Today, I’m so happy to be a tour stop on the blog tour for A Deadly Fortune by Stacie Murphy – I have an excerpt for you to read thanks to Amy at HFVBT.
Title: A Deadly Fortune
Author: Stacie Murphy
Published: January 2021, Pegasus Crime
Format: Hardcover, 368 pages
Summary:
A historical mystery in the vein of The Alienist, in which a young woman in Gilded Age New York must use a special talent to unravel a deadly conspiracy.
Amelia
Matthew has done the all-but-impossible, especially for an orphan in
Gilded Age New York City. Along with her foster brother Jonas, she has
parleyed her modest psychic talent into a safe and comfortable life. But
safety and comfort vanish when a head injury leaves Amelia with a
dramatically-expanded gift. After she publicly channels an angry spirit,
she finds herself imprisoned in the notorious insane asylum on
Blackwell’s Island. As Jonas searches for a way to free her, Amelia
struggles to control her disturbing new abilities and survive a place
where cruelty and despair threaten her sanity.
Andrew Cavanaugh
is familiar with despair. In the wake of a devastating loss, he
abandons a promising medical career—and his place in Philadelphia
society—to devote himself to the study and treatment of mental disease.
Miss Amelia Matthew is just another patient—until she channels a spirit
in front of him and proves her gift is real.
When a distraught
mother comes to Andrew searching for her missing daughter—a daughter she
believes is being hidden at the asylum—he turns to Amelia. Together,
they uncover evidence of a deadly conspiracy, and then it’s no longer
just Amelia’s sanity and freedom at stake. Amelia must master her gift
and use it to catch a killer—or risk becoming the next victim.
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About the author: Stacie Murphy grew up near Nashville, TN. She began writing A Deadly Fortune in 2017 as a way to force herself to stay off Twitter in the evenings. She lives in Northern Virginia with her husband, daughter, and the worst cat in the world.
Author links: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads
Buy links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound
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Excerpt:
In the washroom, Amelia found herself standing at the sinks next to the young woman who always cried for her baby, brought there with her own pitiless escort. As the two nurses gossiped by the door, Amelia washed her face and tried her best to ignore the girl, who stood mute as tears made shining tracks down her cheeks. Despite her resolve, she could not help herself in the face of such misery.
Amelia reached out and squeezed the girl’s hand. Time halted at the touch.
Though neither of them had ever learned to swim, she and Jonas had once taken a day-trip to Brighton Beach. With a packed lunch and a pair of borrowed bathing costumes, they’d boarded a train in the dark early morning. They dozed in a cramped compartment and arrived just after the sun came up.
Enthralled by the view of the horizon, Amelia ignored the bathing boxes and walked out into the surf, enjoying the gentle tug of the waves and the sliding sand beneath her feet. Unwary, she went out too far. A rogue swell knocked her off her feet, and in an instant everything went mad. She clawed at nothing as she spun in the foamy water, buffeted against the ocean floor and terrified of being dragged out into the deep. There was nothing but rough sand and frothing water and naked desperation.
Taking the girl’s hand felt like being swallowed by that wave. A torrent of images, vivid and wrenching, poured through Amelia’s mind and became as real to her as her own thoughts. She knew why the girl — Mara was her name — wept, what she’d lost. She felt what Mara did, the boundless sorrow, the scouring shame, and the utter certainty that all the world in every direction held only more of the same. Panic gripped her for a moment as she was nearly swept away. But like the wave that day at Brighton, almost before it had begun, it ended, and she found her feet again.
Amelia blinked. No more than a second had passed. The nurses had not paused in their conversation. She let out a shuddering breath. So much for hoping her new abilities had gone. She looked at Mara, and the pain in the girl’s eyes made Amelia’s heart lurch.
She gave the hand she still held another gentle squeeze and let go. “It wasn’t your fault.”
The nurses looked over at the words. One of them snorted in contempt. “Says the likes of you.” She turned on the young woman. “And you. Always wanting us to bring you your baby. Can’t, can we? And well enough you know it, since you were the one what killed it. Oh, you fooled the judge, but you’ll not fool me.”
Scowling, the nurse jerked Amelia away and hauled her back to her cell.
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Giveaway:
Enter
to win a copy of A Deadly Fortune by Stacie Murphy & a $50 Gift
Card to Amazon or your favorite Indie store. Winner’s choice.
The giveaway is open to the US only and ends on February 5th. You must be 18 or older to enter.
Thank you for hosting A Deadly Fortune today!
Amy
HF Virtual Book Tours