A HOUSE DIVIDED

Keith Lafleur, Louisiana's largest and greediest building contractor, thinks he's cut the deal of a lifetime. The huge old, two-story, clapboard house is his for the taking as long as he can move it to a new location. It's too big to move as it is, but Lafleur's solution is simple: divide it in half. He has no idea, though, that by splitting the house he'll be dividing a family--a family long dead, a family that still exists in the house, including a mother who will destroy anyone who keeps her apart from her children.

From Publishers Weekly

A two-story clapboard house—split and turned into separate structures by greedy Louisiana contractor Keith Lafleur—stands at the center of this creepy Southern ghost story. One side houses Laura Toups, her sassy African-American friend Tawana Batiste, Tawana's mentally challenged cousin and their salon, the Beauty Box. Matt Daigle and his young son live on the other side, above the diner Matt runs. A series of haunting events—including bumps in the night, hundreds of dead birds on the lawn and a yard-spanning spider web—lead the residents to uncover the house's secret history and Lafleur to murderous insanity. LeBlanc (Grave Intent) uses the haunted house plot to underscore the virtues of the two nontraditional families, giving her campfire story depth, and rounds out the enterprise with convincing dialogue and cinematic snapshots of Southern life. Though she leaves some loose ends, opting out with a well-placed "[t]here was a lot no one would ever know for sure," her emphasis on characters and their relationships make this an affecting spook story. (June) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Deborah LeBlanc is an award-winning, best-selling author and business owner from Lafayette, Louisiana. She is also a licensed death scene investigator, a licensed private investigator and has been an active paranormal investigator for over twenty-five years. Deborah is currently the house 'clairsendium' (clairvoyant, sensitive, medium) for the upcoming paranormal investigation television show, Through the Veil. She's also worked in funeral service for 12 years, assisting with removals and embalmings, as well as assisted in morgues across the U.S., monitoring and helping with autopsies. She served four years as president of the Horror Writers Association, eight years as president of the Writers' Guild of Acadiana, and two years as president of Mystery Writers of America's Southwest Chapter. In 2007, Deborah founded Literacy Inc. a non-profit organization dedicated to fighting illiteracy in America's teens. For more information, visit www.deborahleblanc.com and www.literacyinc.com

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