PLEASE WELCOME M.S. SPENCER!
Thank you so much, Alana, for giving me space to talk about my new mystery The Wishing Tree: Love, Lies, and Spies on Chincoteague Island.
My family has been going to Chincoteague for decades, and my mother is buried there. We loved birding and beaching. Addison (my heroine) says about Chincoteague, “there is something about it—hardscrabble, rough, enduring, clinging to its roots with all its might in the face of an implacable Mother Nature.”
While most people draw a blank when I mention Chincoteague, they perk up when I mention the ponies. Assateague salt hay ponies—probably descended from shipwrecked horse—were made famous by Marguerite Henry’s books, especially Misty of Chincoteague. There’s a statue on Main Street of Misty. The ponies are still there. There are several herds, maintained by the Chincoteague Fire Department, which holds the famous annual Pony Swim. Every July they round up the horses and swim them across the channel from Assateague to Chincoteague, where they are auctioned off. Many people choose to sponsor a pony—leaving him on the island but monitoring his welfare.
OUR STORY:
Will the wind whip her token from the Wishing Tree and make her wish come true?
Addison Steele dreams of the day her husband—lost at sea—returns to her. Instead, she meets Nick Savage, whose every word may be a lie. She is soon embroiled in mystery, all related to the top secret science station at Wallops Island, Virginia.
After a Belarusian scientist at Wallops is murdered, the questions multiply. Was it because he caught the person stealing classified documents or because he wanted to defect? Is Nick the spy—or is it his brother? How can she trust the man who is slowly claiming her heart when his story keeps shifting?
Excerpt: Cheyenne, the Pony & the Lounge
He gestured at the passenger’s side door. “May I offer you a drink? I thought I’d head to that place on Main Street for something to raise my temperature.”
“You mean Dobie’s?”
“That’s the one. The upstairs bar is called something else though.”
“Cheyenne’s Lounge. Cheyenne is Dobie’s mare.”
“Mare? Isn’t that a little chauvinist?”
“What? No, he sponsors her. He…” She petered out.
He grinned. “I knew what you meant. Cheyenne is one of the salt hay ponies that locals can sponsor, right?”
She nodded, relieved. “Yes.”
“So, how about that drink?” When Addison looked pointedly at her car, he held up a palm. “Oh, I see. Well, you can leave it here, and I’ll bring you back.”
Did he just wink? Despite her attraction, her mother’s voice rang in her ear. Never get in a car with a stranger. She cleared her throat. “No…urk…no, thanks. The refuge closes at dusk. The entrance is barred.”
“I see. I could drop you off at your house then.”
Oh, and never let him know where you live. “Then I’d have to find a ride back to the refuge in the morning. So…sorry.”
His friendly optimism dissipated. “Oh. Well. Then I guess I’ll see you around the ’hood.”
“No! I meant…I’ll meet you there.” She smirked. “A hot toddy would be nice.”
His eyes narrowed. “What’s so funny?”
“Oh, it’s a standing joke around here. The bartender at Dobie’s is nicknamed Toddy.”
“I see. Does he entertain?”
“Huh?”
“You know…” He wiggled his hips. “Do a pole dance or strip?”
“God, no.” She envisioned the squat old man with the pug nose. “God. No.”
“Well, let’s hope he knows how to make a good hot toddy, then.”
He fired up the tank and rumbled over the sand to the refuge road. Addison’s Subaru felt like a wind-up toy trundling along behind him. They’d almost reached the ticket booth at the entrance to the refuge when she remembered that she hadn’t made her usual prayer to the storm gods to take her token and bring her husband back.
The Wishing Tree: Love, Lies, and Spies on Chincoteague Island
The Wild Rose Press, July 17, 2023
First Edition, 2023
368 p.; PG-13
Murder mystery (Cozy), Romantic Suspense
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About the Author
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Alana Lorens, author 