Spooky Legends & Giveaway: Hannah Jayne’s Nina LeShay on The Winchester Mystery House & win “UNDER ATTACK”

Irreverently spooky is how I would describe today’s Spooky Legend post, which is kind of perfect because that’s exactly how I describe the book series we’re featuring too.  Hannah Jayne, author of the Underworld Detection Agency Chronicles series which is about to add a second book to, UNDER ATTACK (available on November 1, 2011 from Kensington Books), is lending her character Nina LeShay to the event and sharing here experience with The Winchester Mystery House.  And she’s giving away a signed ARC & an Underworld survivor kit.  See details below.

Click to see the Spooky Legends Master List with links to all the previous posts and giveaways

Nina LeShay on The Winchester Mystery House 
by
Hannah Jayne

I’ve decided to let my vampire associate, Nina LeShay, in on our little Spooky Legends moment, and this is what she had to say…

So, thanks to Hannah Jayne and every other whistle-blowing author in the Bay Area, it’s been pretty well established that vampires exist. Well, vampires, werewolves, goblins, ghouls, etcetera, etcetera, and that San Francisco, California is a pretty fiery hotspot for all things paranormal. But there is one thing that all you know-it-all writers seem to dismiss with ease: ghosts. Three words for you breathers: Ghosts. Don’t. Exist.

So when my darling blood-filled roommate suggested we hightail it down to San Jose to check out the “uber-ooky” Winchester Mystery House, I figured what the heck. There’s nothing more fun on a slow night than creeping out a bunch of para-wanna-be’s by dropping the room temperature a few degrees and creaking some floorboards.

For those of you who don’t know, the Winchester house was once owned by Sarah Winchester, wife of the creator of the Winchester Repeater Rifle – a pretty powerful piece that ripped more than a few holes in some cowboys I used to know. Anyway, ole’ Sarah’s husband passed on and Sarah, a few donuts short of a dozen, met up with a psychic who told her that she was being haunted – by the spirit of those murdered by her dear hubby’s prodigal piece. The only way for Sarah to live out her remaining years in peace was to house the weary spirits – and the greedy little spooks each wanted their own room. Long story short, Sarah spent her riches constantly adding rooms onto her house, trying to trick the ghosts with doors to nowhere and stairs to the ceiling. Eventually, ole Sarah met her untimely end, the city took over the house, slapped on the word “Mystery” and a hefty tour fee, and here we are.

“I can’t believe you, of all people, don’t believe in ghosts,” my roommate Sophie was telling me. Though Sophie Lawson is a 100% Grade-A breather, she’s considered demon by association -- as my best friend and the Underworld Detection Agency’s top-notch employee. Besides, she’s the only breather I’ve ever met who can chain up a full-grown werewolf in three minutes flat without breaking a sweat.

But anyway, we were being led into ole Sarah’s opulent foyer by a khaki-wearing Winchester tour guide who was making spooky sounds and those wiggly hand gestures, letting Sophie, me and nine other tourists know that Sarah was desperately terrified of her supposed spooks and vowed to always stay one step ahead. She had workmen hammering 24 hours a day, building room after room and from what I can tell the workmanship was pretty good, but the whole ghost thing is just – sorry. I thought I saw something.

Ooh. I did.

It was a gorgeous, hand-carved, four-poster bed from the Napoleonic era (I had the same one when I was nine!). I hung back for a second and let the tour group get ahead. Yes, I could read the no touching sign but I’d dreamt of this bed for the past two hundred years and I needed to touch it just one more time. I stepped over the blue velvet ropes. I pulled back the heavy red coverlet and let my fingers trail over the intricately carved bedposts. And then I slipped between the sheets.

“Do you like it?”

An old woman hung over me, a serene, secretive smile on her face. “Does it soothe you?”  she said.

I blinked.

“This could be your room,” she told me. “I built it special for you.”

If I had any blood in my body, it would have run cold by now. I felt my eyes grow and my mouth open, and this seemed to amuse the old woman even more.

“Take a rest, my darling,” she cooed, her hand cold on my head. “Us spooks need to stick together.”

And then she was gone.

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About the author:

Hannah Jayne is the author of the Underworld Detection Agency Chronicles (where both Sophie Lawson and Nina LeShay are employed). UNDER ATTACK, the second book in the Underworld Chronicles, hits shelves November 1st. Catch up on all things Underworld with UNDER WRAPS, book one in the series, available everywhere books are sold. You can read more about Hannah at www.hannahjschwartz.com or at www.kensingtonbooks.com.

Visit Hannah Jayne online: Website|Facebook Want to read more from Hannah Jayne?

Giveaway provided by Hannah Jayne

A signed ARC of UNDER ATTACK & an Underworld survivor kit

 

Available on November 1, 2011 from Kensington Books

Description:

She's one of the Underworld Detection Agency's best. But her job is really starting to bite . . .

Sophie Lawson is a human immune to magic, which comes in handy for helping paranormal beings transition into everyday life. But fallen angel Alex Grace and his search for the Vessel of Souls is one curse she never saw coming. Suddenly an unexplainable string of killings and destruction has even San Francisco's demons fearing for their immortal lives. And Sophie isn't about to trust Alex's all-too-vulnerable charm or his secret agenda. Now their hunt is revealing dangerous secrets about Sophie's past, and a malevolent power hellishly close to turning one irreverent human into the ultimate supernatural weapon. . .

Read an excerpt

Enter the giveaway via the widget below

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**Don’t forget to visit Dark Faerie Tales today for her Spooky Legends guest blog with Monica Burns and a chance to win INFERNO’S KISS**