Spotlight & Giveaway: The Christmas Spirits on Tradd Street by Karen White

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Karen White to HJ!

Hi Karen and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, THE CHRISTMAS SPIRITS ON TRADD STREET!

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

THE CHRISTMAS SPIRITS ON TRADD STREET is the sixth book in the Tradd Street series—the series I refer to as National Treasure meets Moonlighting meets The Sixth Sense. The series revolves around Charleston Realtor Melanie Middleton and love interest Jack Trenholm, a too-good-looking-for-his-own-good bestselling author of true crime mysteries, and a growing cast of characters: family, friends, enemies, and—of course—ghosts. While dealing with Melanie’s OCD and trust issues, she and Jack juggle complicated lives, Melanie’s ability to talk with the dead, and solve mysteries along the way. In this installment, a dark spirit has descended on Melanie’s historic Tradd Street home, a spirit that is definitely not filled with holiday cheer, and will threaten everything for which she and Jack have worked so hard.
 

Please share the opening lines of this book:

The smoky silhouettes of church spires stamped against the bruised skies of a Charleston morning give testament to the reason why it’s called the Holy City. The steepled skyline at dawn is a familiar sight for early risers who enjoy a respite from the heat and humidity in summer, or the beauty of the sunrise through the Cooper River Bridge, or to hear the chirps and calls of the thousands of birds and insects who populate our corner of the world.
Others, like me, awaken early only to shorten the night, to quiet the secret stirrings of the restless dead who wander during the darkest hours between sunset and sunrise.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• Because I believe in suffering for my craft *cough*, I travel to Charleston for a visit (at least once) during the writing of each book. There’s nothing like breathing the air and seeing the sites of the place I’m writing about. I use real restaurants, too, so of course I have to actually eat in those places so I can accurately portray the experiences of my characters. (It’s a tough job but someone’s got to do it!). I love ghost tours, too, so I have to go on at least one per visit so I can get the appropriate spine-chilling inspiration I need to write certain scenes.
• As for the title, the working title was Tradd #6 and when it came down to picking a real title, the only input I had was that I didn’t want the word “Christmas” in it. I guess I lost that one!

Please tell us a little about the characters in your book. As you wrote your protagonist was there anything about them that surprised you?

Melanie and I are old friends since we’ve been together now for over a decade (The House on Tradd Street, the first book in the series, was released in 2008). She’s a deeply flawed character, owing to her difficult childhood, and I love how in each book she strives to be more trusting and how she takes three steps forward and two steps back. As her family has grown, Melanie has surprised me with how she’s opened her life and her heart to extended family members (both the two-legged and four-legged kind) and allowed her world to expand.

If your book was optioned for a movie, what scene would you use for the audition of the main characters and why?

After discovering a dark shadow peering out of their daughter, Nola’s, bedroom, Melanie is reluctant to tell Jack and add to his current list of burdens despite promising to trust him and tell him everything. She’s trying to buy time until after Christmas so devises a plan to move Nola out of her bedroom with the excuse it needs to be re-decorated.

This scene is meeting the new designer, Greco, for the first time and shows the great back-and-forth banter that Jack and Melanie are known for. It also introduces a new character into the series—a character I had so much fun with that I think he’s going to have to show up in the next book, too!

“After Greco declined my offer of refreshments, I led the way up the stairs while he took his time eyeing the foyer with obvious appreciation. “So,” Greco said as we walked. “Have you met with any other designers?”
Jack coughed. “Only about a dozen or two. Mellie is…”
“Particular,” I offered.
“Picky,” Jack said at the same time.
I frowned at Jack. “By picky he means that I like things…”
“Her way,” Jack offered. “Besides impeccable taste and the ability to work within a budget, any designer we hire will also need to have some knowledge of psychology—especially obsessive/compulsive disorders.”
My elbow contacted with Jack’s hard stomach, emitting a satisfying oomph.
“And probably self-defense,” Jack continued. “It’s a good thing you have a nursing degree—that’s definitely in your favor. Do you know how to use a labeling gun by any chance?”
Turning my back on Jack, I faced Greco. “Ignore him. He’s a writer and lives in a fantasy world most of the time, so you really never know what’s going to come out of his mouth next.”
“Good to know,” the designer said, looking refreshingly unfazed. Several of the other designers I’d interviewed had left before we’d even climbed the stairs so I took this as a good omen.
The bedroom door was shut as it had been since we’d moved Nola into the guest room in March, when I’d seen the face in her window and sensed the dark shadow hovering in the upstairs hallway. It was still there, waiting. And watching. I just wasn’t sure for what. Or for how long.
Jack turned the knob and the door swung open. We stood staring into the space, unsure of what to say.
The first thing I noticed was the scent of horse and leather, along with the lingering odor of gunpowder. I wrinkled my nose, wondering why it seemed so familiar when it shouldn’t, and recalled that I had smelled it recently. The second thing I noticed was that all the remaining furniture and bedding had been stacked on the rug, a teetering stepladder that reached the top of the posts of the antique bed. What looked like dried mud had been smeared on the walls and at first glance appeared to be random strokes and shapes. But when I looked closer I could see the individual letters formed a single word, splashed on the wall with fury and anger, the mud thick with hate. Betrayed.
“Well,” Greco said, stepping purposefully into the room, hands on hips, and then turning around to inspect the carnage. “It looks like we have a lot of work to do here.”
Jack and I shared surprised looks before turning our gazes back to the designer. “You’re hired,” I said, and then, without thought, I hugged him.”

