The Devil's Apprentice

A warped door never completely closes . . .Megan Archer, whose restoration business on Whidbey Island, Washington is verging on bankruptcy, accepts a stunning offer from a wealthy foreigner to buy her family's estate in a remote village in England. Ignoring psychic warnings about renovating the 12th century church there into the client's personal residence, she focuses instead on the opportunity for financial stability.All goes well until Megan arrives in the village. That night, she experiences the first horrifying dream. Has her agreement to alter the church awakened a demonic entity? And has it resurrected a serial killer seeking his tenth victim?Megan hopes to piece together enough clues from her dreams to unveil the killer before it's too late. But are her enhanced psychic gifts more powerful than the evil entity? Or will the demon have the last word?"A fine debut that effectively combines the twists of a murder mystery with the scares of a ghost story," --Kirkus Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

"In Moeller’s debut mystery thriller, a woman managing the restoration and sale of her late father’s estate encounters secrets, lies and a mystery involving missing women. When Megan Archer finds her Washington business in financial straits, she accepts a lucrative offer for a property in England left to her by her father. When she arrives overseas, however, the buyer is missing; Megan’s sister Sara and her business partner are also nowhere to be found. Meanwhile, a church on the estate has parishioners and a priest who refuse to leave. She soon discovers that nine women have gone missing in the area and that a serial killer may be responsible. Author Moeller infuses her debut novel with suspense: Megan’s dreams and visions cryptically reveal things yet to come, and other riddles surface, including a bishop’s puzzling death from 10 years before. Megan intelligently pieces together clues while remaining sensible enough to be skeptical of people’s motives. Her low-key romance with DI Debersham is well-handled, never detracting from the main mystery, and the author’s tongue-in-cheek manner is consistently appealing, as when Megan discovers a literally buried secret. The novel also has an entertainingly retro, gothic ambiance throughout: phones and automobiles are largely ineffective; Megan stays in a castlelike gatehouse, contends with seemingly endless storms (with raindrops that “shatter”) and an ominous black dog, and, in a major plot point, even attends a séance. A fine debut that effectively combines the twists of a murder mystery with the scares of a ghost story."

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