Amazon Freebie coming up on my two latest books, “The Old Courthouse” and “A Piano in the Night”. September 17-21 ebook versions of both books will be available for free on Amazon. This give-away is timed to coincide with the September book signing at Branigan Library here in Las Cruces. If you’re in town – c’mon by 2=4 PM on Sept. 18.

I’ve started on #3 for Carol Montgomery – working title is La Llorona – you folks from this area won’t need that title explained. You folks from elsewhere, Google it.

I’ve also started on O’Flaithearta #4 -,working title is “Of Rats and Drones”. It’s interesting and kind of fun working on two rather disparate stories more or less at once. We’ll see how it goes going forward.

Cheers!

Fenton

Great news – “A Piano in the Night: Carol Montgomery #2 is published and available.

The Kindle version of “A Piano in the Night” is available on Amazon for $2.99, and the paperback is available for $6.50.

Carol Montgomery, Ph.D. structural engineer and witch, has a contract to evaluate three 100 or more year-old adobes. One of them has a dormer loft. The loft contains a haunt, say the neighbors who claim to hear piano music and see a strange flickering light in the loft at night. The old woman that built the house is said to be the haunt. She loved to play the piano at night for her roomers and family, according to local folk stories. Carol, Ami, and Carol’s telepathic cat familiar, Rogue, visit the house at night and hear the music but see no lights. Carol decides to place trail cameras in the building to find out what is happening. Carol’s cameras reveal an old man’s presence and a piano player. The old man enters and exits through a tiny trench. The videos from the cameras show the old man chanting and burning sage upstairs by the light of a flickering oil lamp and a hooded person playing the piano. Rogue decides to spend a night in the house to discover what is happening and takes Timmy, Ami’s cat, with her. The cats meet the old man, get charmed by the piano music and the sage smoke, and learn what is going on, but not without Timmy getting into mischief with the resident alpha tom. Carol spends several nights in the loft, discovers why the old man is there, and, while invisible, trips a goon sent to get the old man.

MIDSUMMER BOOK DREAMS BOOK SIGNING AND SALE

Sat, July 9th, 2022, 12-3 p.m., Mesilla Valley Mall

Dreaming of coolin’ off in the lazy, crazy, hazy days of summer? Join the Las Cruces Writers in the Mesilla Valley Mall and chill out at our book signing! Ten authors in the upcoming Las Cruces Writers July 9th, MIDSUMMER BOOK DREAMS book signing and sale will offer over 50 titles in various genres includ-ing fiction, non-fiction, children’s, memoirs, and coffee-table photography books.

From 12 – 3 p.m. at Mesilla Valley Mall, meet Susan Elaine Pfeiffer, Fenton Kay, Rosemary Matos, Judy Cicero, Mark William Davis, Bob Worthington, David Osterhout, Elaine S. LeVine, George Pintar, and Charmayne Samuelson.

Romance novels and memoirs are always two popular genres of books offered by the group, and two of the authors at the signing will be Susan Elaine Pfeiffer and David Osterhout.

Susan Pfeiffer will be signing her time-travel romance, The Dusty Attic – Where The Future Meets The Past. Susan worked as the Administrative Assistant at the Las Cruces International Airport for over 21 years before retiring in 2015. Her writing passion blossomed around 2012 and it hasn’t stopped yet. She is cur-rently writing her fourth book, a sequel to The Dusty Attic. She is a true romantic at heart and loves white-water rafting, bird watching, and living her own romantic adventure with her husband of almost 50 years. Look for her on Facebook.

Author David Osterhout, an army intelligence officer who was stationed in the Korean DMZ, will be signing his military memoir. He was injured while on patrol and spent eight months in Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, where he penned the bulk of the manuscript for his memoir, OINK! Only In Korea! After the army, he helped manage psychiatric hospitals for 32 years for the Texas Dept. of State Health Services. He retired as Assistant Superintendent with degrees in Criminal Justice and Accounting and a Master’s in Business Administration. After the 9/11 attacks on America, he joined the Texas State Guard serving as the 39th Military Police Brigade Commander. He is a two-time cancer sur-vivor and now lives in El Paso, Texas with his wife Cheryl and their little rescue dog, Wilson.

Both of these authors, included with the 10 authors of the Las Cruces Writers, welcome all ages to the MIDSUMMER BOOK DREAMS book signing and sale hosted by Mesilla Valley Mall on Saturday, July 9th, 2022, from 12 – 3 p.m. There will be books for all ages.

Las Cruces author publishes ‘Eye of Newt, Skin of Toad’

Fenton R. Kay

Posted Tuesday, February 1, 2022 12:30 pm

Bulletin Report

By Mike Cook

Las Cruces Bulletin

“Eye of Newt, Skin of Toad” is the latest in Las Cruces author Fenton R. Kay’s O’Flaithearta Biological Consultants mystery series.

