nicole leaned forward to eye the contents—an old bracelet with tarnished silver links and an engraved plate. Her breath caught when the inscription registered.

“A foot in the past.” A stupid saying, or so she’d once thought. The phrase had never made sense to her, but it mattered to her sister. Heart thudding, she looked from the bag to Jude. “That’s the same line Janie had on her bracelet. I took her to Bottleneck to have it inscribed a few weeks before she went missing.”

Her mom made a soft sound, one trembling hand pressed to her lips. “You told me the bracelet was with Janie when she was found,” she said to Jude.

“It was. This is a different one.”

“Belonging to Hayden.” A hard edge crept into Glory’s voice.

“I don’t think so.” Jude’s expression was thoughtful. “This was clearly designed for a woman. It could be Cora’s, but the matching inscription to Janie’s bracelet throws another red flag in Hayden’s corner.”

“Have you talked to Cora?” Nicole asked.

“Not yet. First, I want to know what the inscription meant to Janie. I checked online, thinking it might have been a popular phrase at the time, or part of a quote, but there’s nothing remotely in the ballpark. She must have talked about it to the two of you.” He glanced between them.

“It was just some phrase she latched onto.” Nicole’s mouth was dry. Why hadn’t she paid more attention? She’d been so focused on the senior party and Vin, she’d barely had time for her little sister. She remembered whining to Glory when her mom insisted she take Janie shopping for the bracelet.

“Glory?” Jude prodded.

“I…” Her mom lowered her head, fingers working at massaging her temple. “I don’t remember anything special about it.” Her mouth drew down, cutting crevasses in the corners. Heavy lines pregnant with shadow that left her skin ashen by contrast. “I was busy with Movie Night, and…”

An unexpected swell of protectiveness flowed over Nicole when she floundered.

Glory Larkin had never been an average mother. She loved the limelight too much, but looking at her now—mussed hair, streaked mascara, and trembling hands—Nicole was overcome by a sharp-edged knot of love and pity. Surprisingly, love was still there, stronger than she’d imagined, buried under years of distance, layers of hurt.

“I wish I knew more.” Glory raised teary eyes to Jude, her mortification evident. “I know a mother should be able to—”

“You have to understand Janie was a collector.” Nicole jumped to her mom’s defense. “She was always latching onto some new idea or trinket. Remember her notebooks?” She talked faster, feeling Glory’s gaze, wanting to lift the burden of embarrassment from her without understanding why. “Janie used to keep lists of things that interested her. And she’d pick up stray baubles. Junk. She used to scour the railbed behind the Boone Line shack looking for cast off trash.”

“What are you saying?” Jude asked.

Nicole wet her lips, conscious that Glory studied her openly. “I loved Janie, but she was peculiar. She might have heard that phrase—a foot in the past—or read it in a book and it became her new mantra. It’s just the way she was.”

++++

As in most dual timeline mysteries, The Keeping Place delivers a mystery in the present as well as the past. I hope the blurb will tempt you further:

Even if it means killing again.

++++

Thanks again for hosting me today, John. I appreciate the opportunity to share The Keeping Place with your readers. I’ve held onto this novel for two years, uncertain how I wanted to publish it. As an author, I naturally like every book I’ve written, but The Keeping Place is my personal favorite—perhaps because it’s so different in tone from my other mysteries.

I still utilize dual timelines, but rather than having centuries between them, my timelines are separated by a mere ten years.

It’s my sincere hope readers will enjoy the story.

RELEASE DATE IS MARCH 5^TH

PRE-ORDER FROM AMAZON

Connect with Mae Clair at BOOKBUB and the following haunts:

Death at the Asylum by Noelle Granger #newbook

April 26, 2023April 26, 2023 ~ John W. Howell ~ 88 Comments

I am very pleased to have Noelle Granger join me today. She is launching a new book and is here to tell you about it. Noelle, the floor is yours.

Thank you so much, John. Death at the Asylum is the fifth book in the Rhe Brewster series. The others are Death in a Red Canvas Chair, Death in a Dacron Sail, Death by Pumpkin, and Death in a Mudflat.

Here is the blurb.

