Another charming resort town and, not very far away, an ugly
secret. Can Darrell find justice for a murdered teen before something ugly
happens to him, his wife and his young son?
Red Shadows at
Saugatuck
The Haunted Shores Mysteries Book 4
by Randy Overbeck
Genre: Paranormal Mystery
This fourth entry in the Haunted Shores Mysteries series
takes Darrell, Erin and their young son, Leo, home to Michigan for a family
celebration. But, on their way, they notice a "MISSING" flyer for a
Native girl and the whole family gets involved for searching for the teen.
However, the teen turns out to be murdered, not missing and haunts father and
son, seeking justice.
"A gripping tale of finding justice for a missing Native American
teen."—John DeDakis, author of Fake and Senior CNN Editor
for "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer."
"Darrell and Erin now have a son, who inherited his gift and it made an
even better storyline. Their united family bond propelled the scenes. This was
a paranormal fantasy, but it touched on the real-life issue of missing
Indigenous women with heartbreaking and emotional elements. Overbeck is a
dominant storyteller of mystery and suspense. A must-read book."—Darlene
Fredette, author of One Sweet Christmas, A Redland Falls Story
“Red Shadows at Saugatuck is one of the finest books ever
written, a paranormal mystery that stole my soul and took my breath away.” ★★★★★++
stars—N N Light Bookheaven
“Red Shadow at Saugatuck by Randy Overbeck was complex and
captivating. I was mesmerized from the very first page right up to the last
one.”--- ReadersFavorite.com
“Red Shadows at Saugatuck is thoughtful, deeply human, and
low-key terrifying in a quiet way.” ★★★★★ The Gold Award--Literary
Titan
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She glared at the downpour,
measuring its progress. They had maybe fifteen minutes. Then, they were going
to get drenched.
“Mom, what are we going to do?” Leo
squeaked.
“It’s going to be okay,” she said,
the first thing which came to her.
He looked up at her, deep green
eyes wide. “How are we going to get to…Aunt Gertrude’s?” He sniffled. “I wish
we were home, on the Chesapeake.”
She pulled Leo to her and hugged
him. “So do I, son.” She stared at the water. “So…do…I.” She knew she needed to
comfort her son, but what could she say? She’d tried never to lie to Leo. She
scrunched down next him. “Mr. Salazar knows where we were headed. When we don’t
come back in time, he’d send someone to go look for us. We simply need to
wait.”
“You think so?” Leo sniffed.
“I do,” Erin answered, hoping she
wasn’t lying to him. “But for now, since your dad’s not here, I need you to be
a big guy for me. You think you can do that?”
He gave a slow nod and stuck out
his chest. “I’ll try.”
Erin hugged him again. “That’s my
big boy.” Still low next to him, she pointed out over the water. “See that
line?”
“You mean that dark row?”
“Yeah, that’s a storm.”
“It is?” The fear was back in his
voice.
“Yeah, and it’s coming this way.”
She patted him on the chest. “The good news is it doesn’t look like there is
any thunderstorm with it.” She pointed again. “No lightning.”
“O-kay,” he swallowed the two
syllables.
“It means we’re going to get wet.
But hey, didn’t we just spend the last few hours getting wet?”
He nodded.
“I think we can stand a little
rain. What do you think?”
He looked at the approaching
curtain of rain and then at his mom. “I guess so.” He sniffed again. “But mom,
I’m scared.”
She hugged him tight. “It’ll be
okay. You’ll see.” She hoped she wasn’t lying. “Hey, I just thought of
something. Remember the cave we passed on our way to the waterfall. The one you
wanted to explore, but I wouldn’t let you.” She glanced at the curtain of rain,
then back at her son. “I think now would be a great time to check out the cave.
What do you say?”
“Okay,” he gulped.
“If we hurry, we’ll might even be
able to beat the rain.” She grabbed the picnic basket and the preserver. “I’ll
race you.”
