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Sample Summary

A few of you requested that we post a sample summary to ensure you are on the right track. Below is the synopsis for In My Attic by lhansenauthor , which landed her a publishing deal.

EVE COLDRON, investigative journalist with a Wiccan spleen, has crashed from the attic to her death, forcing her niece, MYRTLE COLDRON, to take over the Witch's Retreat B&B in the idyllic Wiltshire village of Avebury with its prehistoric stone circle. Despite some dodgy circumstances, the police declare auntie's demise to be an accident. Myrtle refuses to take no for an answer, nurses one of auntie's shrivelled primulas back to life, and vows to sleuth for the truth.

A band of burglars on the loose in the village feature high on Myrtle's suspect list, together with CHRIS LENTULUS, a professional hacker who was with auntie during her last moments, and Myrtle's cousin DAISY COLDRON, who has been cut out of the will. Even ALAN HUNTER, the blue-eyed police constable, is not in the clear. And who is the "him" auntie mentioned in her last phone call, the one she said she could not let win? What role does he play?

As Myrtle presses on with her investigations, evidence pointing at Daisy is piling up, but the burglars are not far behind. Black-clad figures wearing balaclavas dashing down the stairs, footsteps in the attic at night, Myrtle's name scrawled into dusty floorboards, and a broken toy jingling merry tunes unsettle stalwart Myrtle.

She is even more troubled when she surprises an intruder in auntie's bedroom and nearly has her head bashed in. Myrtle is still wondering what the invisible antagonist might be after, when she hits upon an anonymous letter, calling her a witch and giving her 48 hours to find "it". Myrtle takes Alan into her confidence; he is a policeman after all. They discover a secret cache in the attic—which auntie has already cleared.

Seething with frustration, Myrtle sees suspects everywhere when fate delivers the next double-whammy. She learns that auntie was a bona fide witch and had been calling the assembly of the last coven. Myrtle is supposed to be a member of this spoofy gang but refuses to believe such hogwash. Of course, that revived primula is just an ordinary houseplant. The rustling of its flowers, those sparks along the blossoms—just figments of her imagination . . .

Myrtle needs a rest. Instead, she receives a phone call from Daisy who has decided to cooperate. Myrtle rushes to the B&B and finds her cousin battered and left to die. After saving her cousin's life, Myrtle finds a little key. Before she can work out which lock it might fit, the opposition strikes again.

Alan reveals himself as the henchman of Chris's uncle—entrepreneur and chief witch hunter. Threatened at gunpoint to reveal the whereabouts of "it", Myrtle still has no clue and uses her wit to outfox the villain. She receives unexpected help when the zombie primula turns into a floral bodyguard and jumps the baddie, complete with pot. Alan has a thick head, escapes and takes a hostage. Supported by Chris, Myrtle is up to the challenge. For a second only, she transmogrifies Alan's gun into a cactus, and he is overwhelmed.

When interrogating the trussed-up villain, Myrtle establishes that the death of her auntie was a hexing accident. Pushed beyond her breaking point, Eve Coldron dabbled in magic and lost control. The key unlocks a bank-vault containing two unprepossessing Neolithic clay tablets auntie died to protect from Chris's uncle. He wanted to blackmail the coven into hexing for him to save his wonky business empire.

The purpose of the tablets remains unclear. Perhaps, they indeed open the gates to the underworld, as Chris claims. Perhaps, they truly are the key to the disappearance of Myrtle's magical ancestors. And perhaps it's all nothing but a fairy-tale. Only one thing is for sure; Myrtle will stay in Avebury. As a landlady. And, if it was to be her burden, as a magically challenged witch.