CHERIE CLAIRE

There's a full moon on Sunday, Oct. 13, this year. What better time for the latest installment in my Viola Valentine paranormal mystery series to come out! In 2005, Hurricane Katrina uprooted Viola Valentine from her dead-end job and what she deemed a loveless marriage. Four years later, she and her husband Thibault “TB” Boudreaux are starting over on a Tennessee houseboat, she following her dream as travel writer and TB finishing school at Smoky Mountain University. But the

This oversized pickup truck drew up dangerously close behind. I knew he was there right away for the rear-view mirror in my tiny Saturn disappeared and all I could make out was this enormous Dodge grill. The anger seeped up my neck and I could feel my face turning red. Tailgating seems to be the norm in Louisiana and when these massive trucks ride my butt it really dills my pickle. I uttered a few unpleasantries and slowed down to give him grief. Within seconds I heard his en

Characters sometimes throw open a door while I’m writing, demanding to be part of the story. In the case of my Viola Valentine mysteries, a cat walked in. Stinky the psychic cat shows up at Viola’s door in book two, “Ghost Town,” a stray cat looking for food and company. I say psychic because he spreads out on papers that offer clues to her mysteries, winks when she gets the right idea, and howls at those who are less than savory people. And in book three, “Trace of a Ghost,”

I hear songs when I'm writing and since "Trace of a Ghost" incorporated a few supernatural elements, particularly angels, I heard plenty. Here is a song list I compiled when writing this angelic tale and I'm including them here with links to You Tube videos. Hope you enjoy. Angels Among Us, Alabama (Warning: This song may cause water to leak from your eyes.) Calling All Angels, Train She Talks to Angels, The Black Crowes Angel, Sarah McLachlan The Devil Went Down to Georgia,

Like my character Viola Valentine, I'm a travel writer. And also like Viola, the Deep South is my specialty. Last summer I had the pleasure of traveling the Natchez Trace from Tupelo, Miss., to Natchez, the quaint antebellum city at the end of the 444-mile historic highway. I was driving through for inspiration of my latest Viola Valentine mystery, "Trace of a Ghost." Viola takes a trek down the Natchez Trace and traveling with her is an adventurous heiress who’s been dead si

DeSoto magazine spotlighted my new book, "A Ghost of a Chance," book one in the Viola Valentine paranormal mystery series. I write travel articles for DeSoto and my main character in the series, Viola Valentine, is a travel writer so DeSoto asked me to explain how the book came to be. #cherieclaire #violavalentine #paranormalmystery #ghosts #booksaboutghosts #katrina #neworleans #mystery #ebooks #freeebooks #desotomagazine