Finding Inspiration in Weather

The past two weeks have felt surreal with the arrival of Hurricane Matthew, the resulting storm surge and subsequent flooding in Lumberton, North Carolina. For those who have read The Tempest Murders, you'll recall that it takes place as Hurricane Irene is barreling toward the North Carolina coast. Lumberton was in its crosshairs and though we received a lot of rain, Hurricane Matthew was far more destructive to the Carolinas.

In the beginning chapters of The Tempest Murders, Detective Ryan O'Clery is investigating the murder of a young woman found along the banks of the Lumber River in clear view of the Robeson County Courthouse. In the picture here, the courthouse is the light tan building near the upper left, and the river is just one block away. It is normally the width of a few cars, but you can see from the picture how it flowed well beyond its banks to flood businesses, homes, streets - and anything in its path.


I was originally inspired to write The Tempest Murders when I came across information regarding one of the most massive storms in Ireland's history, called The Night of the Big Wind. It took place on the day of Epiphany (January 6, 1839), a date that some in the religious community had forecasted the world would end. And the residents of Ireland must have thought the world was ending, because the winds came in at 115mph, literally blowing the Atlantic Ocean across the island as it tracked from west to east. The book actually begins as Ryan O'Clery's uncle several generations back was returning to his home after a trip to Dublin, only to find that the water had washed away whole villages - and his lover.



I was further inspired by Hurricane Isabel. In September, 2003 I was living in Chesterfield, Virginia, a county that lies between Richmond and Petersburg. At 3:00 in the afternoon, the skies became pitch black, the electricity and water abruptly stopped, and I retreated to a room of the house with my dogs. For more than twelve hours, I could hear the sound of 100+ foot tall oak trees hitting the ground and could only pray that none hit the house. It wasn't until the next morning when the sun rose that I was able to look outside. Giant trees had fallen like matchsticks, one hitting the house next door to mine and more than two dozen falling in my yard - but thankfully, none hitting the house. They came down with such force that when one tree with a diameter of several feet was being removed from the front yard, they found another tree the same size embedded in the ground under it.


Then as luck would have it, I was living in Lumberton, North Carolina as Hurricane Irene came ashore. I have been extremely fortunate not to have suffered the devastation that many have, having lived through three hurricanes.


I've chosen to add extreme weather to my books because the weather can be a formidable opponent, one that is impossible to fight - and yet many must make life or death decisions in the blink of an eye. Weather can also place a critical time element on unfolding events, such as Ryan O'Clery discovering that his lover is a serial killer's next target and history is poised to repeat itself.

I find books that pit ordinary people against extraordinary events impossible to put down, like The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger, regarding the true story of "the storm of the century", the meteorological events that created it, and the crew of the Andrea Gail that was caught in its crosshairs. I knew as I was reading it that they could not fight an opponent with hurricane force winds and a sea bent on tossing the ship like a paper model, and yet I was riveted by the courage of the men who fought to keep their vessel afloat against all odds. (Shown here, actors portraying the crew of the Andrea Gail in The Perfect Storm, which also starred George Clooney.)


Hurricane damage may get a lot of publicity in the days after it occurs, but in reality it may take years to recover from loss and sometimes the losses are irrecoverable, leaving an imprint on people for the rest of their lives. The waters are receding in Lumberton. The town is filled with the friendliest people I've ever known, and during this time of need, I have seen ordinary people perform extraordinary feats. Will this experience inspire me to write Hurricane Matthew into a future book? Once the pain subsides, yes, I think so. After all, pitting man against the weather is as old a story as man himself.


p.m.terrell is the internationally acclaimed author of more than 20 books, including two award-winning series set in Lumberton: Black Swamp Mysteries and the Ryan O'Clery Mystery Series. Visit her website for additional information on these books and others.

