Adding a little spirit to your mystery...

And I don’t mean drinks.

So who writes mysteries with a touch of the other world?  I’m playing with a cozy that has a paranormal twist.

 

I have to say, I love a good dark gothic romance.  Give me an old house with creaks and groans, a flicker of light that may or may not be a ghost, and a tortured hero, and I’m in heaven.  I grew up watching Dark Shadows and always felt a little sad for the lonely, unloved vampire. 

Zombies, not so much. Zombies remind me of the slasher films, Halloween, Friday the 13^th, those types, where evil is going to win. Every time.  Even in Final Destination, death won.  Maybe not in movie number one but eventually.

I've got books of spells around the house for research purposes. Which brings up a side note, does it bother anyone that spell books so easy to obtain?  I didn't have to go to the Voodoo R Us store in the bad section of town, just down to my favorite paper bookstore.  I’m sure I could have found tons more books on line.  Is it because more people believe? 

Now, I’m researching rune stones and the ancient gods they represented.

I brought home a voodoo zombie doll from my last trip to Nashville.  She’s dressed in a ballerina outfit over her mummy wrap.  The doll is supposed to help me bring out my natural talents.  She does make me smile every time I see her pink tutu so out of place on the bandages.

Oh, and I live in one of the most haunted towns in America. The picture above is the remnants of the first prison in Illinois- after 1860 when prisoners were transferred to Joliet, then the site was used to incarcerate captured confederate soldiers.  Being on the Mississippi, the prison often flooded and the daily death rate was 6-8 men. The site is said to be haunted by the ghosts of these men.

So what books or movies do you love that brings in a touch of the woo woo? Or are you a realist in your reading and writing?  

Lynn