As they trotted down the trail
they’d left a few minutes ago, she cast one last glance over her shoulder. But
no one will be able to see us hiding in the cave…if they come looking
for us.
Chapter 38
The rain pounding on the roof of the
car woke him. Darrell had no idea how long he’d been out. He shook his head and
it all came back to him, like a slowly evolving video. The black SUV on his
tail. Their hell-bent speed. Then the Cadillac pulled up alongside him. The car
cut in front and Darrell had to jerk his car onto the shoulder. He lost control
and swerved off the road.
He felt his forehead. It hurt, bad.
He must’ve hit it on the steering wheel. At least, the airbag hadn’t deployed.
The car was still drivable, he thought. The Taurus hadn’t conked out, the
engine idled quietly. Darrell decided he better get out to assess the damage.
He put the car in park. When he was about the turn off the ignition, he
hesitated. What if it didn’t restart? He let it alone.
He pulled the handle to open his
door, but it only moved about an inch and then stopped. He buzzed the window
down and the rain sluiced inside. Darrell did his best to ignore it and looked
out and down. He saw the edge of the ditch about a foot deep next to his car,
his door.
Yanking his head in, he raised the
window back up. No need to get any more wet than he had to. He climbed over the
console and practically stumbled into the passenger’s seat, Erin’s seat. At
least, she hadn’t been with him. The speed and the near collision would’ve
infuriated her…and terrified her. Hell, it terrified him. He hoped she and Leo
were having a great time out on the water. The rain pounded on the steel frame
of the roof. He prayed they weren’t dealing with this storm out over Lake
Michigan.
Putting his shoulder against the passenger door, it opened partway and Darrell could feel it pushing against the mud on the ground. He squeezed through the opening and out the door. His feet squelched in the mud. In seconds, the hard rain drenched him, his clothes soaked. At least, it wasn’t cold. Rain had cooled it a little, but the temperature still hovered in the high seventies, he guessed. Since he was out and soaked, he forced himself to struggle in the mud and check out the car. His feet getting sucked into the muck, he tromped his way around most of the frame. The Taurus appeared to be okay, though some parts of the body were so mud-splattered he couldn’t be sure. He’d driven off the road and over the shoulder but the culvert must have caught the car, the sloppy mud cutting the speed before he could run into anything else.
**Don’t miss
the rest of the Haunted Shores Mysteries!**
Find them on Amazon!
Dr. Randy
Overbeck is an award-winning educator, author, speaker and podcaster. As an
educator, he served children for more than three decades and has mined that
experience to create captivating fiction, authoring two series, the bestselling
series, “The Haunted Shores Mysteries,” and the award-winning series, “Lessons
in Peril.” His novels have won national awards including Mystery of the Year
(ReaderViews) Best Book Award (Chanticleer Books and Reviews)
and the Gold Award (Literary Titan) and amassed hundreds of 5-star
reviews on Amazon and Goodreads. Dr. Overbeck also hosts the popular podcast,
“Great Stories about Great Storytellers,” where he reveals the unusual and
sometimes strange backstories of famous authors, directors and poets. He is a
speaker in considerable demand, sharing his popular presentations about ghosts,
writing and book publishing with hundreds of audiences all over the U.S.
As a member
of the Mystery Writers of America, Dr. Overbeck is an active member of the
literary community, contributing to a writers’ critique group, serving as a
mentor to emerging writers and participating in writing conferences such as
Killer Nashville and the ThrillerFest. When he’s not researching, writing,
speaking or podcasting, Randy enjoys traveling with his wife Cathy and visiting
both his far-flung family and scenic locations, often in search of inspiration
for his next great story.
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* Goodreads
A FEW LESSONS LEARNED
After six published novels and thirteen national awards and two bestsellers, what have I learned about this writing thing?