In Search of My Irish Past - Part 4

By the time I began writing The Tempest Murders, my fans let me know how much they appreciated the Irish characters in my books. There are more than 34 million descendants of Irish immigrants in the United States alone, and I was very interested to see how many readers still connect with their Irish heritage. They particularly enjoyed Dylan's Song, which was set in Ireland and featured a typical Irish village as well as the bogs.

I enjoy adding weather to my books; weather can become an antagonist, such as the snow storm in The China Conspiracy or the "dark and stormy night" - though authors often joke about that oft-overused phrase, it's undeniable that things appear more sinister at night than during the day and during a storm versus a time when the sun or moon lights up our world.

I knew I wanted to include two storms in The Tempest Murders; one that was present-day and another that occurred in Ireland's past. The two would then be weaved together into a series of murders that took place during particularly vicious storm backdrops.

During my research, I came across The Night of the Big Wind. There had been a religious group that believed the world would end on the Day of Epiphany, January 6, 1839. So when this unusual storm swept across Ireland, it was believed by many to be the end of the world.

The storm, also known by its Gaelic name, Oiche na Gaoithe Moire, actually began on January 5 when an unusual snow storm blanketed much of Ireland. But January 6 dawned quiet and bright and temperatures rose swiftly, melting the heavy snow. This was a time before weather forecasters could easily get warnings out to the public, so children were playing outside while women were busily preparing for the Feast of the Epiphany.

By mid-afternoon, a dense cloud had covered the island and winds seemed to come out of nowhere. By many accounts, the wind appeared to whip the Atlantic Ocean into a frenzy so dramatic that it swept the ocean as well as the melting snow all the way across Ireland, from west to east. Even Dublin, on the far eastern edge of Ireland, suffered heavy casualties.

By the evening of January 6, the winds had increased to hurricane force as a cold front from the north merged with the warm temperatures of the south. Livestock were swept away in the fast-moving waters as creeks turned to rivers. Fields were stripped bare. Many poorly constructed homes were swept into the raging waters. Even historic castles made of stone were heavily damaged; some remain to this day unrepaired.

The waters rose so high that houses were flooded when the waters came rushing down the chimneys. A full 25% of Dublin's buildings were damaged or destroyed.

It is said that in the single Night of the Big Wind, the storm was responsible for more deaths and homelessness than the mass evictions that transpired from 1850 to 1880 - a 30-year period. To this day, that night has become ingrained in Irish history and folklore.

In The Tempest Murders, I used the Night of the Big Wind as the backdrop to a series of murders that culminated in Rian Kelly losing his beloved Cait at the hands of the killer as the storm swept through the village. The book picks up with Ryan O'Clery in present-day North Carolina as Hurricane Irene is sweeping across the Atlantic toward the coast. A detective, he is working a series of murders that are identical to the ones his ancestor, Rian Kelly, was investigating in 1839. When he realizes the next target is his soul mate, Cait, he becomes convinced that they are the reincarnation of his ancestor and his beloved - and that the killer is determined to separate them by death once more. It is the story of what lengths one man will go to alter his destiny and that of the one he loves.

The Tempest Murders was a 2013 USA Best Book Award Finalist and 2014 International Book Awards Nominee. Read the reviews here.

Reincarnation - Do You Believe?

Detective Ryan O'Clery has always had dreams of a beautiful woman. But unlike dreams in which the person may not appear in detail or certain characteristics change over time, his never did. It wasn't until he discovered a journal kept by an ancestor who lived centuries earlier and half a world away that he realized his dreams were actually the other man's memories.

In this scene in The Tempest Murders, Ryan is having a conversation with his sister Claire soon after he meets the woman he has been dreaming about since he was a small boy. He knew immediately that she was his soul mate; she looked identical to his dreams - and the memory of who she was in 1839 Ireland.

Claire cocked her head to study him. “I had a funny feeling you were needing me today.”

“Did you now?”

She didn’t answer but continued to study him. Her eyes were astute and after a minute, he stepped around the island and pulled her to him. He closed his eyes and held her, resting his chin on the top of her head.

