Guest Post
by Tonya Kappes
The south + funeral = social gathering
I’m from central Kentucky. I grew up:
· Listening to and learning superstitions
· Going to the Baptist church on Sunday and then going to my Granny’s for supper with all thirty-two relatives. EVERY Sunday.
· Going to the Baptist church on Wednesday for spaghetti supper. ( I still can’t make spaghetti for my family.)
· Pulling the car over and stop to let the ambulance pass
· Pulling the car over and stop to let the funeral procession go by
· Showing up on doorsteps without calling first
· Walking in people’s homes without knocking
· Spending many hours in the rocking chair on the front porch
· Waving at everyone who drove by
· Asking about your momma when I saw you
· Stopping to help everyone in need even if I didn’t know you, I bet you knew someone kin to you
· Driving up and down Main Street as a form of entertainment
· Four wheelin’ was our form of endless entertainment
· We don’t schedule weddings during basketball or horse racing
· Cowboy boots are our high-heels
· Going to the Hardees on Friday night to watch cloggers is a good time!
· I still love jug fishin’
· I still put up seven Christmas trees
· I still change my home decorations to go with the seasons
· I still can Bless Your Heart all day long *wink*
But funerals are social gatherings for us Sothern’s. No matter if there is ill will between anyone in the families, as soon as someone dies we go to cooking. The last thing a family needs to do is worry about cooking.
But its controlled chaos at it’s finest. Someone, usually the preacher’s wife, is in charge of who is taking what so there aren’t too many duplicates. The meals cover the day of the death up until a week after the burial.
I love this about my southern heritage. And when I married a northerner and we had our first northern death, my husband thought it was bazaar that I started cooking for them.
When I started writing A Ghostly Undertaking and since my heroine is an undertaker of Eternal Slumber Funeral Home in Sleepy Hollow, Kentucky, I knew the funeral gathering after the funeral, which is called a repass, was going to play a major role.
With food comes gossip, mostly about the deceased, which is great for Emma Lee Raines, because it’s up to her to get Ruthie Sue Payne, her client at Eternal Slumber, to the other side. Only Ruthie said she didn’t fall down the steps on her own, she was pushed. Murdered!
“I’m telling you, I was murdered.”
Ruthie’s voice escalated. She pointed her bony finger at me. “You are going to help me get to the other side by figuring out who killed me.”
“Other side?”
“Great beyond. The light. The big guy in the sky.” Ruthie looked up to the ceiling, and then back to me. “I can’t cross over until I can rest eternal. And that means catching my killer.”
“Killer?” The sound of it made me more worried than scared. Was there really a killer on the loose in Sleepy Hollow? Or was there just one person out to get Ruthie Sue Payne and why?
I hope you check out the lively ghost or Ruthie Sue Payne along with an amazing cast of characters that brings the residents of Sleepy Hollow, Kentucky alive on the page and hopefully in your hearts with this funny, quirky, romance mystery~ A GHOSTLY UNDERTAKING.
About the Author:
Tonya Kappes is a USA Today Bestselling Author.
I write fun humorous fiction, some with romance and some with a little mystery.
More than anything I love to connect with readers! I’m a huge fan of them and LOVE getting to know them. Making readers smile, and remembering not to take life too seriously is how I like to write. I’m addicted to coffee, McDonald’s Diet Coke, and Red Hots Candy to keep her going!
When I’m not writing about quirky characters and even quirkier situations, I’m busy being the princess, queen and jester of my domain which includes my BFF husband, three teenage boys, two dogs and one ornery cat.
A funeral, a ghost, a murder . . . It’s all in a day’s work for Emma Lee Raines . . .
Bopped on the head from a falling plastic Santa, local undertaker Emma Lee Raines is told she’s suffering from “funeral trauma.” It’s trauma all right, because the not-so-dearly departed keep talking to her. Take Ruthie Sue Payne—innkeeper, gossip queen, and arch-nemesis of Emma Lee’s granny—she’s adamant that she didn’t just fall down those stairs. She was pushed.
Ruthie has no idea who wanted her pushing up daisies. All she knows is that she can’t cross over until the matter is laid to eternal rest. In the land of the living, Emma Lee’s high-school crush, Sheriff Jack Henry Ross, isn’t ready to rule out foul play. Granny Raines, the widow of Ruthie’s ex-husband and co-owner of the Sleepy Hollow Inn, is the prime suspect. Now Emma Lee is stuck playing detective or risk being haunted forever.
Jennifer’s Review of A Ghostly Undertaking
Review (5 Stars): Ms. Kappes has become one of my new favorite authors with A Ghostly Undertaking because I don’t think I laughed this hard in quite a while as I did with this story. A Ghostly Undertaking is a delightful mystery that has it all with a sassy heroine, hilarious dialogue and paranormal elements that will definitely keep you entertained. I loved Emma Lee from the very beginning because you could instantly connect with her and I loved watching her deal with her new ability to talk to ghosts. Whether she liked it or not, these ghosts were here to stay and working at a funeral home didn’t help things either. The mystery was well-written and engaging and I could see that Emma Lee had her hands full trying to sift through all the suspects that wanted Ruthie dead to find the real killer. Add in a sexy sheriff to all this ghostly drama and you have a sure-fire winner. I can’t wait to get my hands on the next book in the series and I’m sure that it will be just as great as A Ghostly Undertaking.
