I wanted to share an excerpt from Death on the Golden Mile with you to start out July! Without further ado, happy reading!
Then it happened. Clouds wrapped around each other a half-mile offshore and formed a blue cone. A waterspout. It coalesced in an ethereal manner. Waves pounded the beach with the wind, sending bursts of spray everywhere. Rain poured in a deluge. Then water and wind wrapped around each other, reaching to the sky in crooked fashion.
Only Louise remained with me in the great room.
The waterspout twisted and churned a couple hundred yards offshore. I watched its movement for two seconds before my fear turned to dread.
It was coming right for us.
Without wasting another second, I shouted, “Tornado!” at the top of my lungs. My yell startled poor Louise, whose eyes were closed and was leaning to the side on the couch.
“Louise,” I said, running to her side, “let me help you up. We’ve got to get to an interior room. That twister is heading this way.”
I risked a glance out the window. Her eyes opened. She turned and gasped. The bottom of the funnel had reached where waves were crashing onshore, throwing up plumes of sand and water. The house vibrated like a train was approaching.
I helped her up off the couch by grabbing one of her bony arms by the elbow. She smelled of old perfume and ointment.
“Come on, Louise,” I said. “Hang onto me.”
She moaned with worry. Her words came in quick gasps. “Clark. Clark. Help.”
“Are you okay?” I asked as I rushed us across the living room to the opposite side of the house from where we came up the stairs.
“I. Am. Just. Short. Of. Breath. Is. All,” she gasped from my side.
“Almost there!” I shouted above the growing din of the cyclone racing toward us. It was slow going, but we reached one door lining the wall. I hoped to find a closet on an interior wall. The waterspout was now on land, meaning it had become a tornado.
And from the looks of it, it was mad.
It toppled the palm trees standing in its path like dominoes. Down one went after another. Wind tossed the chairs and tables around the pool in all directions. Some went flying into a neighbor’s property. Some flew against the house, while others ended up submerged in the pool.
I slid open the barn door leading into what looked like a guest bedroom. The bed was made. Nightstands flanking it were tidy. An open door led to an attached bathroom. There was a set of louvered doors to our right. Jackpot.
“Quick, in here,” I shouted to Louise, leading her to a large closet. She rushed as fast as she could inside.
I stole a glance back outside through the picture windows at the approaching tornado. The sound was deafening. The twister was about to graze by the opposite side of the house and pass between homes. Destruction lay in its path.
As I closed the barn door and went to huddle with Louise in the closet, I heard it. Even above the calamity.
A single gunshot.
Death on the Golden Mile releases on August 23rd!
Here are the multitude of ways you can get your hands on it:
Pre-Order Signed Copies from my website
I will be holding a pre-launch book signing on Sunday, August 21st at Benjamin’s Bakery in Surfside Beach from 4-5:30, and I currently have one release day book signing scheduled at Back Again Bookshop in Myrtle Beach from 11-2 on the 23rd. Find those events here: https://www.facebook.com/calebwygalauthor/events/.
I have several other events in the works, so keep checking back for more.
You can also pre-order signed copies from Litchfield Books in Pawleys Island and Back Again Bookshop if you are in the Grand Strand area.
If you would like to set up a book signing or book club appearance, reply to this email or visit my contact page here: https://calebwygal.com/contact-2/
I think this is my best work yet, and I can’t wait for you to read what happens to Clark Thomas next!