Attending the opening of a new commercial center, Rhe Brewster, an ER nurse and police investigator, and her husband Sam, chief of the Pequod police department, save the governor of Maine from a sniper attack. They are assigned to a task force to find the sniper, at the same time trying to identify the person who has stolen Rhe’s personal data and is using it to run up thousands of dollars in debt and even steal their home. Rhe treats a student from Pequod University raped following a night at a local bar and soon discovers there is a serial rapist on the loose. The threats to Rhe and Sam escalate as a sociopath from Rhe’s past reemerges in a strange twist. Are any of these perpetrators linked?

Maine’s most tenacious sleuth is back, surrounded by the colorful characters who populate the coastal town of Pequod. In this fifth installment of the Rhe Brewster Mysteries, Rhe’s strength and determination are tested to their limits while she tries to protect her unborn child.

To give you a flavor of the story, here is an excerpt.

“You don’t want to do that, Morris,” the figure in black said. “So far, you’ve not killed anyone. That’s in your favor.”

“If I’d had my way, this bitch’d be lying cold in her grave by now. Seems having the wheel come off that Jeep weren’t enough. Go ahead and shoot me, but it won’t stop me pulling the trigger and blowing her brains out. If you drop your gun, you might buy Rhe here some more time. I’d enjoy that.”

During this exchange, my heart rate soared, along with my adrenaline levels. My heart pounded so loudly I could hardly hear what they said. I had no doubt the bullet from the gun against my face would do its damage long before Morris himself was hit.

A twinkle of movement caught the corner of my eye. I turned my head ever so slightly to the left, toward one of the front windows. Deputy Birch’s face appeared in one of the broken windows, and she motioned me to duck.

Purchase links

Kindle

Paper

Bio

N.A. GRANGER is a Professor Emerita at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. After forty years of research and teaching undergraduates and medical students, plus earning her EMT license, she decided to use her knowledge of human anatomy and emergency medicine in mystery writing. In addition to the Rhe Brewster mystery series (Death in a Red Canvas Chair, Death in a Dacron Sail, Death by Pumpkin, Death in a Mudflat), she has written for Coastal Living and Sea Level magazines and several times for the Bella Online Literary Review. She recently published her first historical fiction novel, The Last Pilgrim, which received critical acclaim. The mystery series has its own website: http:www.na-granger.com. You can find more of her writing at saylingaway.wordpress.com. She lives in Durham, North Carolina, with her husband and a Maine coon cat who blogs

The trailer

Welcome to Harmony Kent and Her New Release – The Vanished Boy

April 14, 2021April 11, 2021 ~ John W. Howell ~ 82 Comments

I am very pleased to welcome Harmony Kent to my blog to talk about her latest mystery suspense novel. So without further delay . . .

Hi everyone. Harmony here. Thanks so much, John, for letting me visit with you today. I’m so thrilled to share the launch of my latest book with you all.

The Vanished Boy is a mystery suspense novel based around a teenaged boy, who’s gone missing. The book follows the mother as she trawls through her missing son’s online life and realises, to her horror, how out of the loop she’s become.

The inspiration for this novel came from watching a number of movies based on how our lives both revolve around and are influenced by the Internet and mobile devices. Although these movies covered many genres such as murder/mystery, thriller, and the supernatural, they all centered around the same theme: Apps and living life online. This led me to ponder how many of us spend our lives in digital pursuits rather than physical—both the old and the young? For many people, their actual physical lives become but a shadow compared to their online existence.

Mostly, the shift to a digital world happens slowly. It’s incremental and, too often, insidious. All of which led me to ask how well do we actually know our children? Our loved ones? Those around us? What might be going on in the shadows?

From that inspiration and questioning, this story was born. Much of life and our actions originate from the same needs and wants: to be loved and accepted, the ability to differentiate between truth and lies, and the things we do to cover our mistakes and make ourselves look better than the reality instead of owning who we are. The good, the bad, and the ugly.

Below is an excerpt from the book:

His words remind Carole she was supposed to have submitted the final draft of the marketing agreement over the weekend. No wonder Dan sounds so annoyed with her. But it’s so unfair. She’s never let him down once until now. And, quite frankly, until she has Jayden back safe and sound, her boss and her work can go to hell.

She mumbles a curt ‘thanks’ and hangs up. More tears spill onto her cheeks and drip off her chin. Carole grabs more kitchen towels and scrubs at her face with hard, angry strokes. She balls up all the coffee-and-snot-sodden sheets and throws them into the bin. With a sigh, Carole grabs her mug, rinses and dries it, and fixes a fresh cup of coffee.

