Sunday Snippet: Halloween Haunt (a Lantern Jack tale)

Long week with a zillion phone calls to settle everything on getting a new vehicle to replace our totaled one. Happy to say as of Friday it's all taken care of. Yay!

Not a bad week with work projects and a solid week of good television. Started out with Street Legal and I'm ending with another episode of the same. Starting to really enjoy this show.

Caught another episode of the Ready Room and thoroughly enjoyed Evan Evagoria's interview. Such a great character he played. And he's a huge fan of the franchise and that came through so much.

Also watched another episode of Chicago Med and enjoyed the three threads playing out during the episode.

Enjoyed another episode of No Offence. This show … man, it's so good. Not sure if there will be more episodes, but I'm so glad I found this one.

Caught the second part of Silent Witness's two part episode. Yeah, they're all two part episodes, I know. This was a really great one and I liked how everything came together by the end.

Watched another arc of Classic Who. They're still on the trail of the time key components and this episode ended up being more fun than I originally thought it would be.

Started a new episode of Blue Heelers and it's got some drama, which seems to be woven in more than usual. Great episode so far.

Caught another episode of UFOs: The Lost Evidence. This one focused around UFOs and US presidents. Actually pretty interesting viewing.

Watched two more episodes of The Muppet Show. Dom Deluise and Bernadette Peters were the guest stars. I'm still nostalgic for the first season, which is probably my favorite.

The Hardy Boys had a great episode. The tall dude is finally—maybe—done for. Liked getting a little more information on Laura's past and I'm trying to decide if I want the grandmother to be super bad or a red herring of goodness.

I viewed another Master Class with David Carson on graphic design. This one had another lesson about color and I found it fascinating.

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is going to some interesting places. I can't decide if I want Sabrina to really twist everything on its ass or if she needs something to blow up in her face. I'll find out by the next episode if that happens.

That's pretty much it for television this week. Tonight's post is from Halloween Haunt, a Lantern Jack tale featuring a clairvoyant medium and a cranky vampire.

Here's the mini-blurb:

Lantern Jack is back to right another wrong. Hadria Hardcastle is a clairvoyant medium who runs an investigation agency—she solves the unsolvable. Safford Sturgeon is a six-hundred-year-old vampire tired of his undead existence. When a trail of dead bodies leads Hadria to Safford's front door, she has to decide if he's guilty or being framed. Safford won't make her job easy, but meeting Hadria shakes him out of his lethargy and promises to make his life worth living.

And a preview snippet…

Hadria woke up from a nightmare that doubled as a prescient dream. "Someone is going to die." The gut-churning knowledge meant she wouldn't get back to sleep.

She got out of bed on shaky legs and almost tripped over an ugly, carved pumpkin. Her gift allowed her to see the man under the curse. He'd been trapped for a very long time.

She tilted her head to one side. "You must have done something horrible to carry the hex you have."

The pumpkin responded. "I did. But I've seen the error of my ways and I'm on the path to redemption." He paused a moment. "Folks refer to me as Lantern Jack. No one is allowed to speak my true name until I make my final amends."

Hadria dropped down to sit cross-legged on the floor. "You haven't wronged me so there's another reason you're here." She had to admit, he offered an excellent distraction from her nasty dream.

Jack made a tsking sound. "I'm sorry to say you won't be distracted for long. I'm here to help you find the killer."

Hadria narrowed her eyes. "You're speaking truth but you're not speaking all. What are you holding back?" The fact he mentioned her dream gave her additional insight to his nature.

Jack's carved visage shifted to surprise. "Your gift is strong."

She nodded. "Let's call it the curse I live with." Not exactly a wonderful blessing.

Jack spoke again. "I can't reveal all I know, but I can guide you where your gift can't."

Hadria sensed his honesty. "Do you know if I'll make it in time?" Her track record could use a boost.

She'd been too late the last two times. But she had helped catch the culprits in both recent cases. Maybe she'd actually have a chance this time.

Jack gave her a careful answer. "It's possible but not certain."

Hadria sighed, picked him up, and carried him into her small kitchen. "Tell me what you can. I won't be able to go back to sleep anyway." She grabbed the coffee canister and started filling the basket to brew a pot.

Please let this pumpkin help me this time.

The Lantern Jack stories have been a lot of fun to write. This one is getting Jack closer to his goal and he'll have one more hurdle to jump if he manages to get Hadria and Safford together.

 

That's it for this week.

Cheers!

Skye