World Tree Girl: A Shadow Valley Manor Mystery by Kerry Schafer 
Series: Shadow Valley Manor #2
Published by Self Published on January 2019
Genres: Paranormal/Urban Fantasy
Pages: 330
Format: eBook
Source: Amazon
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The girl with the full-body tattoo of a world tree is not just another runaway. She's dead, for starters, and her veins are emptied of blood and oozing a strange, jelly-like substance. To Maureen Keslyn, seasoned paranormal investigator, former FBI agent, new owner of the Shadow Valley Manor Retirement Home, this isn’t just a corpse. It’s a sign that the Medusa, a dangerous paranormal hybrid, is on another killing spree.
Maureen and her team—Jake, the local sheriff, Matt, the Shadow Valley Manor cook with knife skills that extend beyond the kitchen, and eighteen-year-old Sophronia, who has an uncanny affinity for ghosts—are determined to hunt down and eliminate the creature.
Their case is complicated by the ghost of Maureen’s former partner, Phil Evers, who refuses to cross to the other side, and his very much alive daughter Jillian, who shows up demanding to know how Maureen inherited the Manor. When Sophronia uses her power to try to help Phil across, a huge spirit storm blows up at Shadow Valley Manor, and she disappears. With the life of one of their own in deadly peril, Maureen and the team have a ticking clock to find Sophronia and bring down the Medusa.
“What do you get when you mix paranormal thrills, a feisty middle-aged heroine, and a tantalizing mystery set in a creepy rest home? Kerry Schafer’s DEAD BEFORE DYING! Clever, fast-paced, and fun, Schafer weaves an irresistible tale sure to keep you reading far into the night.” ―Lisa Alber, author of KILMOON and WHISPERS IN THE MIST
“Schafer deftly balances the menace of unknown evil with a smart and tenacious band of heroes―led by one kick-ass heroine. DEAD BEFORE DYING is an engaging, sizzling start to a new series.” ―Tammy Kaehler, award-winning author of the Kate Reilly Mystery Series
This story has a Thanksgiving subtheme so treat yourself to a holiday story and maybe your family get together will feel less traumatic this year.
We return to the Shadow Valley Manor Retirement Home just in time for Thanksgiving. A local tradition is for the middle schooler’s to come to the Manor to have Thanksgiving dinner with the seniors. Not being a local, or interested in the Manor being infested with middle schoolers, Maureen keeps trying to shut that down. Unfortunately, Sheriff Jake Callahan and Matt, FBI undercover agent and the Manor’s chef, fear teacher Mrs. Schrader a lot more than they do Maureen, or the sudden infestation of ghosts that have settled in the Manor, to cancel this year’s long-time tradition.
Maureen is more interest in helping solve the supposed suicide of Dason Williams, especially once she and Jake realize that he is the blogger from Underground Weird. A blog which posts photos of autopsies and wonders if all those on the table are actually human. Everything about this situation sheds doubt that Dason would commit suicide, especially when it would have been Maureen’s job with the FBI paranormal division to shut down these kinds of conspiracy theorists. While Maureen’s stance would be more to convince them that their ideas are crazy, there were others that thought nothing of using deadly force to stop the spread of information.
As if infestations of ghosts and pre-teens isn’t stressful enough, Phil Evers’s (Maureen’s now deceased former partner/lover) daughter Jill has arrived and wants to know why her father left the Manor to Maureen. Maureen and Jill have a…rocky relationship since that time that Jill stabbed Maureen for dating her dad. Now every time Maureen turns around, she is tripping over Jill and checking for more knives in her back. Jill swears that she is trying to help but there is something off about the whole thing.
But the biggest problem is that Sophronia is missing. Sophie is still freaked out about what she did with Dr. Sorenson’s soul and after another altercation with a spirit, she ran out of the Manor after receiving a mysterious text from Ravenna. Who is this mysterious Ravenna and is she someone who will cause Sophie more harm than good?
THOUGHTS:
I really like this group. I especially like my literary doppleganger Maureen, the mid-fifty former FBI agent who is feeling her age, plus some, after her last official investigation got her beat up by a giant slug. She is more freaked out by the middle schooler infestation than the ghosts.
Sadly, there only appears to be three novels and one short story to this series. The last one (which I will be starting soon) was released in 2021. It is not impossible that there could be more stories but it seems unlikely. I am torn between starting Dead Before Dinner next or saving the last novel for when I need a literary palette cleanser. Nerd problems.
Favorite Scene:
“Let’s go see what the darlings are up to, shall we?”
“But I was going to my room to freshen up before dinner,” she protests.
More shouts. A shriek.
“Can I tell you a secret?” I lean in close to her ear. “Jill and I are both terrible with children. From the sounds of things, they need a little managing. Will you come and help us?”
Nora smiles at that. “Well, surely, dear. If I can be of assistance.”
Fortunately, she uses the walker mostly for balance and can move a little faster than a full shuffle. When we reach the door of the game room, I realize my mistake. I should have locked both women into a room and left them there.
“Merciful heavens,” Nora whispers, putting one hand to her heart.
I see nothing of either mercy or heaven in the scene that meets my eyes. A gaggle of kids and seniors huddle together under the shuffleboard table. The kids look excited and scared, the residents seem dazed. There’s a wheelchair in the middle of the room, lying on its side with one of the rear wheels spinning crazily. A dart, thrown by an unseen hand, whizzes through the air and strikes the target. Bull’s-eye.
One of the kids, seeing me, scrambles out from under the table. A resident grabs her and pulls her back, just as a shuffleboard disc levitates and then drops onto the spot where her head would have been.
That’s it. I’m pissed. I don’t need special glasses to see what’s going on here, but I pause to snap a few photos before going into avenger mode.
“I’m warning you,” I say, holding up my salt sprayer. “I’ll give you until the count of three.”
A dart zooms past my head, so close the feather brushes my cheek, and thunks into the wall.
I start turning the handle, spraying the room indiscriminately with salt.
The floating discs crash down onto table and floor. The darts follow. I wait. When everything stays quiet, I draw Nora into the room. She’s shaking, and I hope she’s not going to have a heart attack.
At my direction, Jill rights the wheelchair and we ease Nora into it.
“Kids, residents, stay put,” I order. “Anybody else, get out now. I’ve had enough.”
“Wow!” Jill says, her eyes alight with excitement. “Is it always like this?”
“No. It’s generally very boring.”
Eyes stare at me, like I’ve performed a magic trick.
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