A few years ago, I was chatting with a woman who grew up on my block around the same time I did, and she told me some seriously spooky things that happened in her house. Doors locked on their own, trapping the children in various rooms. Voices called their names from the darkness, and a spectral woman chased them into the house when they stayed out in the backyard too late into the night.
Her stories haunted me–literally. I still live in that same neighborhood, and every time I think about what she experienced, fingers of dread tickle up the back of my neck and send chills down my arms. I decided I needed to do something about it. Since I unfortunately live well outside the Ghostbusters’ service area, I did the one thing I know how to do:
I wrote a book.
Mouse Trap is inspired by the nightmares those stories gave me. Here’s a little more about it:
Death haunts the Scott family home.
Twenty years ago, Dakota Scott’s baby brother died falling down the back stairs. Twenty-four hours ago, her older brother, Lennox, wasted away into nothing in the same house. Two deaths, just floors apart, yet no one suspects a connection.
Settling Lennox’s affairs lures Dakota back to the family’s old Victorian home overlooking Astoria. It has changed over the years—what was once a happy home is now filled with sadness, strange memories, and lights that won’t stay lit.
In the ever-growing darkness, a sinister force has awakened from a long slumber, and it is far from finished with Dakota. Her life and sanity hang in the balance—alongside everything she holds dear.
Fans of Shirley Jackson, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, and Elizabeth Engstrom will love the quiet horror in this modern gothic tale.
Mouse Trap is coming on January 3, but if you pre-order it today, you’ll have the option of ordering a limited edition signed & numbered paperback. If you’re an ebook reader, pre-ordering the ebook is the only way to get it from anywhere but Amazon.
Get your copy here: https://www.timberghostpress.com/mouse-trap.html