Focused on Story: Fright in the Night, a Scary Read for October! #MFRWHooks

Book Hooks Blog Hop #MFRWHooks

Hello and welcome to the Focused on Story Blog. Today we're joining the Book Hooks Blog Hop sponsored by the Marketing For Romance Writers Group. Each participating blogger shares an excerpt from their book. I'm sharing my scary novel, Terror on Sunshine Boulevard. It's the perfect read for this frightul time of year, Halloween!

Terror on Sunshine Boulevard by J.Q.Rose

Mystery, horror

Back of the Book: Rescuing a naked woman lying in a geranium bed? Investigating mysterious murders Not the usual calls for first responder Jim Hart. He expects slip and fall accidents or low blood pressure emergencies in his retirement community of Citrus Ridge Senior Community and Golf Resort. The ghastly crime scenes turn the winter time fun into a terrifying season of death and mystery when the authorities cannot track down the predator responsible.

Jim and his wife Gloria could escape the horror and grief by returning to their northern home, but concern for their friends and residents keep them in Florida. With the entire community in a dither over the deaths, the Harts participate in the normal winter activities of golfing, dancing, and pool parties with their friends to distract them from sadness and loss.

Can Jim and Gloria work with the authorities to discover who or what is killing the seniors on Sunshine Boulevard and stop the increasing body count?

Excerpt: Chapter Four, Terror on Sunshine Boulevard

Meet Jingles, Mr.Tweeble's Dog

Doris set aside her cereal bowl on the end table. She pulled her frail body from the deep seat ready to make a phone call to Ralph Tweeble to complain about the dog. Of course, once she was up, the pet quit yapping. She looked out the window to scan Ralph’s yard to see if he had let the dog out into the backyard, but the motion light wasn’t on. She cocked her good ear toward his house and listened. Ah, silence from next door. Maybe now she could watch her movie without that annoying barking.

Doris picked up her cereal bowl and returned to the kitchen to fill it with more raisin bran and milk. She settled down in front of the maple TV console. As she brought a spoonful of her midnight snack to her lips, the terrier next door began raising the roof with his howls and yelps again.

She had enough of that damn dog. She wrestled herself up from the recliner as fast as her stiff body would allow and spied out the window. She stood mesmerized by a dazzling yellow light blazing through Old Man Tweeble’s house. Momentarily blinded by the amazing brightness, she scrambled out to her screened-in porch to get a better view and caught a whiff of the most putrid odor she had ever smelled in her seventy-nine years on this earth.

Doris moved as quickly as her legs tolerated to call 911. Where was that dad-burned phone? Whoever thought of cordless phones anyway? When there were phones hooked up to the wall with a cord on the handset, no one ever missed a call because they couldn’t find the damn thing. She was exasperated, but she was more scared the house next door might explode into flames if she didn’t call right away.

Doris checked the kitchen table, the couch cushions and the nightstand by the bed for the phone. Finally, she found it where it should be…on the desk in the charger. She grabbed it and called 911.

“Come quick! There was a flash of bright light next door. Something’s on fire!” Doris clutched her chest, unable to breathe. “Hurry!” Everything turned black as she passed out and fell to the floor, the phone clattering down next to her.

* * *

In that early morning, the first responders discovered two bodies in their respective homes on Sunshine Boulevard—Mr. Ralph Tweeble and Mrs. Doris Hadley. The aura of death and mystery overshadowed the dazzling sunny day.

* * *

Click here to download your digital copy of Terror on Sunshine Boulevard by J.Q. Rose from your favorite online bookstore.

Click here to order your paperback copy.