“You’ve always known when I needed you.”

“Aye, Re. We’re joined together, you and I.” They stood for a moment in silence before she pulled away. “Are you sad on account of the divorce? It’s only natural, you know—”

“It isn’t that.”

“Well, what is it then?”

He could have gone to his grave with his secret inside him, had she not already known he was troubled. And she always knew. She’d known since she was six years old and he’d never been able to keep anything from her. “You remember the dreams I’ve always had?”

She cocked her head again. When she looked at him, she didn’t blink, as if she was totally focused on every word. “Aye.”

“They’ve become more frequent.”

“It’s only natural, Re, for you to dream about the perfect soul mate when your marriage has just dissolved.”

“She’s real, Claire. And she’s here.”

“What are you saying?”

He gestured toward the back yard. “It happened yesterday. I was cooking outside there. And right before I put the meat on the grill, she just stepped through the hedges there.”

“She just materialized in your own back yard.”

“Aye. Right there between’st the gardenias and the patio.”

“Re.”

“I know it sounds unbelievable—”

“It sounds insane.”

“But I swear it’s the truth.”

“You weren’t hallucinating.”

“Have you ever known me to hallucinate?”

“No. I haven’t.”

“There you have it.”

“There’s a first time for everything.”

“My first time to hallucinate hasn’t happened yet.”

She shifted her weight from one hip to the other, her eyes still focused on his. “And what did you do there, after she materialized in your own back yard?”

“We had dinner.”

She raised one brow.

“She’s the woman I’ve dreamed about, all these years. She even had the dragonfly tattoo on her ankle. Of course, in my dreams, it was always a birthmark, but—”

“Lots of women have dragonfly tattoos on their ankles.”

He combed his hair with his fingers but the locks fell back onto his forehead immediately. “It happened so fast. And it felt so right. I’ve always had this feeling, like I had a twin in the womb with me. And somehow, coming into the world, that twin was lost. I’ve always lived with this emptiness, as if someone ought to be there who isn’t.”

“I know you have, Re. I’ve always known you have.”

“When she was here, when we were together, it—it was as though I’d found my twin. The other part of myself. She made me whole somehow.”

“Your twin soul.”

“She is my twin soul, Claire. I know we’ve been together before. I know we have.”

Is reincarnation possible? It is a question that Ryan struggles with. A staunch Irish Catholic, he's been raised to believe in one life followed by heaven or hell. Now he must come to terms with the very real possibility that he has known this woman in another life - and that it may end in murder, just as it did nearly two hundred years earlier.

The Tempest Murders is available in all fine book stores, retailers and online. It is a finalist in the 2013 USA Best Book Awards and a 2014 International Book Awards nominee. You can find it on Kindle by following this link, in trade paperback on amazon here, and for all other eBooks formats you can follow this link. It is also available in the iBooks store and on Nook.

Join Me in a Worldwide Blog Hop

I'm excited to be participating in this worldwide blog hop. I always enjoy meeting other authors and readers and discovering new books. I was nominated for this blog hop by fellow author Susan Whitfield. I've come to know Susan through our involvement in Book 'Em North Carolina; she has participated each year and earlier this year, I had the pleasure of working with her through Studebaker Press.

Among her works, Susan has written a wonderful series called the Logan Hunter Series, featuring an SBI investigator. For those of you who don't live in North Carolina, the SBI is a state version of the FBI - it is North Carolina's State Bureau of Investigation. Logan Hunter, the main character, becomes involved in murder investigations around the state. Susan's writing sucks me in with the very first chapter and keeps me riveted through to the last page.

ABOUT MYSELF

For visitors new to me and my writing, my pen name is p.m.terrell, which stands for Patricia McClelland Terrell. My first book was published in 1984 and since then, I've had 18 books released with more in various stages of the production cycle.

