by: Kris Bock
Series: Reluctantly Psychic Murder Mystery
Genre: Psychic Mystery
Release Date: April 28, 2025
Publisher: Tule Publishing
She hates her gift – but it just might save her…
Geologist Petra Cloch can touch an object and sense the emotions of the people who’ve held it. It’s a miserable way to live. She studied rocks because they rarely ‘talk’ to her and she’s dodged friendships so she won’t need to explain her gift or feel like a voyeur. But when she takes a job as the rock and mineral curator at an unusual western history museum and picks up a jagged crystal in her new office, flashes of rage, fear and death hit hard.
Everyone says her predecessor died in a car crash, but what if he was murdered? Under normal circumstances, Petra would never become involved, but what if the previous curator died because of something he did on the job? She could be next. Petra knows she’ll need evidence, not her psychic sense she hides. Can she trust her chatty colleagues who invite her to lunch and to join a book club? And what about the far too watchful Sheriff who keeps showing up unexpectedly…
It’s no fun sorting through the belongings of a dead man. I assume that’s true for most people, except maybe antique dealers or historians. But I think it’s worse for me.
That’s not because I’m a narcissist. (As far as I know. I admit I’ve never been tested.) It’s because of my psychometry. It might sound cool to pick up vibrations left behind on objects, giving me glimpses of the items’ histories.
But I didn’t want to know more about the man who’d had my job before me. Everything so far suggested Reggie Heap was an ordinary man who had more chest pains and heart palpitations than he let on. I might have warned him to get that checked out, if he hadn’t already died of a massive heart attack that killed him even before his car ran off a mountain road.
It was my office now, and I needed to scrub away all traces of the former occupant. Does that sound harsh? Think about it like this: It might sound cool to have telepathy, if you assume you could choose when and where to use it. But imagine if you had to hear every thought of every person nearby.
Yeah, you’d probably just stay home.
I was about as far from a people person as one could be, so I needed a job that paid well enough that I could live alone, just me and my pets (ten at the current count). Ideally, the job wouldn’t bring me into contact with a lot of other people or their stuff. I hoped I had that job now, working in a small museum in a tiny town in a state with something like twenty people per square mile.
…
I looked around the office. Besides the desk and file cabinets, it had wooden shelves along one wall. They held some rather nice geologic samples, though presumably not quite nice enough to make the main collection. I picked up a piece of smoky quartz. A prism, longer than my hand, thrust up like an obelisk from a cluster of smaller crystals at the base. A little label on the bottom confirmed my identification, while a clean spot on the shelf showed how much dust had piled up around the samples.
I might as well clean the shelf and its displays. My boss had given me boxes for packing up Reggie Heap’s stuff. I grabbed an empty one and started loading rocks and minerals into it. I’d definitely keep the frothy, seafoam-green Smithsonite. Maybe not the stringy bit of copper, which was interesting but not all that pretty.
A sample as big as two fists together was made up of cubic crystals in a lovely shade of lilac. Some marks showed where small pieces had broken off, which might be why it was in the office instead of on display. Fluorite, with some impurities to give it the purple shade? Tests could confirm that, but I wouldn’t need them if it was properly labeled.
I picked it up with both hands.
Rage. The desire to hurt.
Fear. An explosion of pain. Panic dissolving into darkness.
I staggered and dropped the mineral. When my vision cleared, I was leaning against the desk with both hands pressing down on it. Fortunately, I’d dropped the crystal cluster on the desk and not my foot. It would have been hard to explain breaking my foot in that manner.
But not as difficult as explaining why I thought these crystals had been used as a weapon.
That’s not because I’m a narcissist. (As far as I know. I admit I’ve never been tested.) It’s because of my psychometry. It might sound cool to pick up vibrations left behind on objects, giving me glimpses of the items’ histories.
But I didn’t want to know more about the man who’d had my job before me. Everything so far suggested Reggie Heap was an ordinary man who had more chest pains and heart palpitations than he let on. I might have warned him to get that checked out, if he hadn’t already died of a massive heart attack that killed him even before his car ran off a mountain road.
