Today I am taking part in the blog tour for The Haunting Of Noyo Bay. I’m sharing an extract from the book with thanks to Zoe O’Farrell for inviting me on the tour and to LB Stimson for the copy of the extract.

Blurb:

When sixteen-year-old Charlotte Goolsby first encounters the mysterious little boy playing in the cemetery, she assumes he belongs to the minister’s family. However, as sightings of the little boy continue and seemingly go unnoticed by the rest of Keesbury’s residents, Charlotte is forced to confront everything she once believed about life and death.

Charlotte finds herself confiding her fears to her father’s shipwright apprentice, Rees Pendleton, the eldest son of the village’s most prominent family. Whilst Rees’ mother disapproves of their growing relationship, it will be the arrival of the reclusive uncle with his own secrets who may threaten not only the Pendleton’s future but Charlotte’s as well.

Charlotte and Rees will discover that all is not what it may seem in their quiet, seaside village of Keesbury. Some of the residents are keeping secrets–horrific and deadly secrets.

The Haunting of Noyo Bay beckons back to the age of the ever-popular gothic horror and suspense novels of the 1970s. Set in the mid-1800s, against the backdrop of one of northern California’s emerging seaside villages, readers will be transported back in time.

Extract:

“Oh, no, not again,” she breathed the words through tightened lips.

The child moved in and out of the fog crawling along the cliff’s jagged edge. As she watched, another child appeared, also snapping in and out of the fog. Charlotte’s eyes went from the second little boy back to the other boy skipping near the cliff’s edge. She dropped her pail; her screams filled the silence of the heavy air rising from the ocean.

“Richard!”

“Richard!”

She scrambled through the tall grass; the spectral child closed in on the distance separating him from Richard. Charlotte continued to stumble towards the cliffside, screaming until Richard stopped. He turned in her direction just as the spectral form of the little boy swept up behind him.

“Richard,” she screamed and forced her legs to move in quick strides.

She flung her body towards the edge of the cliff. Richard’s cries, coated in sheer terror, pierced the air as he clung to a clump of grass that bordered the cliffside.

“Hold on! I’ve got you,” she yelled and reached towards the child’s arms.

Her fingers dug into Richard’s arms, ripping at the fabric of his shirt. She yanked on his arms, her hands struggling to find a firm grip; she felt herself begin to slip. Charlotte stiffened her body and dug the tips of her boots into the soft clumps of sand and grass and then froze in panic as the prickly icy breath of the spectral child crossed her ears.

***

The Haunting Of Noyo Bay is available from Amazon.

You can follow the rest of the blog tour here: