Please welcome Maralee Lowder, (I just LOVE her name), visiting during her tour at Bewitching Book Tours with her book, The Morticians Wife! I KNOW! Awesome title and cover!
Welcome Maralee!
Maralee Lowder
Author of
The Mortician’s Wife
One of the
biggest problems I faced while writing The Mortician’s Wife was figuring out
how to create a character evil enough to make an otherwise timid woman want to
murder him without him turning into some sort of comic villain. Horace, my ultimate “bad guy”, had to be someone
most people would admire if he were to get away with the crimes he
committed. In fact, he had to be more
than likeable. He had to be downright admirable.
While casting
about in my brain for an inspiration for Horace, I came up with the perfect
answer. I would model him after my
brother-in-law, the man our family called our very own “action hero.” James (I’ve changed his name here because,
although he knows about his role in the writing of my book, he would still be
embarrassed if I made a big deal about it), was, and still is, a true
hero. He’s saved more lives than he can
remember. He is the type of man who makes friends everywhere he goes. He is kind, considerate and loving. Those attributes were exactly what made him
the perfect model for my villain.
If a villain readily shows how evil he is, he
may be scary, but not nearly as scary as the guy who appears to be kind and
gentle, while hiding his vile impulses. I used James’ most-loved-guy-in-town
personality to offset the black soul that lurked just under Horace’s outside
appearance. It was this likable side of
Horace that everyone in town loved and respected. And it was that side of his personality that
won an innocent young woman’s heart. And
it was also that side of his personality which allowed him to do things too
evil to comprehend, yet never worry about being discovered.
Given her
dilemma, what was his young wife to do?
When she discovered the true character of the man she had married, she
knew that his taunts were all too real—no one in town would ever believe her
when she told the authorities what he had done and what he was fully capable of
doing again.
In the end, she
did what she knew she must. But there
was one thing she was not prepared for.
Although she was able to eliminate Horace from this earthly world, there
was no way she was able to eliminate the horror of his haunting soul.
About the Author:
Maralee Lowder found so much pleasure in
reading such a wide spectrum of romance genres, she has never been able to
write in just one. Her novels run the
gamut of contemporary, historical, humorous, horror, paranormal and
suspense.
Look for the sequel to
"The Morticians Wife" coming
soon
Genre:
Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Taylor Street Books
ISBN: 13:
978-1480011229
ASIN: B009KDVFEI
Number of pages:194
Word Count: 71000
Cover Artist: Tim
Hewtson
Book Description:
“I have spent the night in supposedly some of the most
haunted buildings in America. I have met people who could fairly be described
as evil incarnate. I have been to the Old Mortuary in Dunsmuir. It is gorgeous
but I wouldn't spend a single night there.” Kathleen McKenna, author of horror
novels 'The Wedding Gift' and 'Family Matters'.
Five miles from the new age Mt. Shasta City, the sleepy
Northern California town of Dunsmuir plays host to a nightmarish house – the
Old Mortuary – where the mortician's wife spent four decades alone, and some
say insane, sleeping in an alcove off one bedroom where she believed the evil
spirits of the house could not get to her, harboring terrible secrets.
With the steady flow of dead bodies through the basement and the
murderous events upstairs, this is the story of how the Old Mortuary of
Dunsmuir became one of the most haunted houses in America as a result of the
personality and misdeeds of one man, Horace Carpenter, whose eternal soul most
certainly does not rest in peace, as many will attest, and probably never will.
3 comments:
Thanks for stopping in Maralee and Happy Halloween!
Maralee is a great name for sure and I'll check her book to read more about that "admirable" Horace!
Sounds great. I'll have to look into this one. :)
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