13 authors. 13 mystery stories. One catchy name: Shadows and Deceptions.
That’s how I advertise the newest anthology from my writing group, the Blue Quill, where I serve as chapter president.
The collection features a few magical beings: dragons, sorcerers, fae, and, surprise, witches.
My story, “Skagway Witch,” follows Annabelle, a humble tour guide from a small Alaskan town. She doesn’t practice witchcraft and is happy to live on the outskirts and befriend an Indigenous chief. But she must dust off her grandmother’s spellbook when an obnoxious tourist does something stupid and breaks the Gold Rush Cemetery curse.
By the way, the obnoxious tourist’s name is Innessa, and she is a writer from Utah. Guess who I chose as the prototype for that character. 🙂
For Annabelle, I borrowed our real-life tour guide from Skagway, whom we met on our Alaskan cruise. I hope she doesn’t mind.
Beware: anything I see or hear may end up in my stories, because I’m a writer.
Next Saturday, November 7, 2026, we will celebrate the book release at The Local Artisan Collective Store in Ogden, from 5–7 PM. Everyone is welcome to join the party.
If it’s too far to drive and you want to know what the obnoxious tourist named Innessa did in Alaska, ask me for a paper copy of the book.
A digital version is also available on Amazon: https://a.co/d/0hHJsqxm
Do you hear the doorbell? Trick-or-treaters might already be at your door.