I've written in several genres, including how-to computer books and a how-to marketing book for authors. But my greatest success has come from two historical adventures based on an ancestor, Mary Neely, and my contemporary suspense. River Passage, the true story of the Donelson Party journey west in 1779, won the 2010 Best Book Award. Vicki's Key, a contemporary suspense featuring a CIA psychic spy, was a 2012 International Book Award Finalist and a 2012 USA Best Book Award Finalist. And The Tempest Murders was a 2013 USA Best Book Award Finalist and a 2014 International Book Awards nominee.


ABOUT MY WRITING

The next book that will be released is The White Devil of Dublin, and here for the first time is the cover revealed.

It is the sequel to The Tempest Murders. Detective Ryan O'Clery is an Irishman living in North Carolina when an historian contacts him with information about his ancestors. Convinced she has him mistaken for someone else, he agrees to meet with her - but finds her murdered, her throat slit from ear to ear, and her computer missing. To solve the case, he must find the missing computer and piece together the information she was working on, which takes him back to 12th century Dublin, to a secret his family had harbored for over eight hundred years, and to an albino called the White Devil of Dublin. It will also bring him face to face with a current-day albino serial killer who is intent on destroying everyone Ryan loves.

Below is an excerpt:

CHAPTER 1

1169, The Approach to Duiblinn

The mists swirled about the Viking ship, shrouding their approach in an ashen veil. It seemed as though the clouds themselves were reaching toward the waters, parting momentarily to reveal their advance, silent and evil, an apparition on the deadly sea.

He moved as one with the great ship, his feet spread wide and firmly planted behind the dragon’s head that graced the bow. Atop a platform, he had an unencumbered view of the gray waters; though they roiled and tumbled, the waves crashing against the sides of the vessel, he remained unyielding, secure in his position. He towered above those behind him who worked the sail or labored in the rowing stations. He could feel their eyes upon him.

Though he was a young man, his hair was white and reached nearly to his waist. It was wild at the moment, swirling about his body wherever the wind took it. His eyebrows and his lashes were pale against alabaster skin that stretched over taut muscles. His shoulders were broad and his arms powerful, though he now rested them idly behind his back, his fingers entwined. His thighs were strapping and fought at the fabric that dared encase them, moving effortlessly with the sway and tug of the vessel that was more a home to him than any bed and table.

His eyes were the color of blue ice. The pupils were not black but appeared to lack any color at all. He had been told by his men that when he stood at the bow of the ship as he did now, his eyes appeared nearly completely white and otherworldly, a characteristic that unnerved his enemies.

His name was Baldr but he was known simply as Hvitr Bard, The White Devil.

He preferred the saffron tunic and slightly darker cloak that he currently wore, though he’d discovered years earlier that his wine-colored clothing was best in battle, as it hid blood splatters. He had never been injured himself; his arms were uncommonly long, his frame inches taller than his Norse counterparts; a giant among giants. And among the Celtic people he now approached, he was indeed a goliath. No swing of an arm, even extended with a sword, could reach his torso.

As the mists parted with the first peek of the rising sun, he spotted fishermen along the shorelines and sheep farmers on the hills. As they readied for their day, they stopped to watch the tall, sleek ship slide silently past them.

Gone were the days when necessity dictated a stealthy approach. The Ostmen had ruled Duflin—what the Gaelic people called Duiblinn, or Black Pool—for three hundred years. It was their village now, even if the Celts resented their presence; a bustling, thriving spot along the water that beckoned with good food, strong spirits, and an abundance of women to be had for the taking.

In the distance, he spotted an outcropping of buildings. He forced himself to remain perfectly still, completely rigid. His expression would remain chiseled still as stone. It was an integral part of what made him The White Devil.

The docks were alive with fishermen departing for a day at sea; a cacophony of voices reached his ears as they drew closer still. Women hawked pieces of bread and meat for men who would grow hungry before they would again see these shores. Men shouted to one another, inspecting the nets and tossing them onto the decks, gathering their supplies for the hard hours ahead. In the distance, bells rang, their vibrations echoing in the mists of Eire.