Exhaustion drags her down, and she falls onto the chair rather than sits. The kitchen clock accuses her of wasting hours. At a little past nine, she hasn’t opened the laptop yet. Guilt pierces her guts, and her stomach roils sickeningly. Carole bites her lower lip and drags the machine toward her. At least she left it plugged in when she fell asleep. When she lifts the lid, and the screen loads, the battery indicator glows green and full.

Carole keeps digging, though somewhat aimlessly after yesterday’s dead end. She’d felt so sure those two accounts would have led the police toward Jayden. Something nags at her, but every time she tries to focus on it, the damn thing slithers away like a spiteful snake. Her phone rings. Again.

The blurb.

It’s so remote out here. Anything could happen …

A missed phone call in the night is all it takes.

When Carole’s 18-year-old son goes missing, she breaks into Jayden’s laptop to try to understand his life.

All too soon, Carole discovers just how little she knew her boy.

And when one lead after another dead-ends, the distraught mother has to face the unthinkable.

Sucked into a sticky web of deceit and lies, nothing is as it seems.

When your life turns

inside out and upside down,

who would you trust?

Author Bio

After spending around thirteen years as an ordained Buddhist monk, living in a Zen Buddhist temple, and six years after a life-changing injury following a surgical error, Harmony Kent returned to the world at the tender age of forty.

Now, she is famous for her laughter, and has made quite the name for herself … she’s also, um, a writer … and fairly well known for that too. She’s even won a few awards. Harmony lives in rural Cornwall with her adorable husband, ever-present sense of humour, and quirky neighbours.

Harmony is passionate about supporting her fellow authors.

Links

Website: https://harmonykent.co.uk/

Story Empire (co-authored): https://storyempirecom.wordpress.com/

Amazon Author Page: author.to/HarmonysBooks

Twitter: @harmony_kent

Goodreads: Author Page

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/harmony-kent

The Vanished Boy Sales Link: http://mybook.to/TheVanishedBoy

Cover Reveal – Mae Clair’s End of Day

September 10, 2018September 6, 2018 ~ John W. Howell ~ 20 Comments

Book cover for End of Day, mystery/suspense novel by Mae Clair shows old dilapidated church with bell tower and a cemetery in the background overgrown with weeds

Release Date: January 15, 2019
Genre: Mystery/Suspense/Supernatural Thriller
Publisher: Kensington Publishing • Lyrical Underground Imprint

BLURB:
The past is never truly buried…

Generations of Jillian Cley’s family have been tasked with a strange duty—tending the burial plot of Gabriel Vane, whose body was the first to be interred in the Hode’s Hill cemetery. Jillian faithfully continues the long-standing tradition—until one October night, Vane’s body is stolen from its resting place. Is it a Halloween prank? Or something more sinister?

As the descendants of those buried in the church yard begin to experience bizarre “accidents,” Jillian tries to uncover the cause. Deeply empathic, she does not make friends easily, or lightly. But to fend off the terror taking over her town, she must join forces with artist Dante DeLuca, whose sensitivity to the spirit world has been both a blessing and a curse. The two soon realize Jillian’s murky family history is entwined in a tragic legacy tracing back to the founding of Hode’s Hill. In order to set matters right, an ancient wrong must be avenged…or Jillian, Dante, and everyone in town will forever be at the mercy of a vengeful spirit.

End of Day can be read as a stand alone novel or as a follow-up to book one of the Hode’s Hill series, Cusp of Night.

End of Day is available for pre-order through this link
and available to add to your Goodreads to-be-read list here.

Connect with Mae Clair at BOOKBUB and the following haunts:

Views of the Neighborhood – Guest Post by Mae Clair

June 3, 2018May 31, 2018 ~ John W. Howell ~ 131 Comments

I know it is a little odd to see a guest post on the day I usually run a Views of the Neighborhood. I’ve done this for two reasons. 1. My friend Mae Clair is launching a new book and I want to help spread the word. 2. I am in Phoenix this weekend with no opportiunity to capture some sights there. So I am proud to turn my blog over to Mae Clair.

Many thanks for having me as your guest today, John! I’ve been making the rounds with my new mystery/suspense release, Cusp of Night, a book that uses dual timelines and elements of the supernatural.

