Lover of IF turned lurker turned writer coming in for an interest check on a project I’m working on! Oh god this got so long I’m so sorry.
Summary: After receiving news from your cousin that your grandmother has died, you come to the city where you spent several summers in your childhood at her bed and breakfast. After the funeral, your cousin tells you to meet her there, and reveals that your grandmother left everything in your name, despite the fact you hadn’t returned in years.
Your cousin convinces you to take a few days to consider what you’ll do… during which time you experience a few bumps in the night. After apparently pinning you as someone trustworthy, the ghost of the missing pool attendant appears and asks you to solve their murder—but not before flirting outrageously with you. When you agree and start to uncover things, you start to wonder: was your grandmother’s death a murder, too? Are the other people working at the inn save? Are you?
Genre: This is a romance story that falls somewhere between mystery and thriller. The only fantasy element is that there’s a ghost, and you can make out with them. (Why? Why not?)
Romance: This is a romance work, so this is a huge portion of the book. There are four love interests, all of whom can be male or female (individually chosen as they come, randomized, or a sort of Make Them All Dudes/Chicks option). The ghost of the pool attendant, who is a flirty mess with a smile that never reaches their eyes; the farmer who turned down a powerful corporate law career to inherit the farm that provides the farm-to-table produce for the inn, who is painfully kind and searching for a fulfilling dream; the gruff handyman (and possible childhood friend of the MC if you want the childhood friends route), who was raised by their uncle and yearns for a life they don’t feel worthy to have; or the daydreaming writer, who has a long-term stay in the inn to work on their novel and seems disengaged with everything that seems frivolous to them.
Cool other details: The mystery will have one of three different perpetrators, depending on early game choices you’ll make. Are you the only person close to your ice queen cousin, or have the two of you been at each other’s throats since birth? Does the cranky gardener see you as the child he never had, or the nuisance he’d thought he’d gotten rid of? Will you succeed in finding out the mystery, or will it take you by surprise and cause a less-than-optimal ending? Does your MC curse a lot, or do they exclaim sunny beaches when stubbing their toe? More stuff like this.
This will be a single stand alone book, not a series. I want readers to experience everything from beginning to end without having to wait forever for a part two or three to finish it out.
Hopefully I’ll have a demo up soon. I’ve written a lot in my time, but this is my first IF so it’s a learning process. Anyway, thanks for reading and please let me know if this sounds interesting!