Young boys rushed to greet the Viking ship, eager to assist for a coin, while the Celtic men eyed them suspiciously, warily.

Only then did Hvitr Bard remove his hands from behind his back. He raised one hand, and the rowing behind him stopped. With a gesture only his men recognized, they rose as one and prepared to come ashore.

The sail unfurled behind him as they pulled alongside the docks. Under the expert hands of his men, it would be folded and readied for the next voyage, whenever that should be. At a moment’s notice, they could be called to the north or the south to quell some uprising against them or to settle an old score with either the Celts or the Normans, or simply to raid another monastery or castle.

Standing near the dragonhead at the bow, he loomed above the men on shore, but when he leapt to the dock below, it was with the fluid grace and agility of a smaller, more slender man. He landed on his feet, his knees only slightly bending, before rising to his full height. The crowds parted as The White Devil stepped among them, their eyes wide, unblinking, frightened. The women clasped their hands to their chests, backing away, while the men avoided his path and averted their eyes. Many of them had seen him countless times before and yet each time it was the same: he was feared. And he was reviled.

The White Devil of Dublin is unique because it combines a present-day police investigation with events that transpired in Dublin during the time of the Viking conquest and the Norman invasion. The action moves back and forth between the two periods, unfolding as Ryan puts the pieces together. The reader discovers the secret as Ryan does; a secret his family kept hidden for more than eight hundred years, and which led a present-day albino killer to seek Ryan out from halfway around the world, intent on destroying him.

I enjoy writing contemporary suspense because I love the action and adventure, of propelling a story forward with breakneck speed, and of keeping readers turning the pages as they hurtle toward the final climactic scene. The White Devil of Dublin, like many of my other works, is also considered a romantic suspense and I was as surprised as anyone when I fell in love with the original albino that crossed Ryan's ancestors' paths in the 12th century.

I wrote the story of The White Devil in Ireland first and then went back to the beginning and interspersed it with Ryan's present-day investigation, polishing and blending as both stories come together. Layers of each character are unveiled as their stories intertwine, and I have to admit that I cried some and felt happiness and romance and joy right along with my characters. When I wrote the climactic scene, I knew I had to make it big and I also knew I had to make Ryan face one of his worst fears - that of heights. So the final scene takes place atop a water tower during a storm in which the clouds almost seem to reach to the top of the structure.


NEXT BLOGGERS

Three bloggers will pick up with this worldwide blog tour from here, posting next week, July 21. I hope you'll visit each of them. I'm sure you'll enjoy their books. I highly recommend following them!

Carol Dean Jones: http://caroldeanjones.wordpress.com

Maggie Thom: http://maggiethom.wordpress.com/the-write-to-read/

Bonnie Watson:  https://wisdomnovels.wordpress.com/

The Making of a Psychic - Part 2

Last week, I mentioned that many times psychic premonitions or messages will begin in a dream state. While the body is at rest, the commotion that surrounds us during our waking hours slips away, leaving us more open to receiving psychic messages. Many times they come in the form of dreams.

Over the last few years, I've delved deeply into the psychic phenomena of dreams, speaking to many whose dreams have come true and others who work actively in interpreting them. The result has not only been the role of Vicki Boyd, the psychic spy in the Black Swamp Mysteries series, but the dreams that Detective Ryan O'Clery experiences in The Tempest Murders, which I'm happy to say has spun off a second series.

Some people dream things that have really happened or are about to happen.

My mother dreamed that her favorite nephew walked into a room filled with family members who had previously died. As he entered the room, each of the family got up to greet him. They talked, they hugged, and they welcomed him literally with open arms. My mother was also in the room but everyone ignored her, as if she wasn't even there.

