A Dead Guy Talks About You

by Peg Herring

Thanks to the Stiletto Gang for inviting me to stop by for Post #2! Peg Herring’s Blog Tour for May (and one post in June) consists of a mix of interviews with Seamus, the Dead Detective, and a few posts on the writing process. Yesterday’s post was “Keeping It Straight,” which can be found at the Murder Must Advertise blog http://murdermustadvertise.blogspot.com/. The next stop on the tour will be tomorrow, May 4th, at Kaye George’s blog http://travelswithkaye.blogspot.com. The full schedule is on my blog, It’s A Mystery to Me: http://itsamysterytomepegherring.blogspot.com

After the tour is over (June 11th), the complete Seamus interview will be posted on my blog, so you don’t have to wonder what the dead guy said about you.

Prizes: People who comment on any blog post on the tour will be entered in drawings for several prizes: Dead Detective T-shirts, copies of THE DEAD DETECTIVE AGENCY and DEAD FOR THE MONEY (paperback or e-books available), and the chance to be a character in the third of the series, DEAD FOR THE SHOW. Multiple winners will be drawn.

Bio: Peg Herring lives in Michigan and writes two series, the critically acclaimed Simon & Elizabeth (Tudor) Mysteries (Five Star Publishing) and the award-winning Dead Detective Mysteries (LL-Publications). The first book of the series, THE DEAD DETECTIVE AGENCY, was chosen EPIC’s Best Mystery for 2012. When not writing, Peg enjoys directing musical groups, gardening, and talking about writing with anyone who will listen.
DEAD FOR THE MONEY - ebook
THE DEAD DETECTIVE AGENCY - paperback
Peg’s website: http://pegherring.com

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A Dead Guy Talks about You

Interviewer: Today we’re talking to Seamus, a man who tells me he’s a cross-back detective. First, Seamus, please explain to our readers what that is.

Seamus: Cross-backs return from the Other Side to investigate for the dead who don’t know why they died.

Interviewer: Then you’re dead?

Seamus: Most sincerely.

Interviewer: Can you tell us—

Seamus: (Holds up a hand) Nothing about the Other Side. It’s in the books, if you want to read ‘em. Peg did okay telling what it’s like over there. I’m here to talk about the problems cross-backs face here on earth.

Interviewer: All right. You come back to discover how someone died. That must mean the dead can remember their lives on earth, right?

Seamus: For a while. Memories usually fade over time.

Interviewer: I see. What do you remember about your life?

Seamus: (Frowns) Everything.

Interviewer: How do you manage that? If you’ll forgive me for saying so, you appear to have died some time ago.

Seamus: You can remember if you work at it.

Interviewer: And you work at it?

Seamus: (Sighs) Can we get back to the job?

Interviewer: (Makes a note) Of course. How do you make the journey?

Seamus: Uh, I don’t know how. They just send us.

Interviewer: Well, do you float down from above, climb up from below, or what?

Seamus: Nothing like that. We travel through something, maybe space. It hurts.

Interviewer: And when you arrive?

Seamus: I need a host first thing, a living person I can travel with. We don’t belong anymore, you know?

Interviewer: So you must exist inside another person.

Seamus: Yeah. We need your life force, because ours is gone.

Interviewer: What does that feel like for the cross-backs?

Seamus: It’s kinda weird, especially at first. Everybody’s different. I see through their eyes, feel through their skin, and hear through their ears. Things smell different. Colors look different.

Interviewer: What do you mean, different?

Seamus: It’s like this. You have an idea in your head what blue looks like, but you don’t know what it looks like to somebody else. We can agree that something is blue, maybe a robin’s egg, but that doesn’t mean we all see it the same way. When I’m inside someone’s head, I can see that his blue isn’t my blue.

Interviewer: They do say that women see more shades of color than men do.

Seamus: Yeah. I never could tell the difference between lilac and lavender, but my wife sure could. Not sure if that’s a lack of perception or a lack of interest, though.

Interviewer: What else about being inside a host is strange for you?

Seamus: Hmm. I’ve been in people whose personal habits didn’t exactly please me.

Interviewer: Oh. I hadn’t thought of that!

Seamus: Being inside the mind of a murderer or an alcoholic or a pervert is uncomfortable.

Interviewer: It must be interesting to understand how they think, though.

Seamus: Yeah, but you can’t get away from it. It’s like being in a sandstorm—you’ve got nowhere to go, no way to avoid the experience.

Interviewer: What do you do in such cases?

Seamus: I get what I can and then jump to someone else as soon as possible. (Smiles) Then I have to start getting used to everything all over again. Maybe blue looks kinda pink this time, and daffodils smell like burnt toast.

Interviewer: Oh, my. I’m not sure I’d like that.

Seamus: That’s the job, lady. It’s what being a cross-back is all about.