For the past timelines, I delve into aspects of Spiritualism in the late 19^th Century. This was a time when sham mediums were so common many of them advertised their services in the classified ads of local papers. People were intrigued by oddities, flocking to any traveling circus or sideshow, lured by promises of seeing three-legged men, conjoined twins, or bearded women. Is it any wonder they believed someone could breach the Aether and connect with spirits in Summerland?

Some mediums of the day were magicians, others genuine, still others, charlatans. The frauds were deft in plying their trade and used multiple trick to swindle their customers. Below are just a few of the most popular: Victorian woman holding candlestick looking out rainy window.

A medium would research the background of “sitters” who planned to attend their séances. This included visiting cemeteries to learn family ancestry and asking seemingly innocent questions of townspeople to garner inside information.

Mediums often had trap doors and sliding panels installed in the rooms they used for séances. This allowed assistants, made up with costumes and wigs, to appear from the darkness in the guise of spirits summoned from the grave.

Other times, a medium might use balloons, painted with faces. These would bob from the darkness on invisible wires or would be held by assistants cloaked head to toe in black. Sitters would take the ghostly representatives as the embodiment of departed loved ones.

A skilled medium—many had honed their trades as magicians or ventriloquists—could throw their voice to make a disembodied balloon (or other object) seem a spectre from beyond the grave.

Cheesecloth was often used to create “ectoplasm.” Mediums concealed this in their mouth or other body cavity (yes, even intimate ones) to produce ghostly manifestations. In later years, mediums would strip nude, allowing themselves to be probed to make certain nothing was hidden anywhere. The skilled still had a way of getting around these examinations.

A medium easily produced “table tilting”—a common trick spirits employed to announce their presence—through use of a hook attached to a belt or a foot. Invisible wires were common ploys to produce everything from ringing bells and chimes to having objects soar through a dark room.

Charlatans knew what they were doing, but Lucinda Glass, the medium in my book, had to learn the tricks of the trade to rise above the circumstances of her birth. She’s mentored by a man who is determined to make her the toast of society. Unfortunately, not all turns out as planned.

Here’s the blurb:

Banner ad for cusp of Night, a mystery/suspense novel by author, Mae Cllair BLURB
Recently settled in Hode’s Hill, Pennsylvania, Maya Sinclair is enthralled by the town’s folklore, especially the legend about a centuries-old monster. A devil-like creature with uncanny abilities responsible for several horrific murders, the Fiend has evolved into the stuff of urban myth. But the past lives again when Maya witnesses an assault during the annual “Fiend Fest.” The victim is developer Leland Hode, patriarch of the town’s most powerful family, and he was attacked by someone dressed like the Fiend.

Compelled to discover who is behind the attack and why, Maya uncovers a shortlist of enemies of the Hode clan. The mystery deepens when she finds the journal of a late nineteenth-century spiritualist who once lived in Maya’s house–a woman whose ghost may still linger.

Known as the Blue Lady of Hode’s Hill due to a genetic condition, Lucinda Glass vanished without a trace and was believed to be one of the Fiend’s tragic victims. The disappearance of a young couple, combined with more sightings of the monster, trigger Maya to join forces with Leland’s son Collin. But the closer she gets to unearthing the truth, the closer she comes to a hidden world of twisted secrets, insanity, and evil that refuses to die . . .

PURCHASE HERE

bio box for author, Mae Clair

Cusp of Night by Mae Clair – Cover Reveal

March 1, 2018 ~ John W. Howell ~ 59 Comments

Today I’m very happy to be part of Mae Clair’s cover release announcement for Cusp of Night. Check the links and you’ll soon see the talent of Mae Clair. All her books are terrific.

Cusp of Night
by Mae Clair
Release Date: June 12, 2018
Mystery> Thriller & Suspense > Paranormal

book cover for Cusp of Night, a mystery/suspense novel by Mae Clair

BLURB:
Recently settled in Hode’s Hill, Pennsylvania, Maya Sinclair is enthralled by the town’s folklore, especially the legend about a centuries-old monster. A devil-like creature with uncanny abilities responsible for several horrific murders, the Fiend has evolved into the stuff of urban myth. But the past lives again when Maya witnesses an assault during the annual “Fiend Fest.” The victim is developer Leland Hode, patriarch of the town’s most powerful family, and he was attacked by someone dressed like the Fiend.

ADD TO YOUR GOODREADS LIST

Connect with Mae Clair at the following haunts:

Promotional banner for author Mae Clair with bio and author photo, spooky house as header in wash of red