The next morning, she was very disturbed by the dream because she didn't understand why family members she'd loved and they'd loved her, had completely ignored her...

Until she received the call that during that night, her favorite nephew, the one in the dream, had died. He'd been killed in an accident, which was very sudden - he'd been young and in the best of health.

She realized then that the reason the family members had greeted him was because he truly was passing over to the other side. The reason they had ignored her is they could not see her since she was still physically on this side. It wasn't her time to be greeted.

Other people dream in code.

Sometimes, our dreams are not to be taken literally, but they are a form of code. For example, many of us have dreamed that we were in a building of some sort. Buildings represent parts of the soul or parts of our lives. Dreaming of a kitchen, for example, means there is something going on in the domestic or home part of our lives. Dreaming of a hotel means a situation in our lives is temporary.

When you begin trying to remember your dreams and make a conscious effort to decipher them, it sends a signal to the universe and to your own brain that you want to tap into something deeper; something that can't be seen with the naked eye. If you continue to write down your dreams, they will become stronger and you'll remember more of them.

Not all psychics or psychic spies begin with dreaming, but many of them do. The more psychic work they do during waking hours, the more apt they are to have lucid dreaming.

So what do you do when you have a disjointed or seemingly nonsensical dream?

Write down as much as you remember, and then go to a trusted source to see what each component means. One that I particularly like (and use when writing about dream sequences in my books) is Dream Moods (http://dreammoods.com/). Not only does it tell what something represents, but often what it's doing or the context it shows up in means something as well. This site delves more into that.

But how does this affect psychic spy training?

Find out next week when I talk about the basic testing of potential psychics, and how the charlatans can be weeded out of the truly gifted - and how science meets the psychic.

Another Planet Discovered

A few months ago, I wrote a blog about the golden age of science and technology and how planets are being discovered at an amazing rate. I received an email from a retired teacher who corrected me, telling me that there are only 8 planets. Period.

Well, this might come as a shock to some but scientists are discovering thousands of planets. One that was recently discovered is of particular significance because it is almost a "cousin" to Planet Earth. It is only slightly larger and it has great promise of liquid water on its surface.

Image Credit: NASA Ames/SETI Institute/JPL-Caltech

It was discovered by the Kepler Space Telescope in the Constellation Cygnus. It is approximately 500 light-years away from Planet Earth and revolves around a star similar to our sun. However, at the star's brightest part of the "day" the light is only as bright as our sun is close to sunset, so the planet is likely to be much colder than Earth.

This new discovery was named Kepler-186f. The next steps would involve discovering the planet's composition. This would provide information to scientists on the likelihood of life forms on that planet, ranging from microbes to more advanced forms of life.

For more information, visit NASA's website.

How to kill someone you like...

I just finished reading a suspense novel with a time travel element. I've come to the conclusion that I enjoy books involving time travel because they take me back to various eras while I can continue looking at them through the lens of the present day.

In this latest novel, the woman who travels back in time meets a man who is purportedly her soul mate. She accompanies him on a history-altering battle in which he sees her about to be attacked and throws himself in front of her. Unlike books that have a happily-ever-after, her soul mate dies in defense of her - right there on the battlefield.

In the paragraphs that follow, it's about her preparing to return to her own time because her work there is finished. With her soul mate gone, there's no reason to hang around.

I had issues with that.

The way I saw it, the man would not have died if she had not traveled back in time and accompanied him to the battlefield. She'd done nothing on the battlefield to help his people; in fact, they lost. And while I didn't form a complete picture of this character in my mind's eye, he seemed like a good, decent person. So why kill him? For the convenience of sending her forward in time without regrets?

I think there's a way to kill a character that the reader has come to like. His death must stand for something; he has to alter history or at least a few people's fates to give meaning to his death. We've all read true stories or seen movies based on historical figures whose deaths changed history, often heralding in much-needed changes. Millions sat through The Passion of the Christ because they knew one man's crucifixion would change the course of human history. But what if nothing changed after his death? What then?

