Tracy Petry

Good morning! The following is a brief excerpt from the second novel in my detective series.  The book is called, "Fallen Angel". The morning was unseasonably warm for early spring. Too warm for this damn suit , the young man mused silently as he entered the air conditioned highrise downtown. Ahead of him walked his boss, Anthony Cappelli. The pair had been silent since meeting almost a half hour earlier. Theirs was not a business of words, but of action when required.  The cool air of the building was welcomed by the overdressed man, who would have been more comfortable in a t-shirt and jeans. Taking  deep, calming breaths on the elevator ride to the top floor, he relaxed and centered himself, focusing completely on the meeting he was heading into; on the future implications of what was about to happen. There was too much riding on his every action to let the jitters get the best of him. Pushing personal doubt aside, he followed his boss out of the elevator and down t...

Dog spelled backwards is God.  I believe with all my heart that dogs are a reflection of God's unconditional love for us.  He gave them to us as gifts to remind us of what unconditional love looks like because in this incredibly cold and screwed up world we might go a whole lifetime without seeing it here otherwise. I've always had dogs. I like them better than I like most people. I know what to expect from my dogs because my dogs know what to expect from me.  The first dog I had was named Lad.  He was a Collie/German Shepherd mix and he was so sweet. He loved to go for walks, loved to play fetch and hated thunderstorms.  I was just a kid when Lad was around during the 1970's and my parents insisted that big dogs were not house-dogs, so he lived his life out in a fenced in area of the yard with a doghouse. New England weather can be harsh, and he was seldom allowed in the house. He died of heartworm disease when I was about 12 years old.  He should have h...

Back in 2009 Martin Petry and I wrote and released a book called Convoking Hell.  It was probably the most difficult book that I've written because it's a book of truth and confession.  Some of the confessions - okay, MOST - were ugly. According to librarians that we've spoken with it's rare to see a dual autobiography and that's what Convoking Hell is. It's his story and my story told in parallel segments.  Martin and I grew up in the same town.  We were in the same high school for only a year because he's a few years older than I am, but we were in the same school for a year and even performed in two of the same school plays, yet we never spoke to one another.  More than 25 years later our paths crossed again and about a year after that we got married.  It was my first marriage.  It was his third. Child abuse Drug abuse Alcoholism Adultery Failed marriages Prostitution Homelessness Abortion Broken homes We were both in our 40's when we ...

Hoping everyone has had a very happy Fourth of July! We had a pretty great day here in the beautiful town of King's Mountain, NC.  My husband (and sometimes co-author) Marty and I got up early and enjoyed a church service together on the Sabbath. We cooked out (well, HE cooked, I ate) and napped a bit of the afternoon away.  Saturday is the only day of the week when we get to spend any time together as he works the other six days of the week.  Then it was down to a little business - the business of writing. My husband and I are both authors.  In fact, our relationship started out as a business arrangement.  He was writing, I was editing and publishing his work.  Everything else grew out of that, and we wouldn't have changed a thing. I took time to set up a Facebook fan page for his writing, so if you're on Facebook and want to see what he's written and find out a little more about him, please stop by and "Like" the page - Martin H. Petry's Author P...

Every once in a while I like to post a preview of what I'm working on.  This morning's "teaser" is of a new novel called, "Masked".  September, 1970 The evening wind blew gently outside, bringing the cool September air to the town of South Haven, Connecticut.  The quiet New England town relaxed and seemed to breathe easily as the seasons changed again.  The new school year had started in town and the streets were quieter again during the day with the children locked away in their classrooms.  The leaves had begun their changes, decorating the world with reds and golds which were soon to be piles of brown neatly raked into fragrant piles.  Churches put up signs for their Fall Festivals and stores began to assemble their Halloween displays, tempting shoppers with enormous bags of treats.              South Haven was a blue collar town with higher aspirations. ...

I penned the last of Cast Down; A New England Haunting the other night and sent the manuscript off to my Book Doctor.  The cover design is done and ready to go.  Once the Doc is done it's just a matter of approving the changes and the book will be ready to hit the bookshelves.  :-) I'm more excited about this project than any other because of the personal significance it has for me.  The setting of the book is the fictionalized version of the town I grew up in, and there are many old faces, places and friends that have found their way into it.  Even the strange family next door who isolated themselves from the world and buried old cars in their back yard were an inspiration from my past. As I wrote the scenes where the main character returns to her childhood home she'd inherited and starts to clear out a staggering collection of old dolls from the residence I was informed that my own childhood home would soon be going up for sale.  I was told that my es...

I thought I'd take a minute or two to share a few "Fun Facts" about the new horror novel I've been working on and will be releasing very, VERY soon. The title is Cast Down; A New England Haunting. Fun Fact - it's set in the "fictional" town of Bridgefield, CT. So, those of you out there who I grew up with, you're going to recognize lots of settings, locations, PEOPLE... you might even recognize fictionalized versions of yourself! Fun Fact - it's a horror story that focuses on the  belief that there are no ghosts, only demonic forces that masquerade as spirits of our deceased loved ones. It starts in the very real Connecticut ghost town - Dudleytown. Fun Fact - there's a companion novel following this one in the near future, titled "Masked". Fun Fact - the cover for Cast Down is a photo of a very spooky painting created by my friend, the very talented artist; Pascal Lombardi (  Magdalis Pascal Gonzalez  ) Okay, now for the MOS...