29. THE MEMORY OF OBJECTS – Young Adult Paranormal Mystery

Mentor Name: Kate Karyus Quinn

Mentee Name: D.A. Mages

Title: THE MEMORY OF OBJECTS

Category: Young Adult

Genre: Paranormal Mystery

Word Count: 80,000

Pitch:

Megan Brown has four weeks to clear her dead brother’s name before the police brand him an addict and a criminal. When she discovers she can see memories attached to the objects he left behind, she finds herself hunting not just her brother but the legacy of a famous assassin.

Excerpt:

My brother Tyler died three times: first in an abandoned building in Washington, D.C.; then in the back hall of a funeral home in McLean, Virginia; and finally on the stage of Ford’s Theatre, just a few feet from where Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. I couldn’t blame myself for the first two, but the third one? That was entirely my fault.

On the day of my brother’s funeral, I sat outside the Viewing Room in a pink upholstered chair, hoping the cops would show up. Not the young ones, those freshly shaven go-getters who respected my parents’ wishes and told me nothing. I wanted an old-timer, a chatty veteran on the brink of retirement, who might let a few things slip.

The instant I spotted their dark, cookie-cutter suits, I was on my feet. The one on the left, I could’ve cut a finger on the clean line of his jaw. But the other one, he had grizzle. I needed to move fast.

I ducked past two girls tangled in a hug by a photo of Tyler in his varsity baseball uniform. But before I could reach the cops, a warm hand on my shoulder stopped me, and Squarejaw and Grizzle pushed open the door of the Viewing Room and disappeared.

“You okay, Brown?” asked the boy who’d stopped me. He seemed familiar, although he didn’t look like anyone else in the room. He was all rich colors and textures—an oil painting in a room full of charcoal sketches.