One could argue that fiction is... fictional. And of course the author can write whatever they wish, however they wish. But I think when we introduce a character that we want the reader to connect with, to like, and to recognize he or she is a good and decent person... We owe it to them to give their death meaning.

What do you think?

When that bright object in the night sky is NOT the moon...

If you've been paying attention to the night sky lately, you might have noticed something besides the moon rising into the night sky.

It's the planet Mars, converging close to Earth over the next month.

You can see Mars rising in the east as the Sun sets in the west. At midnight each night over the next few weeks, it will be almost directly overhead.

On April 8, it will be closer to the Earth than at any time in more than two years, and on that same date, the Earth, the Sun and in between, Mars - will all be lined up almost perfectly straight.

On April 14, Mars will come even closer. In fact, it will be so close that our astronauts would be able to reach it in just six months' time.

On April 14, we will also have a full lunar eclipse and our moon will turn as bright red as Mars itself.

Watch this video from NASA for more information:

Face it: the unknown is frightening...

Writing suspense/thrillers means becoming an expert on what frightens people. And let's face it: it's the unknown that scares us more than anything we can see with our own eyes.

It's the shadowy figure in Vicki's bathroom that moves in a disjointed, grotesque way... And isn't there when she turns on the light. (Vicki's Key)

It's not knowing when the bad guys are going to show up once the trap has been set - and not really knowing whether the trap will work. (Secrets of a Dangerous Woman)

It's riding on horseback into the mists of the bogs in Ireland as midnight approaches and not being able to see anything around you. (Dylan's Song)

Or finding out that the cameras installed in your home weren't put there by an alarm company - and not knowing what the viewers on the other end might have seen. (The Pendulum Files)

It could be arriving on deserted beaches in the dark of night after a hurricane devastated the island, knowing the killer is there, feeling his eyes on your back. (The Tempest Murders)

Or it could be something that seems to be completely innocent, like Detective Ryan O'Clery finding a pacifier on his office desk - and realizing the killer was in his little girl's room at home and also managed to get into his police department office. (The White Devil of Dublin, due out this fall)

What frightens you?

The sexiest family man

I'm writing the sequel to The Tempest Murders, the first book in the Ryan O'Clery Series. The book is entitled The White Devil of Dublin and it's scheduled for release this coming fall.

Detective Ryan O'Clery was born and raised in Dublin, as countless generations of the O'Clery family had been before him. Law enforcement is in his blood. When his sister Claire wanted to attend the University of North Carolina in America, he moved with her - though it turned out she didn't need his protection; she met and married her sweetheart, a military man stationed at Fort Bragg.

Ryan stayed and became a detective with the Lumberton Police Department, a job he does quite well. He meets his soul mate in The Tempest Murders and he displays the ultimate in a sexy family man. He can work a homicide case by day, including chasing after killers, climbing fences, getting into fights, and even stealing a boat to get to a killer before he murders again... But when he is home, he is every woman's fantasy: passionate, strong, confident, loving... And when his wife bears twins (because of course he will stop at nothing to marry his soul mate) he even delivers them in the back seat of a minivan when they're not able to make it to the hospital in time.

What's not to love?

If the series was made into a film, I would love to see real-life Dubliner Kevin Ryan play the role of Ryan O'Clery.

Hey, and he's even got the accent down pat!

Proof of the Golden Age of Science and Technology

I've often said this is the Golden Age of Science and Technology. It is so exciting to me to see the two come together to discover entirely new worlds. With the invention of an amazing new telescope that can magnify to an incredible degree, whole new galaxies are being discovered at a rate never before experienced. Watch the video below for more information.



The White Devil of Dublin

I am nearly finished with the sequel to The Tempest Murders, and my publisher has registered the name for it: The White Devil of Dublin.

