Embedded Files
Mystery
Date Published: 11-15-2025
Odyssey Pruit paints pictures of the ghosts and spirits she saw in the halls of an old hotel where she worked ten years before. GUY HOGAN doesn’t believe in ghosts. Hogan is hired to guard Odyssey’s pictures for her first art show in the same old hotel. When an early blizzard closes the roads, knocks out the power and telephone, Hogan is trapped in the hotel with Odyssey’s quirky fans. When imps and ghouls make their presence known, Hogan questions his doubts, and the answer could be murder.
Excerpt
Opening Scene
By noon, the autumn sky had turned from blue to the color of road asphalt. Treetops bent in the winds funneling into the canyon from the high peaks. Stray snowflakes splattered the windshield, turned into tiny droplets, and in an instant were gone.
My best friend and new boss, Dalton Cummings, pulled his pick-up into a parking spot at the back of the big, white hotel and killed the engine. “The truck with the paintings is supposed to be here in about an hour.” He pulled up the sleeve of his flannel shirt and checked his Timex for the tenth time. “We’ll leave our gear in the pickup. I’ll let the hotel manager know we’re here. You see if you can find,”--He snatched a clipboard from the dashboard and flipped through the pages–-“damn it, I can never remember her...”
“Porsche Hurt,” I told him. “Porsche. Like the car. Hurt, like ouch.”
“That’s one of those damn made-up New York City names if I’ve ever heard one. Her folks never gave it to her.”
“You’ve said that before.” Then it hit me. I held back the smile. “I know what’s going on. Ex-game warden Dalton Cummings is nervous about his first paying job since retirement. What could it be?” I enjoyed the edge I had over my friend.
Cummings turned toward the window. His breath painted a gray haze on the glass.
“Let me guess.” I wanted to see his face, but he wouldn’t turn back. “The man who fought forest fires, rescued lost campers, and saved fish and wildlife for generations to come is afraid of a New York woman.”
“That ain’t it.”
“Then what?”
He shook his head, and the brim of his Stetson left a mark on the fogged window. “I don’t like hotels,” he mumbled.
“What?”
“Hotels.” He clamped both hands on the steering wheel. “I’d rather be in my own bed.” He stared straight ahead. “I do fine in a sleepin’ bag in the backcountry. But there’s somethin’ about a little old mint on a fluffy pillow and turned-down sheets that makes me all crawly.” He shook like he was cold. “It’s all too fancy.”
“Don’t worry.” I bit back a laugh. “It’s just two nights. You probably won’t get any sleep anyway.” I couldn’t resist adding one more thing. “The ghosts will keep you awake.”
Cummings jerked up on the door handle and glanced sideways at me. He raised his middle finger. “Screw you, Hogan.”
Teaser Tuesday - October 21st
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Kevin Wolf is an award-winning Mystery and Western author. His books include Trailridge (2024), The Homeplace, winner of the 2015 Tony Hillerman Prize and the 2016 Strand Critics Award finalist for Best Debut Mystery. His short story Belthanger received the 2021 Spur Award for Best Short Fiction and his novel, The Bootheel was a 2024 Peacemaker Award finalist.
The legends and landscape of the West are evident in everything he writes. His newest novel, Trailridge, is set against the grandeur of Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park and the 1982 Lawn Lake Flood. Those who visit Rocky often or have chosen the national park for their once-in-a-lifetime destination will recognize the mountains, valleys, rivers, and the twists and turns of Trailridge as this story races to its climax.In The Homeplace, a schoolboy hero returns after sixteen years to solve a murder in a windswept, dying town on the eastern plains of Colorado. In his short story Belthanger, readers are given a glimpse of a 1950s small town, soon to be bypassed by the new Interstate Highway System, and the drama that unfolds on the town’s darkened streets one night. The BootHeel is a coming-of-age tale of a teenage orphan and an aging gunman as they follow a treasure map into Mexico as the nineteenth century draws to its end.
Kevin Wolf is a member of Western Writers of America, Mystery Writers of America, and serves as Vice President of Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers. He facilitates a weekly critique group for other writers. The great-grandson of Colorado homesteaders, he enjoys fly fishing, old Winchesters, and almost every 1950’s Western movie. He lives in Estes Park, CO with his loving and patient wife.
Contact Links
Website: https://kevinwolfstoryteller.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Kevinwolfstoryteller
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/213074095-trailridge
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