Above Haldis Notch by Keith Pyeatt

Above Haldis Notch by Keith Pyeatt

A TALE OF TWO NOTCHES

I started writing novels while living in the sparsely populated Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. I'd designed and built my log cabin halfway up the side of Lowell Mountain on 20+ acres of densely wooded land. I could see for miles, but I couldn't see another house. I could see Hazen's Notch, a natural pass between two mountain ranges. The view wasn't an accident. I strategically placed my cabin so that the view from up in my sleeping loft was the notch. If I looked up from the kitchen stove, there it was. My views from the dining area, from my easy chair, and even from the windows in the walkout basement were of Hazen's Notch. I left a company party early one night because it was the night the sun would set precisely in the notch, and I wanted to see the glow.

I liked Hazen's Notch.

My afterlife thriller, released today, is called Above Haldis Notch, but the setting is really Hazen's Notch. In ways, the novel is a tribute to a place I loved spending a decade of my life. In Above Haldis Notch, the notch is not only majestic, it's a place where the boundary between life and afterlife is thin. My protagonist, Jenna, appreciates the notch as much as I did, even though it gives her a much harder time than it ever gave me. And that's counting the time I decided to ride my bike over the notch to Montgomery Center for lunch and then back again. Without training for the ride. (Sometimes at night, I can still hear my thighs screaming.)

The notch isn't the only thing I appreciated in Vermont that made it into my novel. I never stopped appreciating the beauty of the fall colors or respecting the hard-working residents. I found the general stores charming. The fireflies were better than TV. I dare you to not notice the fireflies in Above Haldis Notch.  

Thanks to Musa Publishing for publishing this novel. I hope a few of you will give it a read. If you do and you're so inclined, I also hope you'll let me know how you liked it, either with a review or a quick email to contactkap@keithpyeatt.com. You can sample the prologue on my website (http://keithpyeatt.com/above.html) or read an excerpt from chapter 7 and purchase the novel for $4.99 at http://tinyurl.com/ahn-at-musa.

Physical death is tragic, but the death of a spirit is a life forever lost.

Jenna Emerson learns she's clairvoyant when her mother's spirit contacts her with a plea for help. Something in the afterlife threatens the survival of spirits from Haldis Notch, Vermont.


From the house next door comes another plea, this time from the living. Responding to it leads Jenna to reunite with her childhood friend, and she learns how intensely his deceased father, Jake, resented the residents of Haldis Notch. Retaliation against physical lives wasn't enough. He carried his venom into death, determined to inflict vengeance on their souls. Jake always had a special passion for Jenna, and now she's the only one who can stop him. To succeed she must learn more about what drives him, but understanding Jake's motives draws her into his trap. If Jenna falls victim, every soul in Haldis Notch will suffer the ultimate retaliation for the petty grudges they held in life.

Buy Your Copy at Musa Publishing