WIP Wednesday

In a few short weeks, the fourth book in the Black Swamp Mysteries series will be released. Dylan's Song takes Dylan Maguire and Vicki Boyd to Ireland, where Vicki comes face-to-face with the village where Dylan grew up and the past he thought he'd left behind.

The book also introduces another character, Father Thomas Rowan, the priest at the Catholic Church where Dylan once lived. Below is an excerpt from Dylan's Song, in which Vicki sees Father Rowan for the first time.

Vicki was still backing up when the door abruptly opened and she ran into someone entering the pub. She gasped instinctively and hurled around, coming face to face with a priest's collar. Stunned, she looked upward. The door was still held ajar with the priest stranded between it and Vicki, the waning light illuminating part of his face.

He was young; perhaps the same age as Dylan. His hair was light brown with golden highlights and it was long, brushing past his collar. It might have covered his ears but he had it combed behind them, revealing long sideburns that might have looked like a style from the past - but on him, it looked perfectly natural. He sported a mustache under a chiseled nose but his strong jaw was clean-shaven. His eyes were blue and sharp, taking in the scene unfolding in front of him and the pistols held in Vicki's and Brenda's hands.

"Ladies," Dylan said, "this is Father Rowan."

"A Catholic priest," Brenda breathed. "What a waste of a good man."