Early Summer

by Carol L. Paur

Overview

Helene Denny worries about everything, even the prospect of leaving home to attend college. It doesn’t help that she’s fascinated with serial killers.
 
In her final semester of high school there’s a string of missing girls. Helene immediately thinks a serial killer is loose. When Fred Thompkins arrives in town to become mayor he becomes her primary suspect.
 
No one takes her seriously. Helene steps into the dark web to search for the culprit, only to endanger her own life. Can Helene solve the case before someone close to her goes missing?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781949935431
Publisher:	Orange Blossom Publishing
Publication date:	11/01/2022
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	366
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

Carol L. Paur wrote the upcoming YA mystery novel, Early Summer, about an anxious young woman obsessed with serial killers. When girls start missing, she blames the mayor. No one believes her, until it’s too late. Paur is a National Mental Health First Aider and a NAMI Mental Health Advocate. Before writing full time, she blamed her messy house on homeschooling her four daughters, who are now out of school. Paur is the author of the middle-grade fantasy, Isasnora Snores. She blogs and hosts a podcast, "Talking to Myself." While cleaning could be a priority, she’d rather be traveling with family, hosting game nights for friends, or reading a good novel.

Read an Excerpt

Connie and I happily watched the clouds shake out snowflakes. School was canceled. We put on our snow gear. I was almost eighteen but snow days still thrilled me. It gave me an excuse to avoid homework and thinking about the future.

While we were excited, Dad frowned. “This is why I hate my job.”

Dad drove semi for Duncan Trucking. It didn’t matter what kind of weather we had, he would still need to get to the terminal and make his deliveries. He was lacing up his Sorel boots when Mom asked, "Since you’ll be out anyway, could you stop off at the hardware store for canning lids? Tomorrow I’m going to finish pickling the beets.”

Mom canned, pickled, and froze most of the produce from our garden. Some of it we harvested and stored in the cellar over winter. If she thought the vegetables were about to spoil, she would process them. It didn’t matter that it was winter.

“Wide or regular?”

“One of each, I guess.” She looked at Connie and me. “If school is closed tomorrow, maybe you could help.”

“Yuck, pickled beets,” Connie answered. “Come on, Helene, let’s make our snow family.” Outside we rolled and shaped a snowman family of four—Dad, Mom, Helene, and Connie.

“Let’s make one for Grandpa Denny. If the roads get better he’s coming for supper.” Connie said, patting her snow person’s head.

We rolled two large balls for the base and torso and a smaller one for his head. He towered over the other snowmen.

“Do you think we made him too big?” I asked.

“He’ll love it. Let’s do some selfies.”

“First I’ll see if Mom will give us carrots and raisins for the faces.”

When I returned with the goods, Fred’s Lincoln stood next to our snow people. Connie leaned inside to pet the dog. Fred hovered over Connie. Was he about to push her inside?

“Hey! Get away from her!” I shouted.

Table of Contents

ONE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

TWO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

THREE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

FOUR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

FIVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

SIX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

SEVEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

EIGHT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

NINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

TEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

ELEVEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .102

TWELVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .111

THIRTEEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .121

FOURTEEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .133

FIFTEEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .142

SIXTEEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .151

SEVENTEEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .159

EIGHTEEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .168

NINETEEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .178

TWENTY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .186

TWENTY-ONE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .202

TWENTY-TWO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .211

TWENTY-THREE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .222

TWENTY-FOUR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .233

TWENTY-FIVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .243

TWENTY–SIX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .250

TWENTY-SEVEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .259

TWENTY-EIGHT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .268

TWENTY-NINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .279

THIRTY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .288

THIRTY-ONE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .297

THIRTY-TWO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .305

THIRTY-THREE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .311

THIRTY-FOUR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .323

THIRTY-FIVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .332

EPILOGUE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .342

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .349

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .351

ABOUT THE AUTHOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .353