I get it

People are annoyed with me over the cliffhanger at the end of Ghostly Dead, and I get it. I really do. I’m annoyed with me, too.

Here’s the skinny, though.

I started writing this book with every intention of it being the final book in the Haunted Everly After series. Why, you ask?

Well, the main reason is I never started out with the intention of writing murder mysteries. If you’ve read my Psychic Seasons series, you will see that in the first four books, the core of the series, nobody dies. But then things happened and long story short, I’ve written more murder mysteries than I ever intended.

We suffered some losses in 2020 that have made it even more difficult to write about murder and death.

So, I intended for Davina’s death to be the last one Everly would have to solve. I still do. However, partway through the first draft, I accidentally let it slip to a small group of readers that this would be the last Everly book. Let’s just say there was fit-pitching, and there were emails, and a minor tantrum or two. So, I agreed to turn Davina’s death into a final trilogy within the series…which meant leaving this book on a cliffhanger.

I knew people would be upset, but people were going to be upset either way.

And so, here we are. The next book is due out in a year. I don’t intend for it to take that long, but if it is going to be written at all, I need to take some time away from writing murder to do something else. Recharge my batteries, I guess you’d say.

To answer some questions about other series:

Yes, there is at least one more mystery coming for Mag and Clara. It may or may not have a murder, but there are loose ends to this phase of their story that need to be tied up.

Yes, there is another Earthbound book to give Adriel a proper ending.

And yes, there is one more Ponderosa Pines book. Nate needs to decide what he will do with his life.

But first, I’m taking a minute to regroup, and write something that isn’t a murder mystery. Or maybe not. I may just take a few weeks to re-center my energies and go back to Everly. Either way, I’ve put the pre-order date out awhile to leave some much-needed breathing room.