Possessed by a hungry ghost?? Where the heck did that come from? I get asked that every time when I tell someone about Possessed by Murder.
To be honest, I have no idea.
When Henrietta Bathers first showed up in Murder at First Sight, I had no clue I would be writing a book about her. She was simply a character who wandered into the story and made herself at home.
Henrietta makes me laugh. She’s kind and sweet, but she’s also stubborn. So stubborn.
When she entered Amelia’s body, I knew I didn’t want someone scary sharing body space with my favorite lead character. I also decided my ghostly character should have a funny quirk that led to Henrietta’s obsession with food. Can you imagine suddenly having taste buds again after decades of not being able to eat? I would gorge myself on chocolate. (Especially as the calories wouldn’t count since they go to someone else’s body.)
Food is such an amazing concept. We need it to survive, but it is so much more than fuel. We turn to food when we need comfort. We celebrate with it. We share it with the people we love. Certain smells and tastes can remind you of a person, a holiday, a kitchen, or a moment you thought you’d forgotten.
Think about chicken noodle soup.
Maybe that was the soup your mother made when you were sick as a child. You’ve never quite managed to get the recipe exactly right yourself, but the smell of it simmering on the stove can still take you back. Suddenly, you’re six years old, wrapped in a blanket on the couch, safe and secure because someone is taking care of you.
Or celebrations.
You finally got that promotion you’ve been working towards and to celebrate you go out for a fancy dinner or cook that expensive steak you’ve always wanted to try.
Those long evenings with friends, when nobody is in a hurry to leave. You share dishes, steal bites from each other’s plates, and laugh all night.
Or after a bad day, there’s the simple pleasure of a cookie warm from the oven. Sometimes that’s enough to soothe your soul.
Now imagine having all of that taken away. Imagine dying, but your spirit is confined to your hometown. You watch the world change around you while the years turn into decades. People you love grow old and die, their souls not bound to the same constrictions as yours. The landscape changes. Technology advances. The world keeps moving, but you don’t.
And you’re alone.
Then, one day, someone comes along who can see you. Not only can they see you, but they can help you. When they decide to hold an impromptu séance, the opportunity to possess them appears so you latch on tight.
After decades of being a ghost, you can experience the world again.
Wouldn’t food be one of the first things you’d want?
Henrietta’s food obsession started as a quirky character trait. But I quickly recognized Henrietta wasn’t simply hungry because she liked food. She was hungry because food is one of the things that makes us feel alive. For someone who has been dead for decades, that’s a powerful thing to rediscover.
JP writes cozy mysteries with quirky characters that make her laugh when they disagree with the laid-out plans for their story and take her on a different path. She lives in Winnipeg, Canada, and hates the cold weather but loves the winter months because they’re a great excuse to hibernate with a cup of tea or a glass of red wine. When she’s not writing or reading, she spends her summers in the garden and her winters plotting how to win her neighbourhood Christmas display competition. They don’t know it’s a competition, but she plays to win nonetheless.
Fans of the Nun the Wiser Mysteries know Bernie’s bestie at The Abbey: Senior Living is Jan Kovitz, but before she returned to live there as a retiree, Bernie made another BFF. Sister Bernadette Ohlson and Sister Eleanor Field met almost half a century ago when they both got placed at St. Aloysius Catholic School in Eugene, Oregon. The two women developed a deep and lasting friendship since they were close in age and the youngest on staff.
Eleanor was born and raised in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula on her family’s farm and orchard and from day one, Eleanor loved nature and being outdoors. Teaching fourth grade science was her destiny. The petite scrappy nun with bobbed hair brought the outdoors into Room 203 for her students and with Bernie’s help led students outdoors on many field trips. Wearing a pocketed vest to carry every bit of gear from a compass to first aid kit, Eleanor tromped through the forests around Eugene, pointing out songbirds and insects, scat and tracks to Bernie and her students. Because of her expertise in camping, canoeing and fishing, she’s one of the few people Bernie ever willingly took directions from, mainly because Bernie didn’t want to get lost in the woods or stumble into a patch of poison oak!
Beloved by her students because of her boundless enthusiasm, many graduates of St. Al’s credit Sister Eleanor for sparking their interest in biology and outdoor activities. Teddy Rudie says she’s the reason he loves to go camping with his family every summer. Liz Kelly became a wildlife manager for the state’s Department of Fish and Wildlife thanks to those field trips.
