Karina Halle – författare

The Benson hotel in Portland, Oregon might look like your ordinary, swanky turn-of-the century hotel, but deep in the heart of this historic icon, lie a few restless souls with secrets that won''t stay buried.Amateur ghost hunters Perry Palomino and Dex Foray spend an evening exploring the hotel for their Internet show "Experiment in Terror" - but this is no ordinary hotel and this is no ordinary episode. There''s someone here in the Benson, someone dead, who will push the boundaries of what the duo know about ghosts and challenge Perry''s very notion of the truth.

From her harrowing introduction in Darkhouse, the spectre known as ''Creepy Clown Lady'' has been a constant fixture in Perry Palomino''s life. But beyond the horrid makeup and piercing stare lies Pippa, a woman just like everyone else. Well, not quite.When Perry discovered Pippa''s message to her and Dex on the EVP recordings, she thought she''d heard the last of the old woman''s mes­sage. She was wrong. In the novella Old Blood, Pippa relays the tale of her troubled and tortured past, revealing how an aspiring actress and loving mother fell into madness and how an unfathomable betrayal led to her untimely death. For Perry, the repercussions of her message are life-shattering.

Perry Palomino has fought her demons - and won - but the battle is far from over. She''s now left broken and on her own, leaving behind her life and family in Portland to focus on giving Dex Foray - and the Experiment in Terror show - a second chance. But their past mistakes con­tinue to tease and test their relationship, as does the wild and desolate terrain of the Canadian Rockies.The snow-covered peaks and ravenous forests hide an urban legend too unbelievably frightening to be true and the only way the duo has a chance of surviving is if Perry can let in the very man who sent her to hell and back.

They are each other''s anchors . . . and the storm is far from over. It''s been two months since Perry Palomino and Dex Foray''s relationship reached a new turning point, two months since Perry started a new life in Seattle, and two months since their Experiment in Terror show took on a new partner, ex-Wine Babe Rebecca Sims, and a newfound level of success. But whenever there is light in their lives, the madness still has a way of coming back in.When the team is sent back to the stormy Oregon coast to investigate a haunted school, Perry wants to use the opportunity to reconnect with her family and reintroduce Dex into their lives. Only Perry''s not the only one who''s reaching out - her grandmother Pippa has started appearing to her with disturbing warnings and Perry''s presence at the school has ignited a chilling new wave of supernatural phenomenon. Once used a century ago as a sanatorium to house children dying of tuberculosis, the school''s past residents are slowly coming back to life and with one thing on their mind: They want someone to play with, someone to join them. Forever.Even when dead, some children get whatever they want.And they want Perry.

Perry Palomino and Dex Foray.On their own, they''re uniquely brilliant. Together, they''re an unstoppable team.Until now.Because after everything the duo has encountered, they haven''t come across an evil quite like this. An evil that has been years in the making, an evil that will stop at nothing until they, and everyone they care for, are destroyed.Dex and Perry''s love has survived a multitude of sins.But can it survive the end?