Kirstie is currently working on three novels: an historical Western Romance, Chance or Happenstance, a page-turner set in the 19th century. Inspired by Saturday afternoon serials, its rollicking pace sees an audacious young female protagonist bounce from one misadventure to the next, with a plot stirred by The Music Man meets the excitement of Outlander. The stakes are high and the clock is ticking as our spirited heroine risks it all in one hair-raising predicament after another.
Part One: Merciful Barelegged, the daughter of a British officer, experiences a dramatic life-changing loss when her beloved father is killed in the Crimean war. Now in the sole care of her cold, disinterested mother, Merciful soon realizes that her childhood has been cruelly curtailed. Shipped off to a distant relative in America, Merciful’s journey takes an unexpected turn when the S.S. Atlantic tragically succumbs to the depths. She is one of the few survivors of the catastrophe, and in a plot twist aux Les Miserables, she assumes the identity of now deceased orphan and fellow passenger Merriweather Bright.
Part Two: After Merciful (now Weather) traverses the vast expanse of America, the stolen inheritance dwindles, forcing her into a life of deception and crime. A stagecoach accident becomes the pivot point for another identity swap. This time, she exchanges roles with a prim and proper teacher, engaged to orchestrate a concert for a winter town’s school fundraiser.
Immersing herself in the teacher’s life, Weather treads carefully, attempting to steal the funds without succumbing to the charms of the widowed town sheriff and his endearing daughter. The delicate balance of her double life teeters on the edge when an unscrupulous stagecoach driver stumbles upon her secret, blackmailing her and threatening to expose the truth.
In a race against time, Weather must concoct a clever plan to save herself and the unsuspecting town from ruin. As the stakes heighten, she finds herself torn between the allure of love and the shadows of her past, navigating a treacherous path where trust is a scarce commodity. Will Weather’s cunning be enough to outwit her blackmailer and secure a future that transcends the confines of her tangled web of lies? Only time will unveil the intricate dance of deception and desire in this captivating tale of a woman forging her destiny in the vast tapestry of the snow-covered Rocky Mountains in 19th-century America.
A World War II thriller, Written in Blood: A Nazi’s Story, set in prewar Germany, is told through the lens of Joseph Mengele, one of the world’s most notorious serial killers. He was the “Angel of Death” and the scourge of Auschwitz, a deadly concentration camp where more than one million people were murdered during the Holocaust. With added inspiration from Edgar Allen Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart, Written in Blood: A Nazi’s Story focuses on a private diary delivered from a mysterious source to a reclusive professor who is already struggling with mental health problems. The unvarnished personal narrative by Mengele reveals the bizarre and twisted inner life of a young boy who victimizes and exploits animals and people he sees as weak, through to becoming a full blown psychosexual serial killer who uses his status as a medical officer to conduct grisly, often fatal, experiments on the helpless. The professor slowly becomes unglued when he is drawn inexorably to the diary and can’t stop visiting the secrets inside Mengele’s dark thoughts.
The Unclaimed Dead, a horror suspense novel characterized by its vivid imagery, rich character development, and atmospheric storytelling. The story delves into the darker aspects of human nature, exploring themes of fear, trauma, and the supernatural. McLellan Day has a knack for creating complex characters with relatable flaws and vulnerabilities, making them feel authentic and compelling to readers.
One of the strengths in her fiction lies in her ability to build suspense and tension, gradually escalating the stakes as the story unfolds. She masterfully weaves together multiple plot threads, creating intricate narratives that keep readers guessing until the very end. Her pacing is relentless, drawing readers deeper into her worlds with each turn of the page.
She is known for crafting memorable settings, with attention to detail that brings these locations to life, immersing readers in their atmospheric, and in the case of Written in Blood and The Unclaimed Dead, foreboding atmosphere.
In both these books she has an uncanny ability to tap into universal fears and anxieties, exploring the darker corners of the human psyche with unflinching honesty.