THE ELENORA BELLO MYSTERIES

The Elenora Bello Mysteries feature a mild-mannered, middle-aged police social worker who becomes psychic when—as the tagline reveals—she becomes pregnant. Elenora is caring, empathic, eager to help…and very reluctant to have sudden supernatural powers. Not to mention the creepy premonitions that now torture her at night and seem to always come a moment too late to be helpful. As if morning sickness, yo-yo pregnancy hormones, and odd food cravings weren’t enough, Elenora is thrown into a shadow world filled with curses, spirits, and magic. But as scary as her new reality is, some things never change. It is her nature to nurture and advocate for the downtrodden, even if they are unnatural.

Elenora was born decades ago, and I don’t mean just because she’s in her early forties. She first appeared to me over twenty years ago in a supernatural feature screenplay I wrote titled Watermark. Back then, she was the wife of an FBI agent who became psychic when he died and started to get premonitions linked to his last case. The story was well received but heavy on special effects, which were costly at the time, so I set the project aside.

Several years later, I dusted off the screenplay to rewrite it as a novel. As I played around with the elements, the story wanted to be more. It expanded into a four-book journey of self-discovery with four distinct mysteries—each pushing the limits of our heroine’s abilities. The initial case at the heart of Watermark naturally repositioned itself in Elenora’s evolution from a reluctant psychic to a powerful one with a mission. The “Watermark mystery” will now appear in the fourth book of the series, which will conclude Elenora’s origin story.

If you enjoy hanging out with Elenora and her ragtag team, worry not. I have plans for her (and them) beyond her four-book character arc. Stick around!

Dark Ashes, mystery #3, releases on October 28. Cursed Destiny, the riveting conclusion, will follow in 2025.