The Chalet by Tara Fox Hall

Greetings!
In the spirit of Halloween, I am releasing a gothic e-novella called The Chalet for 99 cents! It will publish tomorrow. Without futher ado, here is the cover, the blurb, and an excerpt!

Blurb: When Madeline honors her mother's dying wish, and returns to The Chalet, she discovers the true secret of the old mansion; a seductive spirit whose undying love has waited decades to claim her for its own. 


Excerpt: Days later, I found what Jackie had taken from the house, when she was away at a baby shower for a friend. It was a diary. At first, I thought it was Madeline’s, as that would make sense, with how much my mom revered her. But it was not. This diary said it was the property of a Victoria Centaurian. After reading a few pages, I understood that this was the person that Martelli had bought the house from decades ago. The entries were dated in the mid-50s. At first, I’d thought by her name that Victoria had been a grand lady of wealth, reigning over the Chalet in regal style. From the small bit in there about her youth, her family had been grand once, and rich. Her father Mason had come to the Minnesota wilderness and made this grand place as a winter retreat, a place to escape the bustle of the city. Victoria’s mother, Jeanna had also loved it, or at least had welcomed the trips to it in the winters. But instead of pleasures and social parties, Victoria’ entries told of her drunken husband Donald, her criminal brother Mitch that was always in and out of jail, and her constant fight to hold it all together. As her fortunes dwindled from legal fees and her husband’s bad investments, Victoria became desperate. To pay the ever-rising taxes, she had begun to rent out sections of The Chalet to boarders. Most of them were groups of out-of-state hunters, and she wrote of their vulgar habits, their trafficking with prostitutes, and how appalled her parents would be to see their once grand estate now a brothel. The entries became more and more angry with each passing season, until pure hate radiated off the pages, her words painful to read.

            Then, the disappearances started. At first, Victoria had been bitter, sure that the guests had skipped out on the last season without paying. Then her entries began to hold not only mounting confusion, but also fear.

            Today the Singers went missing. Malcolm and Sara had arrived two weeks previous, with their two indoor cats. (Victoria went on for another whole page about their apparent wealth, and how she had warned them about letting the cats outside The Chalet, lest the wolves eat the cats. The Singers had remarked on the odd boxes they had brought with them filled with clay litter, a new invention that Victoria had never seen before).

            I checked their rooms, on the ground floor, but their luggage was still there. I think I knew then, but still, I used the cellar drop down stair from the 1st floor. There were the litter boxes, as I expected. But no cats. I know Malcolm and Sara would never have left without them. They are gone, like all the rest.

            Most unsettling to me, Victoria hadn’t reported these disappearances. Of her guests, only one group in ten or so vanished. She would clean the rooms, put aside the personal affects for her yearly yard sale, and pocket any money she found. Most of the time, there was not just enough to cover the bill, but easily twice or three times as much. And while Victoria evidently felt sorry for the people, her cold businesslike solution was chilling to me as I read of her covering up person after person, telling anyone who inquired that she had seen them to the train in town.

            Donald might have been drunk most of the time, but after a few years of this, he began to notice that not everyone who came to The Chalet left. And he finally confronted his wife one night. However, instead of Donald bringing the horror into the light, Victoria hardly needed to convince him to stay silent. He eagerly cooperated in her coverups, even going so far as to begin dumping the cars for some of the patrons that now drove themselves to The Chalet. Yet he was Victoria’s downfall, as Donald was the one who gave up the secret of the family’s sudden solvency to Mitch one night, when they were drinking. Mitch might have been as drunk as Donald that night, but he had never been one to pass up opportunity, even when it involved a family member. He confronted his sister the very next night, telling her he wanted half her profits, or he would go to the police with what he knew.

            Donald hadn’t turned over all the vehicle contents to me, like he’d promised. He had kept a gold pocket watch belonging to George Fishburne. The man’s initials were on the back, clear as day. Mitch dangled it in front of me, like a hypnotist with a simpleton. He had taken it from Donald when the man passed out. He was going to use it as proof against us.

            Victoria had panicked. With no one else to turn to, she had done the unthinkable: called on The Chalet itself to help her.

            I waited until Mitch was asleep. Then I went to the center of the bedroom floor, and went to my knees. I prayed for help, and offered anything, if only the hell I’d been living these years with Mitch and Donald would end.

            She didn’t have long to wait for an answer.

            A light appeared to me in the darkness. It was a little girl. As she came closer to me, I recognized her. It was my sister, Kate, who had died here years ago.

            “Kate?” I said.

            “No,” Kate answered, her voice a man’s, her smile far too cold for a child’s face. “But I did not want to frighten you, Victoria. Not when you have done so much to help me.”

            This thing, whatever it was, had taken those people. But that wasn’t my concern, not now. “Can you help me?”

            “Of course,” the thing that was not my sister said. “But I want your help in return, Victoria.”

Links!

Website: www.tarafoxhall.com

Email: tarafoxhallATgmailDOTcom

Tara's Blog: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5286654.Tara_Fox_Hall/blog

Tara's Facebook Page:

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For info on my recently published books Lash and Promise Me, click here: http://www.amazon.com/Lash-ebook/dp/B007UJ6KGC and here http://www.amazon.com/Promise-Me-ebook/dp/B0086G4GDC

Goodreads page:  http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5286654.Tara_Fox_Hall

Melange Books page: www.melange-books.com/authors/tarafoxhall/tarafoxhall.html

Manic readers page: http://www.manicreaders.com/TaraFoxHall/

Bradley Publishing Page: http://www.bradleypublishings.com/Tara_Fox_Hall.php