Braxton’s Fall Festival – What’s Happening Today?
Welcome to Braxton’s Fall Festival. Today we’re celebrating the launch of Haunted House Ghost with a thirty-one (31) day virtual festival, where we share the scoop on all the exciting book promotions coming up this month. Who’s ready for…
Before you read Haunted House Ghost, you really should start from the beginning. Even though the primary mystery is fully contained within each book, there are numerous sub-plots and side stories about Kellan, life events with his friends and family, and details about Braxton and Wharton County, Pennsylvania, that would be best read in order. The third book, where fans and readers were tantalized with hippies, flowers, and explosions, was Flower Power Trip: Death at the Masquerade Ball. As of today, the book has over 150 reviews between all the major book sites and is averaging 4.7 out of 5 stars. It is available in multiple formats, including physical book, large print, and Kindle options.
Book Overview
At a masquerade ball to raise money for renovations to Memorial Library, Kellan finds a dead body dressed in a Dr. Evil costume. Did one of Maggie’s sisters kill the annoying guest who’d been staying at the Roarke and Daughters Inn, or does the victim have a closer connection to someone else at Braxton College? As Kellan helps school president Ursula bury a secret from her past and discover the identity of her stalker, he unexpectedly encounters a missing member of his family. Everything seems to trace back to the Stoddards: a new family who recently moved in. Between the murder, a special flower exhibit and strange postcards arriving each week, Kellan can’t decide which mystery in his life should take priority. But unfortunately, the biggest one of all has yet to be exposed – and when it is, Kellan won’t know what hit him.
Excerpt from Flower Power Trip
I’ve chosen an excerpt from the first chapter, where Kellan is speaking at the Braxton graduation and receives a suspicious note from a stranger. In it, you get to meet Dr. Myriam Castle, Kellan’s mortal enemy, and her wife, Ursula Power, the college’s President. By now, Kellan is used to Myriam’s acerbic ways, but nothing can prepare him for the amount of time he’ll be spending with her outside of work in this book. Let’s read a little from FLOWER POWER TRIP…
Once my father finished boorishly riffing about something in Latin, Fern commandeered the stage and announced my name. I walked to the center and stood behind the lectern, looking out at a mostly unfamiliar sea of people. With over two hundred graduates, the audience teetered around a thousand guests including their families and nearly all the college’s administrative and academic staff. I talked about the process to nominate and vote for different cable car designs, then explained how it was an awfully close race. Only two people had been told the final winner. Ursula and I agreed to surprise Fern with the results given how disappointed she’d be if the apocalypse had won. She’d tried to bribe me with a homemade coconut cream cake at Easter, but I stood firm. Where desserts were my weakness, keeping secrets was my strength.
“It gives me immense pleasure to reveal today’s winner,” I said, pointing and clicking the button on a tiny remote toward the digital screen. “I’ve been a huge fan of these two larger-than-life characters since I was a small boy, and I often find myself involved in solving a few mysteries of my own.” A series of conversations between Agatha Christie’s famed detectives, Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot, materialized on the large screen behind me. Various quotes and images from the books, movies, and PBS shows would appear inside the cable car to share different interpretations of the characters.
“It’s because you’re our inspiration for solving those two murder investigations,” Jordan Ballantine shouted followed by a bunch of cheers. “We wanted to honor your service to the campus!” Jordan was one of the graduates who’d be leaving Braxton to attend an MBA program in New Orleans.
In my three months at Braxton, I’d solved a couple of murders and been deemed a campus hero. I looked at Fern, Jordan’s aunt, and smiled with humility. We’d come a long way from her disciplining me when I’d been the president of my fraternity pleading forgiveness after various mischievous activities. Fern beamed back at me and lifted her hands in the air as if to say ‘holla’ like the bellowing students. Somehow the image of a sixtyish woman built like a quarterback in a gray pixie-style haircut performing such a move was frightening beyond any comfort.
As I thanked everyone for their votes, I noticed one of the graduates, Sam Taft, speaking with my brother, Gabriel. I’d caught the two of them in a cozy embrace last March shortly after someone had killed Gwendolyn Paddington to ensure an inheritance of the family fortune. I’d been shocked to see my brother after eight years but even more astonished to learn he might be gay. If you’d seen that kiss, there wouldn’t have been any question of might be, but until I spoke with him, I didn’t want to assume. Neither one had realized I’d seen them that day, and for the last seven weeks, I’d kept the information to myself. I didn’t know whether to ask Sam about it or hire a private investigator to track Gabriel.