This past year the Wild Rose Press released RED SHADOWS AT SAUGATUCK, my sixth novel published in a little over a decade. During that time, I’ve had the good fortune to see two of my books, BLOOD ON THE CHESAPEAKE and CRIMSON AT CAPE MAY become #1 and #2 bestsellers on both Amazon and Barnes & Noble. I’ve been humbled and thrilled by the hundreds of five stars reviews on Amazon, Goodreads and BookBub my novels have received. And I’ve been blown away by the thirteen (and counting) national awards the titles have earned from sites like ReadersFavorite (Thriller of the Year), Literary Titan (Gold Award) Chanticleer (Best Book) and ReaderViews (Mystery of the Year).
Now, after a decade at this, what do I know now that I didn’t ten years ago? The answer is a lot…but a few hard-earned lessons might be worth sharing.
This whole writing thing turned out to be a great deal more challenging than I anticipated.
In my book talks, I tell audiences, even though I’ve faced classrooms of angry and unruly teenagers and managed a staff of over 300 teachers, nothing I’d done in my previous career was as challenging as getting a story from my head to a book that others would enjoy and actually buy. (Now I’m not talking about the down-and dirty practice that some writers take to throwing thoughts on paper and then using the independent publishing route to send the product out into the world.)
To envision a story, draft it so it makes sense, revise and edit the manuscript (with professional help) a great many times, so it is the very best was a grueling process. Next, taking that manuscript and submitting it to the scrutiny of literary experts—be these literary agents or small press representatives—is a humbling and nerve-racking experience. Then, I discovered after I found a professional venue for my story, now a full-fledge novel, this was only the beginning. I had to do even more work to promote and market the book than I did to actually write it and get it published.
Had I known all this years ago, I might have taken a step back, sucked in a huge proverbial breath, before I jumped in with both feet. I still would have jumped, though I would’ve been better prepared.
I learned I don’t have to go it alone. The stereotypical image of the lone writer slaving away over his (or her) computer is not really an accurate portrayal of how it works. Though the writing starts that way—me, my ideas and the computer—this is only the first step. For much of the last decade, I have been fortunate to be an active member of one writers’ group or another. Participating in these groups has given me an insight into how other writers think and practice, often different from my own experience. But most important, working with these fellow writers and having them openly critique my work has dramatically improved my writing. Other writers, regardless of their preferred genre, see things in my pages that I missed or never thought of in the first place. My completed chapters with the help of a writers’ group are dramatically better, of higher quality and more readable, because I learned from their input.
Had I known this at the get go, I would have sought out good writers’ groups from the very first day I started writing my fiction. This would have made my learning curve not nearly as steep. In fact, this is my first suggestion to emerging writers asking for advice.
I had no idea of how overwhelming the competition for readers is and how crowded the field had become—and this is true whether the genre is mystery, thriller, romance, paranormal, historical or any other. I was stunned to learn that last year when my latest novel hit the market, over four million other titles were released. In fact, on the very date RED SHADOWS ON SAUGATUCK went up on Amazon, there were 11,000 other books released just that day. For the prospective reader, it looks like a tsunami of titles flooding at them. Trying to get a reader to notice mine becomes a daunting challenge and frankly can be overwhelming at times.
Had I been aware of this intense competition five or ten years ago, I would have been better prepared to deal with the reality and commit the work and time it takes to get prospective readers to even be aware of my work. And I would have been more realistic about the limitations the market places on my promotional efforts, on possible sales and the likely return on my hard work.
Knowing all this and much more, would I still take the plunge into the literary pool?
The answer is a decided YES.
The simple reason why I march against these fierce headwinds is because of my readers, at least those I’m able to captivate. Like the woman who hailed me at a recent writing conference and approached my book display with a scowl. She snarled, “I’ve got a bone to pick with you.”
I didn’t remember the woman. “I’m sorry. What did I do?”
She said, “You cost me a whole night’s sleep. I bought your book here yesterday and opened it when I turned in. I got so sucked in to the story, I couldn’t stop reading…all night.”
I smiled and said, “I’m sorry…and thanks.”
I wasn’t a bit sorry.
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