Pitch Slam Entry 8: BURY THE DEAD, YA Historical Mystery

Genre: YA Historical Mystery

Title: BURY THE DEAD

Word Count: 76,000

Pitch: Veronica Mars meets PILLARS OF THE EARTH when headstrong teen noblewoman Eva partners with a wary monk to catch a killer. When evidence points to her charismatic suitor, she risks heart and life for justice.

First 250:

No one prayed for my mother's soul. No one spoke of her. My uncle Baldric forbade it. But I refused to forget her. She died sixteen years ago when I was only a babe, but every morning, before the castle woke, I went to the chapel to plead for her deliverance.

Darkness filled the room, intensifying the smell of incense and the aching in my legs as I knelt on the stone floor. I recited the De Profundis and the Requiem Aeternam, prayers suitable for someone suffering in Purgatory. I considered praying that my uncle Arnulf might finally drink himself to death, but decided against it. God might prolong his life as punishment for such an uncharitable thought, and that would be unbearable. Instead, I stood and went out to the chapel garden.

The battlements of the south wall clawed at the sapphire sky. A nightjar chirred in some hidden sanctuary. I paused beneath the stone archway that led to the main courtyard, dreading the day ahead.  Tendrils of ivy whispered about my face and shoulders, shivering my skin. Tiny toenails clicked in the undergrowth. Rats! I shuffled backwards and caught my foot on a paving stone. Far above me someone groaned. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.

The bergfried loomed above me, a black scar against the sky. A voice cried out “Judge thou, O Lord, them that wrong me. Overthrow them that fight against me. Take hold of arms and shield and rise up to help me.”









2 comments:

  1. Blockbuster! Please send pages to kyra@aplusbworks.com. Looking forward to reading!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'd like to make an Instant Classic request for BURY THE DEAD. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete

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