The transition for an outdoorswoman from Michigan to Oregon was easy, especially with a kindred spirit like Bernie on staff. The women share a strong sense of social justice and curiosity as well as a stubborn streak. Bernie and Eleanor started traveling together during their summer vacations and since retiring they continue meeting up once a year for a trip. They head to all kinds of exotic locations, including Brazil and Laos. Wherever they go, they always cap off their evenings the same way: a hearty meal and some red wine topped off with a glass of bourbon. Bernie’s got hundreds of photos, but her favorites are of her and Eleanor with pink cheeks and glasses raised to toast another fine day exploring a new corner of the world. Over the years the two have grown more wrinkled, they’ve added eyeglasses and silver hair, and of course the backdrop changes with each new destination, but their sisterhood remains tight.
Their history of heading to exciting places makes Bernie wonder why Eleanor insists on meeting in Seattle, Washington this year. It’s true Eleanor had a little health scare a year ago, but is her oldest friend slowing down? Or did she choose this destination for a more nefarious reason? These questions turn out to be central in A Fatal Habit when Bernie arrives in Seattle to find Eleanor has gone missing…
About the Author
Melissa Westemeier grew up around the edge of nerd culture, but marriage and motherhood with three sons immersed her in it. She’s fluent in Marvel, DC, Dr. Who, Star Wars, Godzilla, and more thanks to their influence. Her fiction work includes rom-com and a trilogy loosely based on her experience tending bar on the Wolf River in Wisconsin. She’s thrilled to realize her childhood dream of writing murder mysteries. Her books blend her humor and appreciation for nerd culture while tackling serious themes and unpacking the puzzle of whodunnit (and how and why!). In her spare time, Melissa needs to be outside or near a window. Her passions include hiking, swimming, biking, reading, and fantasizing about her next vacation destination.
Despite being a cozy mystery author and a fan of mysteries and romantic suspense, I’m not a fan of all things spooky. I scare incredibly easy and I just know I’d be the first to go if I ever landed in a horror film.
However, I do love the autumn season. I love the changing leaves and the crisp air with the sun shining overhead. I love pulling out my sweaters and having hot chocolate, curling up on the couch with one of my many fleece blankets.
My favorite part of the fall season is pumpkins. I honestly don’t know what my fascination is with them. We’ve always carved pumpkins with our girls and we did the whole traditional trick or treat thing with them but over the years, I wasn’t sorry to see the knocking on strangers’ doors for candy portion of the season end.
Since they were little girls (they’re grown now), we’ve gone to local pumpkin patches and picked more pumpkins than we need. My youngest used to want the biggest and my oldest wanted the cleanest. One of my favorite things to do is stroll through the pumpkin patches looking for the best pumpkins.
A few years ago, while scrolling on Pinterest, I came across painted pumpkins. I’m now obsessed with painting them. It takes me a while to choose but I often land on Disney themed pumpkins.
I don’t have any pictures of my painted pumpkins (that’s what I get for tidying up my phone storage) but I do have an awesome picture of my girls then and now enjoying the same traditions.
While I’m not into jump scares or terrifying costumes, I’m happy the season to burrow under cozy blankets and scroll through this year’s pumpkin painting ideas on Pinterest is finally here.
About the author
Jody Holford writes sweet romance and cozy mysteries with sweet romance in them. She’s published several books including the cozies in The Britton Bay Series. She’s unintentionally funny and rarely on time for anything. If she’s not writing, she’s reading, hanging out with her family, or doodling. She also writes romcoms under the pen name, Sophie Sullivan.
Greetings, victims, I mean, friends, and welcome to my not-so-spooky Tule Halloween Festival post. If you’ve read any of my Elmo Simpson Mysteries, you know the town of Paradise Springs, Florida is filled with unusual characters. If you haven’t, there’s no better time to change that as all three are on sale this month for the bargain price of $1.99 for Kindle readers.
Among the denizens of the Springs is Abraham Longfellow, a dashing recluse who might be a vampire. Then there’s Idira Maradona, who’s known to many as The Black Widow due to the unusually large number of deceased former spouses. I’d be remiss if I failed to mention the Farrell Sisters, local entertainment magnates who may also be witches.
So, it was no surprise when I started working on a timeline for Dead in the Ditch, book 3 in the series, that Halloween had to play a key part.
The story opens on Halloween night and features trick-or-treating and one whale of a Halloween costume party. A dead body turns up, too. I mean, I write murder mysteries. How could there not be one?
I’ve always loved Halloween. When I was a kid, I spent the night of October 31 dashing from house to house with my friends knocking on doors and shouting, “trick or treat.” It was great fun, and I treasure those memories.
When my kids were young, I took them trick or treating and had as much fun enjoying the spookiness of the evening as they did. We also had a great time decorating the house with jack o’ lanterns, spider webs, and all kinds of other not scary decorations.
