Archives: Books

She’ll be home for Christmas, but only in her nightmares.

On a stormy Christmas Eve, Imogene, mortician in training, finds herself alone and glum. The mortuary freezer is full, but her friends and family have left town and so has the festive spirit. After a near miss with a falling tree on the way home, she retreats to her apartment with her cat and a bottle of wine. 

Imogene drifts off to sleep only to be awakened by three ghosts. Two of them are familiar faces from her past; victims she helped find justice for. But the third is a stranger, and he arrives with a chilling proposition.

As the boundaries between dream and reality blur, Imogene must learn the lessons of her past and present to solve a dilemma in her future. Will she awaken on Christmas morning, or has she plunged into a neverending nightmare?

Perfect for fans of dark humor and holiday tales with a twist, O Hairy Night invites you to explore the eerie intersections of life, death, and redemption.

 

book cover, wrought iron garden gate between two stone pillars splashed by waves against a dark gloomy sky

Welcome to Season Two of Murders Under the Sun, a podcast that takes a trip to the dark side of sunny Southern California. I’m your host, Molly Shure.

We met Olivia Richards in Season One—a single mother struggling to care for her son after a terrible accident. She is determined to get Brian back to his pre-trauma self and create a new life for them. With a new job, a new boyfriend, and a new beginning, Olivia is finally starting to see the light of a new day.

But just as things seem to be looking up, a figure from her past resurfaces, threatening to destroy everything she’s worked for. As past and present collide, Olivia fights to save her son from the evil growing from seeds sown in the past.

Olivia's story is just one of seven interconnected tales that span five years. As a crime journalist, I've noticed a subtle link between these stories, and in Season One, I began to unravel the truth. But the deeper I dig, the more twisted and sinister the truth becomes.

 

Join me in discovering what lies beyond the gates of The Garden and who will pay the ultimate price for the sins of the past.

 

**Portions of this story previously appeared in The Scent of Wrath by Greta Boris**

 

book cover, old iron prison cell door splashed by waves against a dark gloomy sky

Welcome to Season Five of Murders Under the Sun, a podcast that takes a trip to the dark side of sunny Southern California. I’m your host, Molly Shure.

Honey Wells wanted her first hike of the year to change her life. Exercise, eat right, and reduce stress—it was all to start with a simple hike in Black Star Canyon. But her New Year’s resolution didn’t include finding a dead body half-buried in the mud.

Honey’s world unravels. Her brother-in-law has stolen her savings. Her business is struggling. And now she’s caught in a police investigation. As panic attacks begin to destroy her, Honey hires a new assistant, only to discover the woman may be the victim of an abusive cult. Meanwhile, threatening e-mails from her brother-in-law promise more trouble.

A bullet-riddled sign warns the uninvited to stay away from the cult compound in Black Star Canyon. But Honey Wells has questions, and she knows the answers are hiding at the end of the long road behind that locked gate.

Unlock The Keep to reveal its mysteries.

book cover, old iron door with knocker splashed by waves against a dark gloomy sky

Welcome to Season Four of Murders Under the Sun, a podcast that takes a trip to the dark side of sunny Southern California. I’m your host, Molly Shure.

The large house perched on the cliffs over the beach has tantalized Rosie Ring for years. It seemed a dream come true when a chance encounter resulted in landing a contract to decorate for the new owner.

But the dream quickly devolved into a nightmare of gruesome deaths, disturbing artwork, and red-soled shoes. Everyone close to Rosie is hiding something, and one of those secrets is murder.

Open the door to The Tower and take a step into the terror.

**Portions of this story previously appeared in The Color of Envy by Greta Boris**

 

book cover, weathered and beaten wooden door with padlock splashed by waves against a dark gloomy sky

Welcome to Season Three of Murders Under the Sun, a podcast that takes a trip to the dark side of sunny Southern California. I’m your host, Molly Shure.

A dying girl is dropped over the wall at the historic mission of San Juan Capistrano. In the dark and quiet night, Abby Travers is the only one to see it happen, yet she is powerless to help.

Trapped in the liminal space between research and publicity stunt, Abby is locked inside a hidden cell near the ruins of the Great Stone Church. When she finally escapes her self-imposed prison, she finds herself at the center of a mystery that threatens to demolish her life as surely as the 1812 earthquake demolished the mission’s cathedral.

That is the startling beginning of the third—and most bizarre—crime of the seven interconnected tales I began sharing in the first two seasons of the podcast.

 

Enter The Hiding Place with me now and we’ll explore its secrets together.

 

book cover, paneled wood door with small window splashed by waves against a dark gloomy sky

Welcome to Murders Under the Sun, a podcast that takes a trip to the dark side of sunny Southern California. I’m Molly Shure, your host.

Our journey begins on the stunning cliffs of Laguna Beach, the bright sun shining on the turquoise water below. But this idyllic setting quickly becomes a nightmare for real estate agent Gwen Bishop.

She has just landed her dream listing, a multimillion-dollar beachfront property. The home has a dark past, however. Three months ago, another agent was found dead in one of the upstairs bedrooms.

Gwen believes the unsolved murder was random. When unsettling things occur, she tells herself the menace she feels is her imagination. When even stranger things happen—things that throw a wrench in her plans to get the home on the market—she brushes off the icy dread creeping through her.

The house itself couldn’t be evil…could it?

Gwen’s story is the first of seven linked by an almost invisible thread across five years. A thread I noticed while working as a crime journalist. In Season One, I pull that thread to see what unravels.

Travel with me to The Cliff House to learn what lay beyond its door.

(Portions of this story previously appeared in A Margin of Lust by Greta Boris.)

book cover - dark-haired woman in black dress holding hairdresser scissors with an open treasure chest to the right

Dead Men Tell No Tales

Embalmer’s assistant Imogene Lynch may or may not get the final sensations of the dead when she touches their hair. She used to, but something strange is going on. 

Her sixth sense disappears when the body of a local treasure hunter shows up at Greener Pastures Mortuary. But that doesn’t keep her from becoming embroiled in two bone-chilling mysteries.

Her boss’s lover is awol, and a tipsy ghost is giving her the hiccups. Someone’s been murdered. She dearly hopes it’s not the missing woman.

All clues lead to Catalina Island where rumors of a pirate’s buried treasure seem to have incited a gold rush. When Imogene stumbles into a viper’s nest, she discovers the dead aren’t the only ones with secrets.

If you can imagine Agatha Raisin as a twenty-something, rockabilly, ex-hairstylist with a weird connection to the dead, this book is for you.

 

book cover - dark-haired woman in black dress with a beehive and bees to the right

Is there anything scarier than a homicidal hospital?

There’s no love lost between Imogene and her boyfriend’s mother. But when Eleanor is admitted to a local sanatorium for her migraines, Imogene takes the high road and visits.

   The hospital is housed in a creepy mansion with a chilling past. The medicines being used are a throwback to the days of snake oil and superstition. And while she’s there, Imogene bumps into a newly deceased patient.

   As hauntings go, this ghost steals the show. And everything else. Turns out Becky Riddell was being treated for kleptomania. Her influence is hard to resist.

   Things take a sinister turn when dead bodies start popping up around the sanatorium at an alarming rate. Imogene knows she should investigate, but the last thing she needs is more drama in her life. She has enough thanks to the poltergeist that’s been dogging her steps for the past month.

   However, if Imogene doesn’t figure out who’s killing off patients and why, she’ll have to move out of her apartment. Thanks to Becky’s compulsion, she’s pinched so much stuff, there’s barely enough room for her and her cat. Besides, El would never forgive her if his mother became one of the not-so-dearly departed.