Today I'm on the Blog Tour for Siren Song (Harrison Jones & Amy Bell Mystery #1) by Rebecca McKinney* with an excerpt.
Harrison Jones is a university lecturer with a secret: he moonlights as a psychic detective. Amy Bell is a paramedic who has the uncanny knack of knowing things are going to happen before they do. From their first accidental meeting on an Edinburgh bridge, both of their lives are destined to change.Harrison invites Amy to help him investigate the disappearance of a beautiful young singer. The search will lead them into the murky world of human trafficking, from Edinburgh to the streets of Athens, and into the darkest corners of the human mind…
About the author:
Rebecca McKinney is a writer, therapist and community development practitioner, living and working in Midlothian, Scotland. She shares her home with her husband, two teenagers, three cats, and a growing collection of musical instruments.
"There were still a few heavily-swaddled tourists in the vicinity of the Royal Mile but otherwise, the streets were quiet enough to stride out. Harrison hadn’t quite made his father’s height, but he had long legs and a stride that always had to be a little clipped when the streets were busy.
Now he was able to move along at his natural pace, covering ground fast enough that he couldn’t pick up the vibrations. He walked down the Mound, along Princes Street and turned up North Bridge. Midway along the bridge, he saw a girl facing out over the wall, staring down at the glass roof panels of Waverley Station below. Her feelings radiated from her like shockwaves: failure, guilt and profound loneliness. They hit him square in the chest from twenty feet away. She was thinking about jumping. He could read it clear as a searchlight flashing out into the dark. Harrison slowed his pace and approached her cautiously. She raised her eyes and stared out over the city, pretending to take in the view.
He came alongside her, allowing an arm’s length between them, and said softly, ‘This isn’t what you want to do.’ She stared at him, mouth half-open. ‘What did you just say?’ He jutted his chin toward the glass panels. ‘It would be a pretty spectacular way to go, right enough, but you don’t really want to. You just want help.’
‘How the fuck do you know what I want?’ Her accent was Irish. Northern. Hard-edged. ‘Because you’d have gone by now if you wanted to. What’s your name?’ She raised her eyebrows and didn’t tell him her name. ‘I’m Harrison Jones.’ ‘Harrison Jones?’ she giggled. At least he’d managed to distract her. ‘A heroic type, right? Should I call you Indiana?’ ‘You know you’re not the first person who’s ever asked me that. Can I take you somewhere? Do you want to go somewhere and talk?’
‘Congratulations, that’s the best chat-up line I’ve ever heard.’ Her voice dripped suspicion but her mind was relieved. ‘Thank you, but I’m not trying to chat you up. Do you think you need to go to the hospital?’ ‘Eh ... no. I don’t think so.’ ‘So, you’ll be okay?’ ‘Well, seeing as you’re so concerned, I promise you I won’t jump tonight.’ Beneath her bluster, he picked up humiliation and shame about her melodramatic impulses. Behind that, an echo of violence committed in the past, in another place. This girl had a history".
