“SPIRIT CHASER” is available in many Barnes & Noble and Borders stores. If your local store does not stock it you can order an autographed copy direct from Treasure Coast Mysteries. For mail orders send a check or money order for $18.37 (includes postage and Florida Sales Tax) to Treasure Coast Mysteries, 43 Kindred Street, Stuart, FL 34994. For credit card orders call 800-526-7979.

“Treasure Coast JADE” will be available for purchase directly from Treasure Coast Mysteries on October 24. Unfortunately because of the lag time between shipments to our distributor and the warehouses of the major stores it will not be available in Barnes & Noble and Borders until January. If you would like an autographed copy of “JADE” in time for the holidays call 800-526-7979 or mail a check or money for $22.06 (includes Florida Sales Tax and postage) to Treasure Coast Mysteries, 43 Kindred Street, Stuart, FL 34994. For credit card orders call 800-526-7979.

Where have I been? Arizona!

The weekend of September 23rd. I was in Borders stores in Phoenix, Mesa and Tucson, Arizona. I met many great people who shared their personal experiences with spirits in their own lives.

A nurse in Mesa shared a story about the spirit of a nun who roams the halls of the Catholic hospital where she works. The nun was a nurse and is unable to give up her nursing duties for eternal peace. She roams the halls talking to patients and their families. When she is in a mischievous mood she teases the nurses by shuffling their papers or shutting their drawers. Not five minutes after the nurse related the story a woman with tears in her eyes approached my signing table.

“Do you believe in spirits?” The woman asked me.

“Of course,” I softly responded. “That’s why I wrote SPIRIT CHASER.”

“May I tell you about my recent personal experience?” She asked.

“Of course,” I replied.

“Two weeks ago my husband was dying of lung cancer in a local Catholic hospital and I was kneeling at his bedside praying for him. A nun came in, knelt beside me and silently prayed. After a few minutes she turned towards me and softly spoke to me.”

“Your husband is ready to go to the afterlife, but he wants you to tell him that it’s okay with you if he goes,” the nun said with an affirmative nod of her head.

“Of course it’s okay with me,” I said. “He’s been through enough pain and suffering.”

“Then tell him,” the nun replied as she stood up to leave the room.

“I turned back towards my semi-concious husband and told him that if he was ready to go that it was okay with me and that I would be just fine. He turned towards me, smiled and died.”

She continued, “I thought that it was odd that a nun would advise me to tell my husband to die. On my way out of the hospital I stopped by the nurses’ station to thank the nun for her advice and what do you think the duty nurse told me?”

“I don’t know,” I replied. “I wasn’t there.”

“The nurse told me that there are no nuns on duty in the hospital and I must have imagined it!”

“I completely understand,” I replied. “I saw Emma the night my mother passed away.”

What's next? Treasure Coast JADE will be available October 24! The cover features a stone burial mask made for a Mexican Olmec king somewhere between 1500 and 500 BC when the civilization disappeared. It is a very rare piece of pre-Columbian art and it stares at me from the oak credenza across the room as I write.

How did I get the mask? If I told you now it would spoil the plot, but you can find out when Treasure Coast JADE is released.

My warmest regards to you and yours,

Paul McElroy