Lost Among The Living

Lost Among The Living

Adult Mystery
"Mrs. Perry broke in again, her voice grim. 'A man died in the
woods that same day,' she said. 'Some said the girl must have done
it, though he was ripped to pieces, so I don't see how she could have
done such a thing...mad or not.'...They shut up the house after it
happened, and all of them left. But now they're back, and we're to
expect the son."
Simone St. James is the ultimate campfire scary story hostess.
She's chilled us delightfully in a possessed motel and a haunted shut
down girls' school. In Lost Among The Living, quoted above, she leads
us into an old mansion that is possibly haunted by the ghost of a girl
who committed suicide.
The year is 1921. England is recovering from both WWI and the
Spanish Influenza pandemic. Narrator Jo is in limbo. Her husband is
said to have been killed in combat. His crushed plane has been found,
but no body. Despite being bereft, she can't collect a widow's pension.
Jo works as a companion to Dottie Forsythe, her husband's aunt,
an imperious woman who calls her "Manders" (her last name) "as if I
were the upstairs maid," chain smokes, bores and bullies all around
her, and considers averice to be a virtue. They've done a tour of
Europe where Dottie has been taking advantage of others' misfortune,
snapping up works of art at rock bottom prices to resell for much
more. Now they're on their way to the family estate.
There would be a lot of trouble in paradise even without the
supernatural. Dottie and possibly philandering husband, Robert, can't
stand each other. Son Martin has returned from the war very much
changed. Between shell shock (what we now call PTSD) and morphine
addiction caused by a botched surgery he's only a shadow of his former
self, too exhausted and depressed to put up any resistance to his
mom's plan to marry him off to a daughter from a suitable (also rich)
family. Nearly townspeople view the family with dark suspicion and
more than a little hostility.
That's without the supernatural. But with St. James scripting
the story, you know the living will be sharing space with the undead.
Jo sees, hears, and experiences things nobody else experiences. Why
has she been chosen to receive these mysterious, unsettling
communiques from the other side? What is she supposed to be inspired
to do? Will she understand and achieve her mandate in time to prevent
future tragedy?
You'll want to read the book to find out.
On a purrrsonal note, last night I had a real break through in regard
to computers. I was using my laptop correctly in my dream. I
specifically recall clicking on a link my friend Lisa sent me and
working with the information. When a skill enters your dreams it's a
real sign your brain is making it part of your knowledge base and
skill set. About time, huh? (Jules)
I am glad I don't have to zoom with tiny little people. (Tobago)
A great big shout out goes out to UMaine's IT department. In fact we
should start calling them Atlas because they are in very real ways
carrying the university. There's the faculty members needing help to
convert in person classes to online or hybrid, especially where
blackboard has been swapped out for something I think called bright
space, students (like me) needing to upgrade skills to succeed
academically in this pandemic academic new normal, and so many on
campus managers in other departments with divergent and challenging
need to knows. That's a lot of work and pressure.
Tobago and Jules Hathaway


Sent from my iPod