Gloria Ferris
Writer of
Mystery
Suspense
Fantasy
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Ferris Tremain
NEW RELEASE
REAPER BLISS
Dark magic is afoot this night . . .
For a few extra bucks, Bliss Moonbeam Cornwall dresses up as the Grim Reaper to scare the kids and hand out candy at the Belcourt Nursery’s Halloween gala. So far, so good.
Until the clock ticks toward midnight, and Halloween becomes Samhain. Wrapped in her Reaper robe, Bliss accompanies the local coven to the abandoned Darkwood Burial Ground for the pagan holiday celebrating harvest’s end. There’s food and mead, a bonfire and dancing. The festivities are in full swing when Bliss notices a few of the old gravestones are icy to the touch – and glowing in the fog-shrouded cemetery. She remembers too late that, during Samhain, the lines between the physical and spirit worlds blur.
The coven is thrilled – will they finally witness departed souls crossing the thinning Veil to visit and share their feast? Since Bliss is the township’s Cemetery Inspector, she’s responsible for the integrity of the site. Retreat is not an option for her.
The first spirit to full-on manifest isn’t interested in partying with the pagans. He can’t keep his eyeholes off the little Reaper, and Bliss suspects he had a bad death experience and is out for revenge. Soon, a second long-dead soul hovers over its Celtic cross before drifting towards the welcoming fire. Every grave in the cemetery lights up, and a full-on soul invasion seems imminent.
A Cornwall & Redfern Mystery (Book 1)
For over half a century, the bones lay buried in Blackmire Swamp.
Bliss Moonbeam Cornwall is ankle-deep in swamp mud, hunting rare plant specimens, when she unearths a human skull at the edge of a deep pit. She digs feverishly to save as many bones as possible. Just before the sodden bank collapses, she uncovers a WW2-era German Mauser.
Police Chief Neil Redfern, Bliss’s husband, is sidelined by recent surgery. But, the anonymous bones lying in the morgue with a skull marked by violence, won’t let him rest. The likelihood of murder increases when his forensics team discovers a second WW2 pistol close to the burial site.
CORPSE FLOWER
From country club to trailer park …
Swindled out of a fair divorce settlement, former socialite Bliss Moonbeam Cornwall works a number of part-time jobs to pay the rent on a rundown trailer and keep her motorcycle on the road. But Bliss still can't save enough money for another day in court. So, when her cousin offers her a generous fee to find a pollinating mate for his giant jungle plant, she agrees to help. How hard can it be?
That's when she discovers that her neighbors, her employers, and even her cousin are involved in a string of illegal activities including grow-ops and suspicious deaths. Police Chief Neil Redfern's persistent scrutiny is interfering with her goal, and Bliss suspects he may be up to his badge in the crimes he's supposed to be investigating. With no one to back her up, Bliss must make a decision. She can give up on her dream, or she can start fighting dirty. Either way, she risks becoming other murder victim.
Shroud of Roses
A Cornwall & Redfern Mystery (Book 2)
The graduating Class of 2000 held a final party in the gym before the old high school was abandoned and boarded up. At midnight, the school emptied for the last time. Or, so everyone believed.
Fifteen years later, the building is scheduled for demolition. A salvage team sweeping the halls discovers a skeleton curled up in a locker, a hole in the left temple. Lockport’s chief of police, Neil Redfern, is called in to investigate.
When Redfern learns that his girlfriend, Bliss Moonbeam Cornwall, also graduated that fateful year, he reveals details of the grisly discovery. She insists she knows who his victim is, but before any headway can be made in the case, another grad is killed. Could the two murders be connected?
Despite being warned against meddling in police affairs, Bliss enlists the help of two former classmates to find the killer. But, digging into the past proves to be a dangerous pastime. Her unconventional methods jeopardize the investigation, her relationship with Redfern, and her own life.
A Cornwall & Redfern Mystery (Book 3)
The old burial grounds are lively again … with graverobbers, gunrunners, and a coven of skyclad Wiccans.
Bliss needs to rethink her “anything for a buck” approach to life. Lockport’s mayor from hell has her scouting the back roads on her motorcycle, searching for abandoned cemeteries. Her mission: locate, evaluate, and report. Easy money. First day out, she falls into a grave and lands on a pile of bones. Shock turns to outrage when she realizes the skull is missing.
She expects her boyfriend, Police Chief Neil Redfern, to throw everything he has at the crime, but Neil is in the middle of a serious investigation and can’t spare the resources. In his job, missing firearms trumps the desecration of a century-old burial. Bliss won’t accept this decision, and their relationship founders when she senses he’s also keeping personal secrets from her.
Despite Neil’s insistence she leave police work to him, Bliss continues her quest to find the graverobber. She discovers more headless skeletons in the far reaches of the township and stumbles across a dying man poisoned by Jimsonweed.
Not until she narrowly escapes death by the same toxin, does Neil concede there may be a link between the gun thefts and the violated graves. On Midsummer’s Eve, Bliss faces their adversary alone. Will Neil find her in time? Or, will she join the ranks of the long-dead she has so fiercely championed?
After three mystery stories crammed with blackmail, poisonings, graveyard theft, arms dealing, gunfights, and more than a few suspicious deaths, Bliss Moonbeam Cornwall and Police Chief Neil Redfern have given up the struggle of denying their love. On this steamy, summer day, they're tying the knot.
Like the preceding novels, WEDDED BLISS provides plenty of laughs, including a drunken cousin, a foul-mouthed parrot, missing underwear, and a suspicious platter of devilled eggs. Not to mention something is off about the shrimp. Since this is Bliss we're talking about, an old cemetery plays a crucial part.
While Bliss is encasing herself in a too-tight wedding gown, Neil is alone in a motel room across town eyeballing his braid-covered dress uniform and wondering if he'll pass out from the heat. Both are minutes away from facing dark echoes of the past that threaten to prevent their happy future.
Readers of the Cornwall & Redfern Mysteries will recognize the guests who gather to ensure the wedding is special for Bliss and Neil. Old friends and old enemies – it's a day Bliss and Neil will never forget. Please join them.