Gina Rae Mitchell

Scarlet at Crystal River by Randy Overbeck | Review, $20 Giveaway, & Excerpt

A book blog tour from Goddess Fish Promotions.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and Marianne & Judy at Goddess Fish for providing me with the information for this tour.

Book Details

Scarlet at Crystal River by Randy Overbeck
Series: Haunted Shores Mysteries #3
Published by The Wild Rose Press on 09/13/2021
Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy
Format: eBook, Paperback
Pages: 343

All Darrell Henshaw wanted was to enjoy his honeymoon with his beautiful wife, Erin, in the charming town of Crystal River on the sunny Gulf Coast of Florida. Only a pair of ghosts decide to intrude on their celebration. And not just any ghosts, the spirits of two young Latino children.

Unwilling at first to derail the honeymoon for yet another ghost hunt, Darrell finally concedes when a painting of the kids comes alive, weeping and pleading for his help.

When he and Erin track down the artist, they discover the children’s family were migrant workers the next county over. But when they travel there, their questions about the kids get their car shot up and Erin hospitalized.

Torn between fear and rage, Darrell must decide how far he will go to get justice for two young children he never even knew.

Source: Goddess Fish Promotions, Received from the author or publisher for review.

 

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Excerpt from Scarlet at Crystal River

Darrell ran harder, finishing the loop and circling back to Erin. She was so engrossed in her paperback he managed to sneak up behind her. He leaned and in and grabbed another long kiss.

She kissed him back, smiling. “Now that’s better than a little fictional romance.” She got up and stretched her long legs.

“You ready for some waves?” he asked.

“If you’re up to it, let’s do a mile or so on the sand first.”

“You’re on.” Darrell gave a gentlemanly wave of his hand.

“I’ll race you.”

Erin took off like a shot, and Darrell hurried after her. Since the beach was small, they covered the same ground Darrell had a few minutes earlier, passing the family sandcastle builders, another jogger, and the same strolling couples. As usual, she was quick, and he had to hustle to keep up, using some fancy footwork to sidestep sunbathers as they ran. When they got to the north end of the beach where Darrell had turned to double back, Erin headed for a little spit of land that strutted out into the water. He looked beyond and saw what she was headed for. Accelerating, he passed her.

Ahead, at the far end of the beach, a pair of young kids, he’d guess about six, sat in the sand as the waves rolled over their legs. Their small hands busied with a primitive sandcastle. One had long, brown hair tied into pigtails, and the other had a full head of brown hair, unkempt and in need of a trim. He came up to them and stopped, Erin a few seconds behind.

The kids wore street clothes, not swimsuits, but he didn’t think much about it. Then he noticed something about the young boy. His right leg was stuck out at a grotesque angle as if it had been broken and never set. Both kids giggled at the gurgling water that rolled up around their bare feet and pooled in the makeshift moat they’d dug around their sand creation. The castle was crude, a nearly round construction with seashells sticking up like turrets. The two kids glanced up, caramel eyes wide and pleading with half-smiles of white teeth.

In unison, they said, “Ayudaños?”

“Huh?” Darrell said.

“Cute castle, huh?” Erin stared at the sand and looked up at Darrell. “I wonder who made it?” Her eyes roamed around the area. “Out here on this spit of land it isn’t going to last very long.”

“Those kids—” he started, pointing to the pair. When he looked down, the sandcastle sat alone, the gulf water flowing around the construction and into the crude moat.

His glance darted out to the waves, thinking they’d abandoned their work and ran into the water, even in their street clothes, though he wondered how the boy could have run.

No girl or boy.

Oh, God! The same two kids? “You vill have two visitors.”

“What’d you say?” Erin asked, her gaze meeting his.

The ghosts. Erin hadn’t seen them!

Shit, he couldn’t tell her. Not now. Not here.

“Nothing,” he managed around the lump in his throat and glanced back down at the sand.

There at his feet, the crude sand construction they’d been working on, complete with the three blue seashells sticking out of the top, sat alone on the sand. He reached down and grabbed one of the small seashells as the prickle on his neck returned and sizzled. Then he sensed something else, something ominous. No, not ominous, malevolent. More of Natalia’s warning came back to him.

“I see a malevolence, a great danger lurking nearby.”

A big wave rushed in, rolling over their ankles and leveling the mound of sand, leaving the beach empty. As if nothing had ever been there.

“¡Ayúdaños!”

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Purchase Links for Scarlet at Crystal River

Amazon     Bookshop/IndieBound

Kobo    AppleBooks/iTunes     The Book Depository

Waterstones     GoogleBooks

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My thoughts on Scarlet at Crystal River

A fast-paced suspenseful mystery to keep the reader on the edge of their seat.

Scarlet at Crystal River is the third book in the Haunted Shores Mysteries. While it novel is a stand-alone tale, I recommend reading them in order if possible. If not, the author does a commendable job of filling in details from the past without detracting from this story.

A suspenseful tale of Darrell, an OCD ghost-talker, who simply wants to enjoy his honeymoon on the Gulf Shore of Florida. He is haunted by two children who need his help. Eventually, this leads to a migrant worker camp with desolate conditions, a shoot-out, mysterious paintings and so much more.

The lively pace and mini cliff-hangers at the end of each chapter will keep the reader flipping page after page. The characters are well defined and the settings beautifully described.

There is some derogatory language used that was common in the era of the story. I appreciated the info about the plight of migrant workers included at the end.

If you love a fast-moving mystery, you will enjoy this book.

 

I received a copy of the book for the tour. This review is my honest, unbiased opinion.

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Giveaway!

Randy Overbeck will be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Visit more stops on the Goddess Fish tour for extra chances to win!

Full tour schedule:

November 8: All the Ups and Downs
November 8: Rogue’s Angels
November 8: Archaeolibrarian – I Dig Good Books! – review only
November 9: The Key Of Love
November 9: Westveil Publishing
November 9: The Mystery Section
November 10: Literary Gold
November 10: Hope. Dreams. Life… Love
November 10: Gina Rae Mitchell – review only
November 10: Booklover-Sue
November 11: Sandra’s Book Club – review only
November 11: Candrel’s Crafts, Cooks, and Characters
November 12: Lisa Haselton’s Reviews and Interviews
November 12: The Avid Reader – review only
November 12: Coffee and Wander Book Reviews – review
November 12: Fabulous and Brunette

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Purchase Scarlet at Crystal River online from a local book store.