It was my office now, and I needed to scrub away all traces of the former occupant. Does that sound harsh? Think about it like this: It might sound cool to have telepathy, if you assume you could choose when and where to use it. But imagine if you had to hear every thought of every person nearby.
Yeah, you’d probably just stay home.
I was about as far from a people person as one could be, so I needed a job that paid well enough that I could live alone, just me and my pets (ten at the current count). Ideally, the job wouldn’t bring me into contact with a lot of other people or their stuff. I hoped I had that job now, working in a small museum in a tiny town in a state with something like twenty people per square mile.
…
I looked around the office. Besides the desk and file cabinets, it had wooden shelves along one wall. They held some rather nice geologic samples, though presumably not quite nice enough to make the main collection. I picked up a piece of smoky quartz. A prism, longer than my hand, thrust up like an obelisk from a cluster of smaller crystals at the base. A little label on the bottom confirmed my identification, while a clean spot on the shelf showed how much dust had piled up around the samples.
I might as well clean the shelf and its displays. My boss had given me boxes for packing up Reggie Heap’s stuff. I grabbed an empty one and started loading rocks and minerals into it. I’d definitely keep the frothy, seafoam-green Smithsonite. Maybe not the stringy bit of copper, which was interesting but not all that pretty.
A sample as big as two fists together was made up of cubic crystals in a lovely shade of lilac. Some marks showed where small pieces had broken off, which might be why it was in the office instead of on display. Fluorite, with some impurities to give it the purple shade? Tests could confirm that, but I wouldn’t need them if it was properly labeled.
I picked it up with both hands.
Rage. The desire to hurt.
Fear. An explosion of pain. Panic dissolving into darkness.
I staggered and dropped the mineral. When my vision cleared, I was leaning against the desk with both hands pressing down on it. Fortunately, I’d dropped the crystal cluster on the desk and not my foot. It would have been hard to explain breaking my foot in that manner.
But not as difficult as explaining why I thought these crystals had been used as a weapon.
About Chiles
New Mexicans love their green chile, which comes with almost any dish. (FYI, chile is the correct local spelling for the New Mexico chile pepper.)
Red chile is simply green chile that has ripened. It is usually dried and powdered, whereas green chile is roasted over open flames, chopped, and frozen until use. The flavor of red chile is generally sweeter and mellower, but either color can have a variety of heat levels. How hot a chile is depends on the particular strain and the weather conditions during the growing season.
“Red or green?” is partly a personal preference, though certain dishes tend to come with one or the other. You can also order something “Christmas” style, meaning with both red and green chile.
You can buy green chile in some grocery stores. The 505 brand is good. You can also try other fresh chile peppers. Poblano (also called pasilla) peppers are a fine substitute.
Green Chile Stew Your Way
2 medium onions
1 Tbsp. garlic
2 Tbsp. oil
1 pound ground beef or cubed stew beef
Chopped green chile to taste, about 1/4 to 1/2 cup
4 cups chicken broth
salt and pepper to taste
Serve with any or all of: canned pinto beans or black beans; cubed, cooked potatoes; hominy; shredded cheddar or Jack cheese; shredded lettuce; chopped tomatoes; cilantro; extra green chile; chopped avocados or guacamole; sour cream.
- Sauté onions and garlic in oil until golden.
- Add beef and stir until browned.
- Add chopped green chile and chicken broth. Bring to a simmer. Salt and pepper to taste.
- You can use it immediately, but it’s even better if it cooks for a few hours on low heat.
- Put the beans, hominy, cheese, etc. into individual bowls. Let people build their own dish by adding their choice of extra ingredients such as beans, potatoes, and cheese, and heating each bowl in the microwave. Then add cold ingredients such as sour cream and avocado.
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The Reluctantly Psychic Murder Mystery Series:
Death at Rock Bottom (Book 2) releases July 30, 2025
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