Welcome to the next instalment of the mini-mystery to kick off the release of Kathleen J. Robison’s book, The Missing Songbird. If you haven’t read the first five parts, follow the links below to do so. And don’t forget to enter the giveaway!
Pages of Fate – a The Missing Songbird mini-mystery
Part VI
It’s always a surprise when a knock sounds at your door in the middle of the night. But it was an utter shock to open the door expecting to see a neighbor in need, or a family member with an emergency, and then actually seeing…
Wait, was I seeing them all? Kathleen, Nancy, Joanne, Denise, and Tabitha – my Ever After Mysteries series co-authors… were they really here? And who were the strangers with them?
My cautious gaze scanned the small crowd of people. Wait… Those aren’t strangers, I thought. Those are… their characters!
Still trying to figure out if I was in a dream or not, a suave, tall man in a 1940s suit nudged his way through the crowd.
I gaped at him. “Kent? Kent Selwood?” My leading man from A Vanishing Act.
He smiled and nodded, his deep eyes full of contentment.
A tall man stepped forward. “Come,” he beckoned, in a deep, Welsh voice. “It’s time.”
Exchanging glances with my co-authors, I slipped on my cowboy boots and stepped out of the house, still trying to make sense of it all.
“I never thought I’d be going to a dance with our fictional creations!” chuckled Kathleen.
“Me neither,” I muttered. “I was curled up with your book, The Missing Songbird,” I told her. “I was just about to read another chapter when I heard the knock at the door.”
Soon, we arrived at a place I’d never seen before, even though I’d been up and down this particular street many times. It was, well, like something out of a novel.
Deep inside, despite knowing it was wholly illogical, I realized it actually was. It was a towering building, encompassing architectural details from all of the major buildings in our novels. What a blend, what a mysterious looking place.
The tall Welsh captain led the way, and we all followed, somehow knowing we were safe despite the uncertainty still evident on many of our faces.
As we got closer to the building, I gasped. Yes, it was all of our buildings in one, somehow, but now, up close, I noticed something else. The building… it wasn’t made of stone or brick, though it had looked that way from a distance. It was made of…
No… Surely not…
I reached out and touched one of the door posts as I followed Kent inside.
It was!
The entire building was made of paper!
Yet, despite the wind that whistled down the street, it wasn’t shaking or even rustling. It looked just as strong and immovable as all the other buildings nearby.
My breath caught in my throat. All our manuscript pages… that’s what this place had been made from.
Yes, I could see them now – all the typed words, the red pen marks, the pencil notes in the margins.
Inside, a dazzling ballroom held all the other characters of our stories. I smiled and nodded hello at them all, amazed to see Kent and Bonnie in real life. He hadn’t wasted any time rushing over to her.
“Can you believe this?” Kathleen grinned, her eyes sparkling with delight.
I could hardly voice a response.
Captain Everette declared the party had officially begun, and I watched in silent amazement as all the characters we’d woven with our pens erupted into applause.
As I glanced at my series co-authors and the enchanting building in which we stood, I was grateful for literary adventures and for authors and readers to share them with.
Just as I was about to say something to Lina, the main character of The Missing Songbird, a hush fell over the room as a familiar sound broke through the air.
Knock, knock…
The Missing Songbird by Kathleen J. Robison
Lina, after growing up in austere post-WWII Wales, only has one dream—to one day find love and sing on the stage in London. But when her father, her only champion, suddenly dies, that dream seems as far away as London itself.
When charming Captain Everette and his side-show come to town and offer a path to fame, it’s like all her dreams are suddenly coming true. It seems she’s willing to leave behind not only her hometown, but even the one man she’d always imagined marrying for this one shot.
But the path Lina has chosen turns rocky and treacherous, as everyone she meets seems to have their own plans for the beautiful, diminutive singer. Things turn awry when she finds herself suddenly imprisoned for a murder she didn’t commit. With no one to turn to and everything hanging in the balance, how will Lina trust God and His will for her life?
Missed any of the other chapters of the mini-mystery?
And this page is Part VI, the conclusion!