Over the years, there have been trips trough haunted houses, strolls through Halloween-themed zoos, and viewings of too many scary movies to count. Not to mention the annual viewing of “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!”
So, yeah, I love Halloween. To me, it’s a time of fun, friendship, and goodwill. I mean, children going house to house to receive treats from people they don’t know? That’s an act of trust and belief in community that can’t be beat.
That’s why, when the opportunity presented itself, I wasn’t going to pass on giving Dead in the Ditch a Halloween theme. And I can’t wait until the timing works to write another Halloween story.
Until next time, stay spooky, friends and keep reading Tule mysteries!
About the author
J.C. Kenney is the bestselling author of The Allie Cobb Mysteries, The Darcy Gaughan Mysteries, and The Elmo Simpson Mysteries. He’s also the co-host of The Bookish Hour webcast. When he’s not writing, you can find him following IndyCar racing or listening to music. He has two grown children and lives in Indianapolis with his wife and a cat.
There’s a crispness in the air, pumpkins on porches, and just the slightest chill that says: it’s time to curl up with a good book. And what better companion than a cozy mystery full of clever clues, charming towns, and sleuths who always follow their instincts?
This October, Tule Publishing is celebrating the season with our Mystery Month Sale, and it’s as comforting as your favorite sweater (with just a dash of murder on the side 😌).
🧁 What’s the scoop?
From October 1 to 31, we’re offering exclusive discounts on all Tule mystery titles published through September 2025. That means plenty of cozy capers, clean mysteries, and small-town secrets—perfect for fall reading.
📚 Where can you find them?
Visit us at TulePublishing.com or on Amazon to grab your next great escape.
🍂 Why you’ll love it:
Because cozy mysteries are more than just solving the case. They’re about:
Baked goods and bookshops
Gossip and gardening
Cats who always seem to know more than they let on
Lovable locals and stubborn sheriffs
Amateurs with big hearts and even bigger instincts
Whether you’re returning to a beloved series or discovering a new fictional town to fall in love with, we’ve got the perfect read to pair with your favorite blanket and a mug of something warm.
So light a candle, settle in, and get ready for a month full of charming mysteries and cozy vibes. 🕯️📖
A Halloween checklist for the magically suspicious
Waking up with no memory is rough. Waking up with no memory, a talking cat and psychic visions of murder? Your next thought might: Maybe I’m a witch! That’s ✨classic✨ Halloween chaos and exactly what happens to Sakara Decker, Ava’s cousin in The Witch Wears Prada.
Here’s a spooky season checklist to find out if you might be a witch… and just forgot.
1. You touch people and immediately know too much
Suddenly you’re picking up vibes, thoughts, or full-blown flashbacks.
Did you gain a sixth sense or just get cursed by a love potion gone wrong?
2. A black cat won’t stop following you
And not in a “feed me snacks” way.
He’s watching you like he knows something — and honestly?
You’re starting to believe he might talk.
3. You keep getting déjà vu… for things that haven’t happened yet
You knew your ex was going to text you before he did.
You predicted your coworker’s weird Halloween party drama before it unfolded.
You might call it intuition.
The universe calls it premonition.
4. Your diary/journal/spellbook is full of spells and potions you don’t remember writing
Did you actually jot down “How To Get Over Your Ex By Giving Yourself Amnesia,”
or is that just your inner witch trying to protect you from getting back together with your ex?
5. You showed up for Halloween… and it felt like someone else showed up with you
You swear you were just here for the pumpkin cupcakes.
Now you’re in the middle of a murder investigation with your cousin, hearing voices and possibly cursed.
Oops.
Bonus points if there’s frosting involved.
If this all sounds familiar, there’s a story in Clover Creek you might want to read this Halloween.
It’s short, spooky, and involves a mind-reading witch with amnesia, a cousin who just wants a chill October, and a talking cat who’s had enough of your memory problems.
Check out my fun Halloween short-story:The Witch Wears Prada that finally explains where Ava’s missing cousin Sakara went off to and what she’s been up to for the last ten years!!
About the author
Lisa Siefert is a USA Today Bestselling Mystery Author who writes humorous cozy mysteries. She dedicates all of her free time to testing out different latte flavors at every coffee shop she comes across and has never once skimped on dessert because life is too short not to. She lives in San Diego with Lucky, her own devious but adorable Abyssinian kitten. She excels at recounting every Hallmark Movie plot ever conceived and can also whip up a mean batch of mint chocolate chip ice cream.
Her books feature amateur women sleuths that always believe in silver linings despite all of the murderous clouds surrounding them. Be sure to check out her website: www.lisasiefert.com.
