12 Quotes from Cornell Dyer and the "Mistical" Being

 When we were getting ready to release Bryony back in 2011, my daughter Sarah (who did a lot of the marketing for me) suggested I pull thirty teaser quotes from the book that she could post on Facebook, one each day.

We did the same for the second book, Visage, which is also part of the BryonySeries.

But for some reason, I never did the same for another book.

So now I am catching up.

Here is the synopsis and twelve quotes for Cornell Dyer and the 'Mistical' Being, one from each chapter.

What's unusual about this book in The Adventures of Cornell Dyer (a BryonySeries chapter book series) is that Rebekah is the story collaborator instead of Timothy.

She had written the draft many, many years ago (2008, I believe), making this the first book in the series ever written, even though we never published it until 2021 (she'd had a computer crash and thought it lost).

Enjoy!

When asked to banish ghosts in a backyard lake, supernatural super sleuth Cornell Dyer encounters one mystery after another: a ghostly mist with eyes, a ghost town, and a town that keeps changing its name. Delving into each one will change Cornell's life. Is he ready?

Prologue: 

The carriages stopped. This was it.

“Everybody out!” someone roared.

“Let’s go Kristoph.” Dagobert poked his friend. “Wake up! It is time!”

They opened door, and they stepped out.

Chapter 1: Lost at the Lake

Ty scowled and plodded across the field. So that’s why Cornell could not take the motor home. The field had no road. So Cornell had no place to drive the motor home.

Well, Cornell thought. One mystery solved.

Chapter 2: What Cornell Saw in the Fog

Something is controlling them, Cornell thought. Something was controlling them and not letting them go home. That was the only reason why a ghost banisher would not work, especially this ghost banisher. Cornell was using the latest model of a DuppyGone 367, the most powerful of ghost banishers.

Chapter 3: Stay Away from the Graves

Cornell trudged down the embankment, and then Cornell trudged over to the town. It was full of deserted buildings, a great place for ghosts to haunt, he thought.

He looked through several buildings, ready to vanquish them with a flick of his wand. But Cornell saw no trace of any ghosts, not even furniture covered in old bed sheets.

Chapter 4: Blank Slate

Cornell was not afraid of an itsy bitsy curse. And he wasn’t afraid of big curses either. Cornell was as curse-proof as anyone could be.

Chapter 5: Nightmare?

The shapes became a band of ghosts in blue coats, black boots, and tricorne hats gently swayed in the crackling light. They moaned; they sobbed; and they looked very, very lost.

Help us! Help us! Help us!

Chapter 6: Not So Empty After All

He’d packed the magical kind of peanut butter and jelly, the kind that spread itself on the bread and hopped into sandwich bags and then into the backpack so Cornell Dyer could concentrate on solving supernatural mysteries.

Chapter 7: A Grave Invitation

When Cornell woke up the next morning, he was leaning against a tree with a rolled-up note in his hand. Cornell unrolled the note and read: 

Dear Mr. Dyer,

I have a business proposition that I want to discuss with you.

Meet me by the graves this Friday at 11:30 p.m.

Chapter 8: Redhead – and Dead

The diner only had one other person inside right now. And he was dressed in black from head to toe. He was sitting in a booth in the way back, drinking a cup of coffee.

And this customer had coal black eyes, just like the eyes Cornell kept seeing in the mist.

Cornell felt like screaming.

But Cornell also felt like eating. So Cornell reminded himself that supernatural super sleuths don’t scream. They eat and solve supernatural mysteries. 

Chapter 9: He Doesn’t Act Like a Vampire

And Cornell reasoned: if this thing is a vampire, and if this thing wanted to kill me, it would have killed me already.

So Cornell decided the vampire must want something else. But what?

Chapter 10: I Have a Job for You

“You don’t need to understand. You just need to sign this.”

Epilogue

“What’s with all the medieval gold coins?” Cornell asked, somewhat irritably. “Everybody wants to pay me in medieval gold coins all of a sudden.”

“Got something against gold coins?” Ty retorted.