In this book, which was published in 2021, “a musician is found dead in an archaeological site pit in a Las Vegas park. The man was attending a Wiccan celebration at a power center in the park. An autopsy reveals he died of toad poisoning. A shady casino owner is found executed in a canyon in the Red Rock National Conservation Area (near) Las Vegas. The casino owner owed the musician money. An Ayahuasca shaman seems to be connected to both of the men. The herbster, an authority on desert amphibians, is hired by the Las Vegas Metro Department to help determine what kind of toad provided the poison. Herb finds himself in Peru’s Amazon Forest collecting skin swabs from poison dart frogs and is nearly murdered.”

Kay is a biologist with more than 50 years of experience. He has a Ph.D. in biology from New Mexico State University and a master’s of science and a bachelor’s of science, both from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He retired from Zia Engineering & Environmental Consulting, LLC of Las Cruces in 2011 and self-published his first book in 2019.

Kay will be one of the featured authors, selling and signing copies of his books, at the Las Cruces Writers Group’s Book Lovers Book Signing and Sale, 2-4 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 6, in the Good Samaritan Society Social Center, 3011 Buena Vida Circle in Las Cruces.

Kay’s other books are “Bear Market: An O’Flaithearta Biological Consultants Mystery,” “Le Cochon Volant: The Flying Pig,” “The Jaguar Drum,” “The Old Courthouse: Carol Montgomery  No. 1” and “Chipmunk Jumped Over Him: A Coming of Age Story,”

Kay’s books are available on amazon.com.

The Las Cruces Writer’s Group is having a book signing on Feb 6, 2022. I will be there with three or four of my books. Join us – it should be fun.

The Kindle version of The Old Courthouse will be available free at Amazon.com from Feb 5 to Feb 9, 2022. Great Valentine’s day read and the price is certainly right.

Here’s a little blurb from the book –

Carol locked the truck, and she and Ami walked around the south side of the courthouse. As they passed the walled courtyard, they noticed what looked like a broken window behind the shrubs that lined the area. Carol fiddled with the lock on the temporary gate until it opened. The pair walked into the courtyard, closing the gate behind them.

“Hmm – if someone is or was in here, they must have climbed over the wall.”

“Carol, look over there, by that shrub. That looks like a shoe.”

“So it does, and it looks like that shoe is enclosing a foot.”

Carol and Ami walked slowly and quietly to where the shod foot stuck out from under the large oleander shrub. Carol moved around to one side and pulled the oleanders apart. Under the shrub, next to the wall, and right below the broken window, was a person. The person did not seem to be breathing.

“Oh, shit, Ami, I think we may have a corpse. This person doesn’t have the pink flush of life about them.”

Ami looked over Carol’s shoulder.

“Damn.! I think you are right, boss. Here, let me tap on the shoe and see if we get a response.”

Ami carefully tapped the sole of the protruding shoe with her foot. Nothing happened.

“Ami, I’m going to check for a pulse,” said Carol as she crawled behind the shrubs.

Carol put her fingers on the side of the person’s neck and pressed lightly. She felt no pulse.

“Ami, call 911 and report a possible dead person. Request an ambulance.”

At long last, the first Carol Montgomery mystery, The Old Courthouse, is available in the Kindle version on Amazon. The paperback version is now also available on Amazon.

Here’s the blurb that will be on my author page (Amazon.com/author/fentonkay)

at Amazon.

The old county courthouse, a WPA project from the 1930s, is said to be haunted. A paranormal tour group leads regular night-time ghost tours of the courthouse. Among the haunts they claim are a screaming woman who died suddenly in her jail cell and a judge that died in his office. A developer has purchased the building and plans to renovate it and make it a hotel and convention center. The paranormal tours and purported haunts scared off his early investors. The developer has hired Carol Montgomery to evaluate the old adobe building’s structure as he seeks new investors. Carol Montgomery, Ph.D., is a structural engineer specializing in adobe buildings. A city councilman, and friend of Carol’s, tells her that he heard strange noises coming from the jail one night and asks her to see if she can determine the source while she is doing her evaluation. Carol discovers a dead man outside the building and that someone lives in the old jail. She needs to examine the building’s foundation inside the basement vault. The developer suddenly cannot find the combination.

This is a fun read, and it’s not too long – actually, it’s a novella in length. I think you’ll really like the cat – Rogue. I sure enjoyed writing her.

Just for grins – here’s the opening chapter –

Good evening, folks. Welcome to the Old Courthouse Paranormal Tour. As you all probably know, this building, the jail, and the courthouse provide a home for several astral presences. In our many tours, we have often felt the presence of beings from the other side. As part of your visit tonight, you will be given devices to measure the electromagnetic variations that astral beings cause. In addition, we may hear from the madwoman that died here in one of the cells. She is known to wander through the cell block and whisper and sometimes shriek, as she did when she died. You will also witness the activities of the judge that died in his office next to the courtroom. He is said to open and close the door to the courtroom, much as he did when he was alive. We may also stir up some mischievous sprites that like to roll balls around the hallways. Please don’t forget your flashlights. You will want to view some of the prisoner art found on the walls of some of the cells, especially the solitary confinement cells. My assistant has prepared the way for us by carrying out some exercises with incense. Certain incenses are known to attract astral beings, and my assistant has been trained in the art by practitioners from the Far East.”

