Haunting Me

Today I’m excited to share an excerpt of Haunting Me, a new novel out by Nikki LeClair. In addition to an excerpt of the novel, I’ve got a fabulous Q&A with the author, AND there’s an amazon gift card and e-book giveaway!!

Haunting Me by Nikki LeClair

Genre: Cozy Mystery

Published: May 31, 2016

Book Blurb:

Imagine this; Your life is almost perfect, you have a stable job, a loving handsome boyfriend, great friends…then imagine being run over by a hot-dog cart on the day of your engagement, and waking up with a small concussion. And the ability to see Ghosts. Well, one ghost essentially; A batty, dramatic, lady who claims to have been murdered for her vast fortune and is demanding your help.

This is what happens to Phoebe Mercer, an aspiring Legal Assistant for a top Law Firm. Now she finds herself solving a mystery that threatens her relationships and her career, as she discovers her boss’s hand in her ghostly friend’s demise. If things weren’t bad enough, Phoebe begins to battle an attraction to the Ghost’s handsome but cool nephew, while realizing quite a few people in her life are not as they seem. As she uncovers the secrets and lies around her, she finds that in order to solve this mystery, and be free of the Ghost, she must lie herself. The only catch? The secrets Phoebe has kept from the people she loves, could ruin everything for her, and the Ghost.

Book Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Goodreads

About the Author – Nikki LeClair

Author Links: Facebook | Twitter

Author Bio:

Nikki LeClair lives within Canada with her loving husband and their two rambunctious children. When she isn’t ordering her children to behave or begging her Border Terrier to listen to her, she sits behind her lap-top plotting out the next adventure of her new characters. She’s a fan of a good glass of Pinot Nior, and can’t live without her favorite Teas.
This is her second published novel. She also writes under her pen name, Vivian Brooks, and enjoys hearing from readers and fans of her work. You can find her on twitter at @NikkiL_Books , and on her Facebook Fan page Nikki LeClair.

Interview with the Author

What inspired you to write Haunting Me?

This is a tricky one to answer because, I honestly have no clue! It actually started off as a very different story, nothing to do with ghosts or hot dog carts. I ended up hating that story and I parted ways with it. Sometime later, I did a few Ghost Tours of haunted buildings with a good friend. Something must have happened subconsciously during a tour because one day I got home and couldn’t stop writing.

Do you write with a plan or do you write and see where the story takes you?

I’m a Pantster. Full out. I write by the seat of my pants. Sometimes I get an idea, I develop the characters, the plot, some twists and I write an outline of future scenes but generally I sit down and I just go. It bites me in the butt sometimes, though.

What do you hope readers will take away from your book?

Nothing is ever as it seems! People are never what they seem! I know this should be common knowledge but sometimes we forget.

Did you always want to be a writer?

Nope, God no. I wanted to be a Lawyer when I was in high school and university, but then realized I was much better at media centered careers, like journalism, public relations, etc. I actually had a teacher in my high school tell me it would be a waste of my ‘talent’ if I went into Law, turns out he was right, it just took me four years to see it.

What inspired you to start writing and what continues to inspire you?

I don’t think it was so much inspiration that got me started as it was my younger brother, who ordered me to write the ‘lovey dovey’ scene in his story one day, when I was sixteen. Technically I owe it to him, because after that I would write private stories on and off just for myself and my friends. What really keeps me going now, is reading. I read mostly Indie authors and I learn from them, so many times do they inspire me to keep going and be better.

What do you enjoy doing in your free time?

I wish I had something cool to say but honestly? It’s TV. If I can get an hour of TV somewhere in my day to spend with my current TV obsession, then I am a happy girl.

What is your favorite inspirational phrase or quote?

‘Listen, smile, agree and then do whatever the **** you were gonna do anyway’ Robert Downey Jr.

I know it’s hardly lovely, but really? It’s not about pleasing everyone and doing what they think you should. You’ve got one life, say what you want, do what you want.

What is the best advice anyone has ever given you?

Research, research, research. Never ever stop learning. It’s so important as a writer, I’m ever so grateful that I spend hours researching one subject because it definitely shows in the story. I can tell when an author has spent hours researching a topic or just five minutes.

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Excerpt – Haunting Me

“My name is Madame Amber, like the stone,” she cups her hands over the table. “Your friend tells me you come to me for some guidance. To help do away with a negative energy?” Her thin eyebrows make her look menacing up close, and for a moment all I can focus on is the ashy smell protruding from her.

“Yes,” my words catch in my throat, “sort of.”

I’m starting to feel tormented, like I’m cheating on a test in high-school in my favorite teacher’s class. I feel like I’m betraying Edie’s trust or something…I mean, how would I feel if I were a ghost and the person who promised to help me was trying to banish me?

“You have got to be joking,” her voice slices through the air with amusement and I lift my eyes only briefly, to see Edie standing over Madame Amber. She’s draped in a long blue dress, chiffon from the waist down and small plastic buttons making their way up from her stomach to the neck line. She looks rather done up and I wonder where she went off to.

“Give me your hand,” Madame Amber reaches for my hand over my right one, watching as she clasps her hands over mine. Her skin is cold and rough. As I look back at her she exhales deeply three times and shuts her eyes.

“You know she is a fraud yes?” Edie sighs whisking herself to my side, “Everybody knows that here in Cedar Springs. Her only clients come from the city.”

Before I can respond to Edie, Madame Amber squeezes my hand and her face tightens, “You have…a powerful energy surrounding you. A dark but powerful energy. This energy has taken over your life and you are not as happy as you can be. ”

Edie gasps and I jump slightly, forcing Madame Amber to open her eyes at me briefly.

“I was wrong,” Edie’s voice is thick with sarcasm, “she is obviously the oracle.”

“You are also in a committed relationship,” Madame Amber then reveals, her eyes stay closed. “There is a communication problem.”

Edie rolls her eyes, “But she foresees a long and happy life, with plenty of children.”

“But I foresee a long and happy life for you, filled with the laughter of children.”

“I can’t believe you’re wasting your time here when we should be looking for the wills. The house is empty you know?” Edie leans over to me and stops right at my ear. “Empty.”

“If we could hurry this along,” I break Madame Amber’s concentration and she glares at me, “it’s just that I have a busy day ahead of me.” Instead of responding Madame Amber just shuts her eyes, shifts in her seat and exhales three times again.

“You are stressed, tense,” she says breathing between the two words, “unhinged.”

Well, she kind of nailed that.

“Oh please. Next she offers a cleansing with crystals at her discounted fee of three hundred dollars. If she was a true medium, she would be able to feel my presence.” Edie stands up and walks down the porch looking at Clara and Faye. “Your friends dress very well, why don’t you dress as well as they do?”

Edie—

“This powerful energy won’t leave you anytime soon. Unless you do something about it,” Madame Amber opens her eyes again, “you need a cleansing. I can do it for you for three hundred dollars, my discounted price. But you need to focus. This reading would have gone on much longer if you would relax.”