About Eternal Investigations
Written by Nancy M. Griffis
446 pages/ 97000 words
ISBN: 978-1-61040-098-5
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Helen has the ability to speak to spirits, and she heads to
Atlanta on an emergency haunting job. Helen's dead-ghost twin sister,
Brenda, tags along.
When a small-time demon takes over Helen's mind, Jacqueline gets a ghostly
visit from Brenda asking for her help. Together they try to overcome the
evil spirits and find themselves falling in love. When a new assignment
sends them to Nevada, Helen and Jacqueline team up, in more ways than one.
They help investigate a haunted ranch in Wild Creek, Nevada, a town filled
with mysterious happenings, including the infamous Ranch. The ranch is
steeped in evil, the grounds for many, many gory deaths over the last
hundred years. Helen and Jacqueline are caught in the house's alternate
reality, alone, frightened, and trying
desperately to harness their powers against evil.
Review
Jodi Payne, author of Founder, writes: I always loved a good detective
story as a kid, and I loved a good ghost story, too - but the stories I
read didn’t have a lesbian as the heroine. They didn’t have one who was
also a medium, either.
Nancy M. Griffis’ novel is full of all the expected paranormal goodies;
possessions, ghosts, poltergeists, apparitions – all those things that
make for a good ghost story. Eternal Investigations, located in Boston
and headed up by Helen Rollins (the medium) and her adorably geeky,
tech-headed partner Rudy Garrison, looks into all kinds of these issues
wherever they occur, and as a result, she meets all kinds of interesting
people, both living and… not. One of these people happens to be
Jacqueline Carson, a strikingly beautiful Atlanta artist with a
seriously dangerous guest in her house.
The journey that lies ahead for Helen, Rudy and Jacqueline is anything
but predictable. I was intrigued by challenges that Mr. Griffis throws
at her characters, and I truly enjoyed the personalities, their
interactions, and finding out in the course of Eternal Investigations’
work, just what makes each of them tick.
I’m one of those readers that likes to look for stories where the main
character just happens to be gay and the “issues” and conflict revolve
around something else. In Eternal Investigations, the other-worldly
elements take center stage, and I appreciated that about the story. If
you’re a fan of the paranormal, this one is for you.
Sample
Jacqueline’s head canted back the way they’d come and, indeed, only blackness showed like a wall, cutting them off. The lump in the pit of her stomach expanded and she instinctively reached for Helen. Thankfully, the other woman accepted her hand and didn’t comment on their spat. Her thoughts immediately went back to Rudy and she prayed with all she had that the young man was safe.
Uncertain, Shirley suggested, “Maybe we should try to go back anyhow.”
Everyone looked at each other for a long minute before Darryl said, “Maybe we should split up and whoever makes it out first gets help for the others.”
A babble of negative comments erupted at that and he held up his hands, acceding to popular opinion. Finally, Helen and Raul exchanged a look that Jacqueline couldn’t decipher, though the hair on the back of her neck reacted. Something bad was about to happen, she could sense it from them both. Before she could question them, Raul backed away from the group three large steps and dropped his candle.
He screamed almost immediately in what sounded like pure agony and Helen shouted, “Run! Everyone run for the front!”
Jacqueline’s world consisted of running and running and keeping hers and Helen’s sweaty hands linked no matter what. She heard horrible things all around them but looked only at the candle in Helen’s hand before them. It seemed like they ran forever, her side pinching and her breath burning through her lungs.
Helen stopped abruptly and Jacqueline crashed into her so hard they almost went down together. Steadying herself, she felt the wave of shock and remorse from Helen and followed the other woman’s focused gaze.
Raul lay on the floor, missing his right arm and foot, still bleeding and definitely unconscious. Helen shoved the candle at her and yanked her belt off, dropping to her knees to make a tourniquet around his arm. Jacqueline pulled her own belt off one-handed and held it out to the other woman, who used it on Raul’s shin, just above the connecting spot to the knee.
“We have to get him to a hospital or he’s going to die,” Helen stated unnecessarily. “How he’s still alive now, I don’t know. We ran for a long time.”
Jacqueline replied, “Or seemed to.”
Helen looked around and the fight just went out of her. “We lost them.”
Blinking in shock, Jacqueline realized that they were alone with Raul and exclaimed, “They were right in front of us! Where could they have gone?”