Interview with paranormal mystery author Randy Overbeck

Winding up the week with me is novelist Randy Overbeck as we chat about his new paranormal mystery, Scarlet at Crystal River.

During his virtual book tour, Randy will be awarding a $20 Amazon or Barnes and Noble (winner’s choice) gift card to a lucky randomly drawn winner. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit his other tour stops and enter there, too!

Bio:
Dr. Randy Overbeck is an award-winning educator, author and speaker. As an educator, he served children for four decades in a range of roles captured in his novels, from teacher and coach to principal and superintendent. His thriller, Leave No Child Behind (2012) and his recent mysteries, the Amazon No. 1 Best Seller, Blood on the Chesapeake, Crimson at Cape May and Scarlet at Crystal River have earned five star reviews and garnered national awards including “Thriller of the Year–ReadersFavorite.com, “Gold Award”—Literary Titan, “Mystery of the Year”—ReadersView.com and “Crowned Heart of Excellence”—InD’Tale Magazine. As a member of the Mystery Writers of America, Dr. Overbeck is an active member of the literary community, contributing to a writers’ critique group, serving as a mentor to emerging writers and participating in writing conferences such as Sleuthfest, Killer Nashville and the Midwest Writers Workshop. When he’s not writing or researching his next exciting novel or sharing his presentation, “Things Still Go Bump in the Night,” he’s spending time with his incredible family of wife, three children (and their spouses) and seven wonderful grandchildren.

Please tell us about your current release.
All Darrell Henshaw wanted was to enjoy his honeymoon with his beautiful wife, Erin, in the charming town of Crystal River on the sunny Gulf Coast of Florida. Only a pair of ghosts decide to intrude on their celebration. And not just any ghosts, the spirits of two young Latino children. Unwilling at first to derail the honeymoon for yet another ghost hunt, Darrell finally concedes when a painting of the kids comes alive, weeping and pleading for his help.

When he and Erin track down the artist, they discover the children’s family were migrant workers the next county over. But when they travel there, their questions about the kids gets their car shot up and Erin hospitalized. Torn between fear and rage, Darrell must decide how far he will go to get justice for two young children he never even knew.

What inspired you to write this book?
As I considered how to approach this, the third entry in my Haunted Shores Mysteries, I knew I wanted to do something different. For the first, the #1 Amazon and B & N Best Seller, BLOOD ON THE CHESAPEAKE, I created a ghost of huge black teen murdered three decades earlier. For the second installment, another Amazon Best Seller, CRIMSON AT CAPE MAY, my ghost became the specter of a young bride murdered on her wedding night, still bleeding on her white dress. For number three, a Christmas mystery set on the Gulf coast of Florida, I wanted to find something fitting, fitting to the setting, to the season, to the story.

On a break from my brainstorming, I was thumbing through family pictures and came upon a photo of my grandkids playing on a playground. Staring at the images of the smiling faces, it hit me. What if the mystery was about the death of two kids? Two kids whose ghosts haunt my hero to find justice for them? The rest, as they say, is history.

Excerpt from Scarlet at Crystal River:
Darrell ran harder, finishing the loop and circling back to Erin. She was so engrossed in her paperback he managed to sneak up behind her. He leaned and in and grabbed another long kiss.

She kissed him back, smiling. “Now that’s better than a little fictional romance.” She got up and stretched her long legs.

“You ready for some waves?” he asked.

“If you’re up to it, let’s do a mile or so on the sand first.”

“You’re on.” Darrell gave a gentlemanly wave of his hand.

“I’ll race you.”

Erin took off like a shot, and Darrell hurried after her. Since the beach was small, they covered the same ground Darrell had a few minutes earlier, passing the family sandcastle builders, another jogger, and the same strolling couples. As usual, she was quick, and he had to hustle to keep up, using some fancy footwork to sidestep sunbathers as they ran. When they got to the north end of the beach where Darrell had turned to double back, Erin headed for a little spit of land that strutted out into the water. He looked beyond and saw what she was headed for. Accelerating, he passed her.

Ahead, at the far end of the beach, a pair of young kids, he’d guess about six, sat in the sand as the waves rolled over their legs. Their small hands busied with a primitive sandcastle. One had long, brown hair tied into pigtails, and the other had a full head of brown hair, unkempt and in need of a trim. He came up to them and stopped, Erin a few seconds behind.

The kids wore street clothes, not swimsuits, but he didn’t think much about it. Then he noticed something about the young boy. His right leg was stuck out at a grotesque angle, as if it had been broken and never set. Both kids giggled at the gurgling water that rolled up around their bare feet and pooled in the makeshift moat they’d dug around their sand creation. The castle was crude, a nearly round construction with seashells sticking up like turrets. The two kids glanced up, caramel eyes wide and pleading with half smiles of white teeth.

In unison, they said, “Ayudaños?”

“Huh?” Darrell said.

“Cute castle, huh?” Erin stared at the sand and looked up at Darrell. “I wonder who made it?” Her eyes roamed around the area. “Out here on this spit of land it isn’t going to last very long.”

“Those kids—” he started, pointing to the pair. When he looked down, the sandcastle sat alone, the gulf water flowing around the construction and into the crude moat.

His glance darted out to the waves, thinking they’d abandoned their work and ran into the water, even in their street clothes, though he wondered how the boy could have run.

No girl or boy.

Oh, God! The same two kids? “You vill have two visitors.”

“What’d you say?” Erin asked, her gaze meeting his.

The ghosts. Erin hadn’t seen them!

Shit, he couldn’t tell her. Not now. Not here.

“Nothing,” he managed around the lump in his throat and glanced back down at the sand.

There at his feet, the crude sand construction they’d been working on, complete with the three blue seashells sticking out of the top, sat alone on the sand. He reached down and grabbed one of the small seashells as the prickle on his neck returned and sizzled. Then he sensed something else, something ominous. No, not ominous, malevolent. More of Natalia’s warning came back to him.

“I see a malevolence, a great danger lurking nearby.”

A big wave rushed in, rolling over their ankles and leveling the mound of sand, leaving the beach empty. As if nothing had ever been there.

“¡Ayúdaños!”

What exciting story are you working on next?
In between the ever-increasing demands of marketing the first three books in the Haunted Shores Mysteries, I’m completing a new mystery, another amateur sleuth whodunit set in a middle school in the Midwest. Fifth graders have gotten a hold of a new drug and while experimenting, four students are killed. The district tasks the Assistant Superintendent to work with the police to discover who’s behind the drugs killing kids. The only problem is no one is going to like what he uncovers.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?
I’ve been writing most of my adult life, just not for myself. About ten years ago, when I was able to devote a significant portion of my life to writing—and the myriad other responsibilities that come with this—I began to refer to myself as an author. It seemed strange, maybe even a bit presumptuous at first, but after the first book in my Haunted Shores Mysteries series, BLOOD ON THE CHESAPEAKE, was released in 2019—and did well, a #1 AMAZON and B & N Best Seller—it became far more comfortable.

Do you write full-time? If so, what’s your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?
I write almost full time, or as much full time as my life allows me. My wife is handicapped and I take care her as best I can. I am also a speaker in much demand—not that the pandemic has subsided some—and I spend considerable time traveling and sharing my program “Things Still Go Bump in the Night.” But I work on writing, or editing, or revising and/or marketing hours everyday.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
Unlike many other writers, I truly enjoy the process of editing and revising. I’m not taken aback by having to kill my darlings—after all, I’m not exactly Shakespeare—and, after numerous edits and revisions, I’m really excited to see my best work emerge.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Although I always harbored a desire to be a writer, the mission of being a teacher called to me and I answered that call. In fact, I served children for more than 35 years as a teacher, college prof and school leader.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?
I’m thrilled to have my work shared with the readers of your blog. I hope I’ve peaked their interest enough that they will want to pick up a copy of my award-winning ghost story/mystery, Scarlet at Crystal River or one of the other two entries in the series. Thanks for the opportunity to share.