If you've read The Tempest Murders, you'll recall that Detective Ryan O'Clery is investigating a string of murders that bears a striking resemblance to a serial murder case a distant ancestor worked nearly two hundred years earlier and half a world away - in Ireland.

The suspect in Ryan's case is described as a South African native named Diallo Delport. He is six feet, four inches tall and weighs 245 pounds. He is an albino with alabaster skin, white hair and eyes a light periwinkle color. But perhaps the most startling physical characteristic is the scar that begins just below one eye. It is raised and prominent, and ends on his cheek in another, teardrop-shaped scar.

Each of the women killed had her throat slit cleanly from one ear to the other. There was no sign of a struggle, but each woman's eyes were open and filled with horror and terror - expressions that remained after their deaths.

Ryan O'Clery's great uncle five generations back was Rian Kelly, a man for whom he was named. In 1839 Ireland as Rian tried to solve the serial murder case, he lost his own lover and soul mate to the killer. His case was never solved... or was it?

In The White Devil of Dublin, due to hit the bookstores this fall, a Pulitzer Prize winning author and historian contacts Ryan with information regarding his ancestors - and a mysterious albino from the 12th century. When Ryan shows up at their agreed-upon meeting, he finds the historian murdered, her throat slit from one ear to the other.

The case takes Ryan on a whirlwind investigation that leads not only to the present-day killer...

But to 12th century Ireland, where it all began.

Two Weeks from Book 'Em North Carolina

It's just over two weeks until the third annual Book 'Em North Carolina Writers Conference and Book Fair, the event I founded and which I continue to chair. For most of the year, I will spend at least twenty hours each and every week on organizing the event.

But on the day of the event, I will try as much as possible to be an author, though I will be answering questions all day from a variety of volunteers and organizers.

This year, I will have two additional books for sale that I didn't have last year:

The Tempest Murders is the first in a new series featuring Detective Ryan O'Clery, an Irish immigrant who finds himself working a serial murder case as Hurricane Irene is barreling toward the North Carolina coastline. The book placed as one of four finalists in the cross-genre category of the 2013 USA Best Book Awards, and it is also nominated for the 2014 International Book Awards.

The Pendulum Files will not officially be released until March 17, 2014, but I will have advance copies of the book for sale at Book 'Em. This book is the fifth in the Black Swamp Mysteries series, featuring CIA operative Dylan Maguire, psychic spy Vicki Boyd and computer hacker Brenda Carnegie. Their mission: to find out who is bombing merchant ships en route from China to the United States. But when an assassin breaks out of prison to finish the job he started years earlier, the trio find their personal lives and their professional assignment are about to collide.

I hope you'll join me at Book 'Em North Carolina on Saturday, February 22, 2014 at Robeson Community College in Lumberton, North Carolina. The doors open to the public at 9:30 AM, and both attendance and parking is completely free. More than 75 authors, publishers, musicians and Hollywood moviemakers will be featured. For more information, visit www.bookemnc.org.

Midwest Book Review

This year has started off in an exciting way for me, with the cover of Southern Writers Magazine and hearing that The Tempest Murders placed as a finalist in the 2013 USA Best Book Awards. And the good news continues, with this latest review from Midwest Book Review's Richard R. Blake:

Terrell’s writing is absorbing, brilliant in scope, classic in style, with a hard driving action plot, and unique in the personality development of resilient, believable characters. Readers will appreciate her board insights into police procedure and human nature, and word pictures and descriptions that create vivid visual perceptions of the setting, action, and the climatic uncertainty of the outcome of the fast moving complex plot.


“The Tempest Murders” is destined to become another award winner for this already established internationally acclaimed author.

You can read the entire review at Midwest Book Review, on amazon, Barnes and Noble, or other book sites.   The decision when writing the book was to make it into a series if it was well received, so I am hard at work on the sequel, which is tentatively scheduled for release in the autumn of 2014 - just months away!   To purchase the book from amazon, follow this link.