Halloween Comes Knocking

Leaves swirl and tumble along the sidewalk outside a brownstone in a chilly late October wind as beady eyes keep watch like a black raven perched upon a stone. Beyond the set of steps leading up to the door, just past the pumpkins-- wet in the rain descended upon Chicago beneath an army of clouds determined to obscure the glow of a Harvest moon--is what they have come for. A silhouette against a set of bare trees does not reveal the pounding of the telltale heart as all the weeks and months of waiting for just the right moment has arrived--Halloween...As a bus from Chicago to Wisconsin eats up the interstate an author meets a young woman with a novel she wants him to help her with. A Halloween novel filled with tricks and treats that will remain with the author long after the night of ghouls and goblins becomes nothing more than a memory. This tale filled with twists and turns will keep readers up all night, best enjoyed wearing a favorite sweater in a chair by the fire but beware of answering the door to trick-or-treating children as Halloween arrives. The story the young woman on the bus shares with the author on the bus reminds us that we do not always know whose feet crunch the carpet of leaves beyond our front doors--or just who might be lurking behind those masks...