Announcing the sequel to The Shrill of It All
Where Wolves Wait: A Rae Greyson Mystery
Release Date 1/16/25
An Excerpt from my first book, The Shrill of it All...
Rae awoke on Tuesday morning feeling a little anxious. Today marked the first day of house-sitting and she felt like she unintentionally gave herself a prison sentence. To calm herself, she ate a banana when Travis texted: Left a small surprise for you.Small surprise? Rae’s mind raced around the possibilities. Chocolate? Loads of cash? Anti-anxiety meds?
An hour later, she stood at the bottom of the front porch steps, gaping at the small surprise and cursing Travis’s wicked sense of humor. The so-called small surprise was his dog Tiny, except Tiny was enormously large and he dwarfed the wrap-around porch on which he stood, as well as the tower looming above it. The head was as large as a watermelon and the paws could easily palm Rae’s whole face. His dark eyes reminded Rae of black olives, extra large and extra frightening.
Pure panic set in and Rae dropped her bag. She slowly removed her cellphone from her back pocket to dial Travis’s number. After listening to his voice message, she waited for the tone before saying, “Your surprise sucks. You have some nerve. What am I supposed to do here? You promised.” Suddenly, there was another tone and then she heard crackling. The call abruptly ended. Sighing, Rae studied the creature and after a while, she tentatively stepped closer with her outstretched hand palm-side up. She heard that this gesture meant she was a harmless person.
Her oversized greeter remained sitting at the top of the stairs. When she produced her hand, he cocked his head to the side. He then stood on his hind legs, readying himself to jump toward her. She screamed at the top of her lungs and he sat back down again.
The dog had balls the size of two hot-air balloons, which startled her. She gathered her wits and said, “You must be Tiny. Did you know that your owner is a jerk?”
Tiny cocked his head to the other side and softly woofed.
“Oh, so you do know.” She looked past him, fearful of making eye-contact. “Why are you out here? Your owner described you as being a prince of some sort. Shouldn’t you be inside, sitting on your throne?”
Tiny slowly rose on all four legs and descended the five steps in one large, gentle leap. Landing to the side of Rae, he carefully moved his body closer to her and the top of his head reached her collarbone. His ears could have tickled her cheeks, if she allowed herself to be that close. She didn’t. Instead, she took a sidestep away from him.
Tiny cleared his throat and Rae quickly grabbed her bag, marching up the stairs. With the spare key and security code already in hand, she opened the door while informing Tiny, “I’m going inside. You’re welcome to follow. At a distance.” She waited for Tiny to enter, but he remained sitting at the bottom of the porch steps with his head cocked to the side again, looking puzzled or possibly frustrated. Rae couldn’t tell what he was thinking. She wished that he would seek out a bush. Instead, he yawned, licked his chops and stayed at that spot. Not knowing what to do with the dog, she closed the door, remained in the foyer and immediately sensed someone standing behind her. Quickly turning around, she yelled a very loud and equally strong whoop.