Title: Ex
Author: Alicia Thompson
Publisher: NineStar Press
Release Date: 09/24/2024
Heat Level: 3 – Some Sex
Pairing: Male/Female, Female/Female
Length: 94200
Genre: Paranormal, Crime/thriller, paranormal, family-drama, police detective, murder, ghost, Australia, North London, Stockport, drag queen
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Description
In 2011, Toby Soames dies from a freak accident on Hampstead Heath; Charlie Falk simply disappears. Two years later, Australian Adele Soames returns to London to be nearer her son and the places he loved. She is joined in her pilgrimages to the heath by Charlie. Charlie tells her things; unnerving things about his last day alive.
Enter DS Xandra Bentley, a member of Adele’s grief support group at St Bart’s. Xandra has worked on a number of cold cases of missing boys in the area and Adele’s information reignites her interest. As new evidence comes to light, Adele has the creeping dread that she is bringing danger closer to home.
Ex
Alicia Thompson © 2024
All Rights Reserved
She wandered out to the living room and cleared a spot on the sofa to sit amongst the chaos of boxes and wrapping materials. It would be strange living here on her own. No Toby, no Rufus. Just her, bouncing around all these rooms, with only her own things and herself to answer to. This house only knew her as a married mum, but now it would have to get used to her as a newly divorced childless woman.
Her family and friends had all tried to talk her out of coming back to London to live, to this house of all places, but she had her reasons. Of course, there was no shortage of people to point out the irony of the English husband staying in Australia and the Australian wife returning to London, but here was where she felt closest to Toby, and all the memories associated with him; and truth be told, the happier memories of her time with Roof, before he became distant and sour. That person she had left behind. The kinder one, the man she had fallen in love with, was still discernible in this house they had shared for eight years.
Burrowing her stockinged feet under some folded clothes, she pressed her hot mug into her sternum and allowed her eyes to close, silently blessing the gods of central heating. She also had reason to bless the more English system of renting places furnished. With the tenants gone, all she’d had to do on arrival was make her bed and fall into it. A phone call had brought about the arrival of her tea chests, and after turning some of the boxes inside out looking for crucial items, she had left the scattered mess to be dealt with when the jet lag had worn off. That had been her rationalisation, anyway.
Her eyes flew open. Somewhere, her phone was ringing and she knew who it would be. She dodged around boxes to get to her coat hanging near the door and rummaged in the pocket. She flipped the cover open. Yes, it was Franny.
“Hey there. Just off my night shift, so thought I’d give you a call for the drive home. How was your flight? Settling in okay?”
They talked for a while about the usual ups and downs associated with international travel. Adele asked for, and received, updates on their parents and her niece and nephew.
“I still can’t believe Roof let you have the house. You don’t just give away something that’s been in your family that long overnight?”
But he had. Roof had changed a lot since they’d lost Toby. He’d been adamant about moving to Australia and starting fresh, declaring he never wanted to live in this house, or even London, ever again.
“Well, it was his decision to make. Being an only child, he wasn’t putting anyone’s nose out of joint, except for some cousins in Suffolk, and I’m not sure they even cared that much.”
“Do you think he knew you’d go back? Do you think that’s partly why he did it?”
Adele laughed. “Seems an extreme way of getting rid of an ex.”
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Alicia Thompson grew up on a farm in country NSW. She has a Masters in Creative Writing from UTS along with some financial and accounting qualifications. She has worked as a bookkeeper, photographer, editor, adventure tour leader in the Middle East and China, business analyst, writing teacher and general herder of cats. Her published work includes numerous book reviews, travel articles, and short stories. She lives and works in Sydney. More can be found on her website www.aliciathompson.com.au.
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