The Superstition Mysteries Are Coming

by Rory Chasen, superstition agnostic and pet store manager, whose adventures are memorialized in the Superstition Mysteries by Linda O. Johnston 

Hello.  I'm Rory Chasen, and I'm new to Killer Characters, although I suspect I'll be here again, possibly a lot.  As long as it doesn't bring me bad luck, of course. 

Not that I believe in the validity of superstitions.  At least, not entirely.  I'm skeptical about them, and that's exactly why I happened to venture to Destiny, California, with my wonderful dog Pluckie. 

You see, my beloved fiancé Warren happened to have died not long after walking under a ladder.  Did he die because he walked under it?  The ladder didn't hit him, but a car did.  Even so, since the superstition exists that it's bad luck to walk under a ladder, I wasn't sure.  My good friend Gemma Grayfield suggested that I go to Destiny to check it out, since Destiny is all about superstitions.

Not only that, but upon reaching Destiny Pluckie and I were immediately immersed in the possibility of another superstition being true.  I intended to visit the Broken Mirror Bookstore on Destiny Boulevard, which was owned by Kenneth Tarzal, author of the premier book on superstitions, The Destiny of Superstitions.  However, before we got there Pluckie kept tugging on her leash until I entered the shop next door, the Lucky Dog Boutique.  Pluckie led me into the back room, where the shop's owner, Martha Jallopia, was ill and nearly unconscious on the floor.  But she said she knew she was going to be okay since she'd been on her way to a business meeting, and happened to just see a very lucky black-and-white dog: Pluckie. 

Martha soon asked me to run the Lucky Dog Boutique for her.  Since my career back home in L.A. had been as an assistant manager at a store in a large pet store chain, I agreed, at least for a while.  I liked Martha, after all.

And later, when Martha was accused of murdering Tarzal... well, I just had to help clear her. 

The story of what happened will be memorialized in the book Lost Under A Ladder, to be published in October of this year.  Its author Linda O. Johnston has written stories chronicling how murders investigated by other amateurs were resolved, so I'm hopeful that her telling of my story will stick to the facts and not just the superstitions.   

At least I'll cross my fingers that she'll do a good job with it...

 

 

Since Lost Under A Ladder isn't available yet, Linda tells me that she is giving away a copy of TEACUP TURBULENCE, the most recent Pet Rescue Mystery, as part of the Killer Characters Cozy Days of Summer giveaway...  She says you should leave a comment before midnight tonight for a chance to win.  She also asked me to tell you to be sure to look for the new Pet Rescue Mystery novella CHIHUAHUA CHAOS.  It's only $1.99 on Amazon!

 

LOST UNDER A LADDER, the first Superstition Mystery by Linda O. Johnston, will be an October 14 release from Midnight Ink and is available for pre-order now.