Once I finished my speech, I sprinted down the steps to interrogate or to hug my brother—still hadn’t decided which one. I tried to reach him, but Gabriel winked and escaped in the opposite direction. Before I could rush off to beg Sam for help, Ursula stepped in the way. “Kellan, I’m glad we ran into one another. I was curious if you found out anything new?” she said with a gleam of hope.
By now, Sam had lined up on stage to receive his diploma, and Gabriel was long gone. I breathed a gulp of warm air and felt my body begin to wane. For the third week of May, the heat had come from nowhere and grown inordinately stagnant. All the comforting breezes were blocked by tall fir trees surrounding one side of Cambridge Lawn and the massive church holding firm on its southern border. I liked the hot weather, but this was intense.
Ursula had recently pleaded for help with a problem involving the past finally catching up to her. I’d learned a lot about my new boss during our conversations, some of which explained the reason she was taciturn about her history and some of which shocked me to the core. Not even Myriam knew about her wife’s tragedy or the years she’d been running and hiding from the truth about her real identity. While I felt the palpitating fear emanate off Ursula’s normally serene exterior, I tried not to judge her for the damage her prior actions had caused.
“Not a whole lot, I’m sorry to say. Whoever is blackmailing you has gone to great lengths to keep their identity a secret. Are you sure this isn’t an angry student playing a prank on you?” I asked, knowing the chances were slim. The person stalking Ursula had detailed knowledge about the complex science experiments her family had conducted in Chicago over two decades earlier.
“I don’t see how anyone would know. Hans and my parents died because of what I did. Unless someone other than their assistant was loitering in the laboratory that day, no one else could still be around. That nuisance of an employee already tried to ruin me before I was forced to change my name and disappear!” Ursula cleared her throat and leaned her head in the direction of the graduation ceremony. Based on my father’s latest announcement, graduate names were being called.
“I’ve got one more angle to try, but I don’t think it’ll turn up anything else. We might have to wait until he or she delivers another message to you. It could provide a clue to the identity of your stalker,” I said with fading confidence. I’d been unable to track who was pursuing Ursula nor establish any leads thus far, but I felt certain no one would keep threatening her without demanding something in return. “What could they possibly want from you?”
“To die. Just like those victims who suffered when I destroyed all the possible cures for… never mind!” Ursula sat on a wrought iron bench scrunching her fists in the hope she wouldn’t lose her cool. The twitch in her right eye barely held back a flood of emotions. “I appreciate your help, Kellan.”
A chilling, nasal voice cut through the air inciting me to roll my eyes with vigor. Myriam had found us and was likely on her way armed with another acerbic Shakespearean barb. “Just what are you doing to my wife, Mr. Ayrwick?” Myriam blasted while furiously stomping the remaining few feet before approaching our bench. “Come not within the measure of my wrath.” She resembled a dark and gloomy ghost with a pointy cardboard hat floating through Cambridge Lawn in search of someone to haunt to death. I’m certain the cap’s sole purpose was to hold her Jamie Lee Curtis spiky gray wig in place. No other professor wore the full academic regalia. I reminded myself that Myriam, in all her expressive and ruthless glory, was a special breed of querulous pomp and circumstance.
“Don’t start with me, Myriam. I’m holding a private conversation with Ursula that has nothing to do with you. I thought we agreed to stop causing scenes by arguing all the time?” I said with half a grin. We’d had several run-ins over the last few months but ultimately found a way to co-exist with each other during the final weeks of the King Lear performance at Paddington’s Play House.
“Kellan hasn’t done anything wrong, M. He’s helping solve an important problem at Braxton,” Ursula responded with a tentative stare in my direction. I took it as a reminder not to tell her wife anything. “Is everything okay? You look rather annoyed right now.”
“Annoyed? Well, yes, my love, I am more than annoyed. I finished directing students off the stage and followed them down the aisle once my group’s degrees were delivered. As I reached the end, an unruly, frightening man jumped out of the last row and grabbed my arm.” She brushed imaginary dirt or unwelcome fingerprints off her flowing black graduation gown.
“Do you know who it was?” I asked. Would it be wrong to send a thank you gift to them?