“I thought that patchouli smell was from some hippies,” said a voice from the group.

A few titters came from the group as the tour guide responded, “Incense is older than the hippies, young man, and has been used by yogis and others in the East for millennia to both attract and appease those on the other side.”

“Excuse me, sir, will my boy be safe here tonight? I mean, I have heard that there are sometimes things touching and feeling in some of the places.”

“Yes, ma’am, rest assured, my staff will be close at hand at all times, and there are cameras in all of the cell blocks. One of my staff will be monitoring those cameras at all times. Your youngster will be quite safe. But, if you are concerned, simply keep hold of his hand. Now, let’s all take a look at this floor plan of the jail area. It shows where we will be going and indicates places that are most likely to be occupied by those from the other side.”

“Hey, mister, will we hear any chains rattling? My friend says that is what ghosts do.”

“Well, young man, there are reports of such sounds coming from this building, but the astral beings don’t seem to do that when we living folks are here. However, they do try to communicate with us.”

“What do they do?”

“We feel their presence as cold air in a room, and our detectors will light up. We sometimes hear them whispering to us. The spirits of dead prisoners do occasionally open and close cell doors, which do clang. Are there any more questions? No – Ok, then let’s get started. Oh – yes, Happy Halloween.”

The tour leader adjusted his headlamp, signaled to the person standing outside the door. He walked out of the room and into the hallway, followed by the tour group. As they walked out of the room, the lights in the jail went out. It was pitch dark. Several sharp intakes of breath and a low moan rose from the tour group. The tour leader switched on his headlamp and proceeded toward a door at the end of the hall. The hall on the other side of the door was dimly lit by streetlights that shone through the narrow windows that lined one side of the hall. The other side of the hall had several cells, with their doors closed, and a large cell with dormitory-looking steel bunks lined up in it. As the group walked past the cell, a low moaning sound issued from somewhere ahead. The group stopped, and the leader turned on the device he was carrying. The green light on its top flickered several times, then went out. No one noticed a slight shimmering of the air inside the bunk-filled cell. As the group walked past the large cell full of bunks, two kids ran down the hall and banged on the cell bars with their flashlights and making loud groaning sounds. The flashlights promptly went out.

“Please, folks, restrain your children. We want to discover the real presences that are here, and banging on the cell bars and making loud noises is not conducive to that,” stated the tour guide, “We wouldn’t want to scare off our apparitions, and now their flashlights don’t work. Very inconvenient.”

I’m almost ready to publish the first Carol Montgomery mystery, “The Old Courthouse”. It’s taken a tad longer to get out than I anticipated. My BetaReader-Editor made several really good suggestions that are going to take a bit of re-writing to bring to life.

Here’s the proposed cover for the book.

Strange noises are coming from the jail section of the old courthouse, which is said to be haunted. A man is found dead under a shrub outside the building, with a broken window above him. The building is scheduled for redevelopment as a hotel and conference center. Carol Montgomery, a Ph.D. structural engineer, and adobe specialist is hired to evaluate the stability of the WPA-built adobe building. Carol, a Wiccan, and her telepathic cat familiar get involved in solving the mystery of the noises, the purported haunts, the dead man, and they discover a person living in the jail.

I’m well into the sequel for Carol Montgomery #1, with a working title of “A Piano In The Night”. An old house is said to be haunted and neighbors see strnge flickering lights in the dormer windows and the sound of a piano being played during the night.

I just did a book signing in Las Vegas. I took a batch of my books to my 60th high school reunion. I sold and signed several of them and it was a lot of fun. I especially enjoyed telling people about the content of the books as a way of answering their question – “Which one is best?” or “Which one would I like?”.

The most common question I got, as I sat at my table, was “Are you the author? Did you write all of these?” Another common questions was “Where do you get your ideas?” Where, indeed?

The former French and Spanish teacher bought ‘Le Cochon Volant: The Flying Pig‘ after I told her why the title and that it had English, Spanish, and French in it. One guy bought ‘Chipmunk Jumped Over Him’ for his grandson and another bought ‘Eye of Newt and Skin of Toad’ for his nephew that is crazy about reptiles. A long-time acquaintance and one of the folks I hung with in high school bought two copies of each of my books to read and to donate to a group that he supports. A retired math teacher and computer programmer bought ‘Bear Market’ because she liked the cover. The reasons why folks select books is a never-ending mystery.

With any luck at all, some of those folks will read the books, enjoy them and tell their friends or relatives. I might even get some online sales as a result of my trip, who knows?