What do you want people to take away from reading this book?

I’d like readers to think about the snap judgements we all make. Melanie—like everybody else—is flawed. She makes a lot of mistakes, and sometimes—despite knowing better—repeats them. But she never gives up. I love her because she doesn’t give up but keeps trying, and fighting the behaviors that have dominated her life since childhood. That’s the other point I’d like readers to contemplate—our mistakes are only permanent if we don’t work to make any changes in our lives. That’s what I love about Melanie, and I hope readers love that about her, too.

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have planned?

I’m currently working on a sort-of sequel to FALLING HOME and AFTER THE RAIN. The character of Maddie Warner is now a twenty-eight-year-old freelance journalist on assignment in London to interview a ninety-nine year old former model who’d lived in the city during War and experienced the Blitz first-hand. Lots of secrets, soul-searching, and Southern charm. It is tentatively slated for release in 2021.

In January 2020 my next collaboration with Beatriz Williams and Lauren Willig, ALL THE WAYS WE SAID GOODBYE, will be released. It’s a historical adventure that moves from the dark days of two World Wars to the turbulent years of the 1960s, in which three women with bruised hearts find refuge at Paris’ legendary Ritz hotel.
 
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: 1 Paperback giveaway copy of THE CHRISTMAS SPIRITS ON TRADD STREET to a winner with a valid U. S. address.

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: The next book in the series, #7, is presumably the final installment. Where would you like all the characters to be on that final page?

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Excerpt from The Christmas Spirits on Tradd Street :

Chapter 4

“So, what do we do now?” I said, directing my attention toward Anthony.
“I need you to come out to the Vanderhorst plantation. To help me gain access to the mausoleum. If there’s a treasure buried there, we need to find it before Marc does.”
“But doesn’t the property belong to you, and Marc’s digging would be trespassing?”
He looked uncomfortable. “Marc doesn’t always ask first. He just does. To be honest, I’m a little afraid to tell him no, regardless of how clear it is he’s in the wrong. But there are certain . . . elements that are barring both of us entry to the mausoleum. Which is why I need your help. I was hoping we could set up an appointment to meet there as soon as possible.”
I shivered inside my heavy sweater. “Why couldn’t you just tell me this on the phone?”
“Because I can’t be completely sure Marc hasn’t somehow bugged my phone or found some way to intercept my calls and texts.”
Remembering my encounter with Marc in my office, I couldn’t say Anthony’s concerns were without merit. I started to tell him more details about Marc’s visit when I noticed what looked like black smoke forming behind him inside the gazebo. “Is there a fire . . . ?” I began. Jayne grabbed my arm, stopping me as she noticed the billowing dark cloud.
I didn’t smell anything burning, and despite the strong wind, the black shape didn’t waver, its edges appearing to pulsate with radiant heat. Aware that we were staring at something behind him, Anthony turned around just as the plume of dark smoke began to take on an almost human form, an improbable dense shadow with distinct arms and legs and a head, its sex undeterminable.
Anthony took a step up the stairs toward it, his hands clenched in fists as if ready to do battle. “Don’t!” I shouted, but I was too late. His head jerked backward, and then an unseen punch to his midriff had him buckled over. He turned to escape down the stairs, but something was holding him back. His feet slipped on the top step of the gazebo, his arms flailing as he tried to stay upright. I moved toward him with my arms raised to push him back as Jayne shoved the stroller out of harm’s way.
I thought I imagined a low laugh that sounded like distant thunder right before the weight of Anthony’s body hit me, crumbling us both to the ground. My head hit the packed earth and for a moment I saw stars behind my eyelids, the air deserting my lungs. When I’d found my breath, I opened my eyes to find Anthony’s face only inches above mine, his look of surprise mirroring my own, the dogs barking hysterically.
“So,” drawled a familiar voice above us. “Did my invitation to the party get lost in the mail?”
I blinked and saw Jack peering down at us with a bemused expression, the tattered remains of the smoky cloud dissolving in the air above him, leaving behind only the foul stench of rotting flesh.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

The Christmas spirit is overtaking Tradd Street with a vengeance in this festive new novel in the New York Times bestselling series by Karen White.

Melanie Trenholm should be anticipating Christmas with nothing but joy–after all, it’s the first Christmas she and her husband, Jack, will celebrate with their twin babies. But the ongoing excavation of the centuries-old cistern in the garden of her historic Tradd Street home has been a huge millstone, both financially and aesthetically. Local students are thrilled by the possibility of unearthing more Colonial-era artifacts at the cistern, but Melanie is concerned by the ghosts connected to the cistern that have suddenly invaded her life and her house–and at least one of them is definitely not filled with holiday cheer….

And these relics aren’t the only precious artifacts for which people are searching. A past adversary is convinced that there is a long-lost Revolutionary War treasure buried somewhere on the property that Melanie inherited–untold riches rumored to be brought over from France by the Marquis de Lafayette himself and intended to help the Colonial war effort. It’s a treasure literally fit for a king, and there have been whispers throughout history that many have already killed–and died–for it. And now someone will stop at nothing to possess it–even if it means destroying everything Melanie holds dear.
 
 

Meet the Author:

Karen White is the New York Times bestselling author of more than twenty previous books, including Dreams of Falling, The Night the Lights Went Out, Flight Patterns, The Sound of Glass, A Long Time Gone, and The Time Between, and a coauthor, with Beatriz Williams and Lauren Willig, of The Forgotten Room and The Glass Ocean.
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