“Of course not. Do you think I associate with such vulgarity, Mr. Ayrwick? He interrupted our graduation!” Myriam scowled. Why did she always say mister? Professor Ayrwick, Kellan, Prince of Awesomeness—anything else would be acceptable. Mister always conjured images of my father, and that’s not something I relished even on a good day.
“I only meant—was it someone we could identify? Perhaps we’d recognize this supposed monster you encountered. Where is he now?” I wanted to strangle her with the honor society cords meticulously draped across her shoulders despite knowing it wouldn’t help. Myriam tried to describe the man, but he sounded like a regular delivery guy who’d been hired to drop off the note, not an actual hoodlum. My boss tended to exaggerate any and all situations as well as choose the most peculiar words. “It was probably just a messaging service employee.”
“You two have been sneaking around and conspiring about something. I want to know what’s going on and how it connects to this letter,” she said, thrusting her hand toward Ursula. Clasped between her fingers, besides a four-carat diamond ring, shook a piece of cardboard folded lengthwise in half. “Open it. The delivery hooligan pointed at you and said I should give it to Flower Child.”
Ursula’s normally pale skin blanched to an alarming shade of white. Worried she might pass out, I reached to steady her. When Myriam batted my arm away, I stepped on the pathway to see if I could find out whether the delivery guy was anywhere in sight.
Ursula opened the note, swallowed deeply, and closed it in a balled-up fist. “Myriam, could you get me a bottle of water? I’m a little parched.” When Myriam appeared to balk, Ursula whispered something causing the woman to step away. “Thank you, M.”
“You certainly seem to be the only one who controls her. No offense intended, Madame President,” I said, trying to minimize the sudden cold front in the atmosphere. “Is it from the stalker?”
Ursula nodded, then handed me the note.
You thought you could run and hide, but life doesn’t work that way. I tracked you down and plan to reveal myself at the upcoming costume party. Revenge is a long time coming, Flower Child. You’ll never see the explosion this time! Nor will you make it out alive unless you follow my instructions very carefully. Remember, don’t tell anyone else.
My eyes opened wide with an equal amount of shock and fear. All the previous notes were menacing and accusatory, but none had directly threatened Ursula’s life. “We have to talk to Sheriff Montague at this point. I don’t like where this game is going anymore.”
*** Aren’t you psyched to find out what happens? ***
***
The section below here will repeat at the end of every successive post, so we don’t have to explain the Fall Festival in the beginning each day. We’ll dive right into the content but also allow newcomers to catch up. Previous posts include…
October 1st – Overview & Kickoff
October 2nd – Great Escapes Book Blog Tour
October 3rd – GIVEAWAY for FREE Kindle Copy of Haunted House Ghost
October 4th – Name Kellan’s House Poll
October 5th – Excerpt from Academic Curveball
October 6th – Guest Post: Interview with Noriko on Halloween & Autumn
October 7th – Get to Know the Core Characters
October 8th – Bookmarks, Book Formats, Book Signing
October 9th – Guest Post: Interview with Tyler & Characters
October 10th – GIVEAWAY for FREE Signed Copy of Haunted House Ghost
October 11th – Excerpt from Broken Heart Attack
October 12th – Guest Post: Shalini Releases the Characters Who Torture Us
October 13th – Get to Know the Supporting Characters
October 14th – Guest Post: Melanie Ask Jay About His Writing Process
October 15th – Braxton’s One Year Anniversary
October 17th – GIVEAWAY for FREE Kindle Version of Entire Braxton Campus Series
What is the Braxton Fall Festival?
For the entire month of October 2019, we are celebrating three events: (1) Autumn, (2) Halloween, (3) Haunted House Ghost, the fifth book released in the Braxton Campus Mysteries by author James J. Cudney. Each day, we will share a post to promote the new book with readers and fans. Throughout the 31 days, we will have guest posts, excerpts, giveaways, contests, videos, blog tours, and other surprises. You can currently purchase the book from Amazon as a Kindle or a physical copy. In the near future, it will be available in large print and as an audiobook. To learn more, sign up for the author’s quarterly newsletter or follow him on this site and any of his social media profiles from the About the Author page.
Now I remember why I’m a fan of your books. I like the stand-alone (or the ones that were originally stand-alone) best. Did you say there would be a sequel to the Glass novel?
Thank you again. I really appreciate your kindness. Yes, to GLASS sequel. It’s being written currently… target for mid to late 2020 release.
Oh goody, goody, goody!