A Very Scary Christmas

Clarice Hunter’s pampered childhood included frequent visits to Simone Street’s shopping district. Seventy years later, jewelry stores and fancy restaurants have surrendered to delis and second-hand shops. Clarice is now a poverty-stricken widow, living in a tiny apartment above the stores.

For Spike Carter, poverty is a fact of life. His shabby apartment and minimum wage job are a vast improvement over homeless shelters and food kitchens. Spike spends his spare time strumming his dumpster-salvaged guitar and dreams of being a rock star.

Horace Jennings spent forty years in prison for a jewelry heist gone awry. The jewels were recovered, but Horace plans to retire with cash stashed in the jewelry store’s stairwell.

Three days before Christmas, Spike saves Clarice from falling, when she trips on a stairwell floorboard. While examining the board, they discover Horace’s cash. Christmas promises to be very merry.

Until Horace starts searching for his money.

Book Blurb Friday is hosted by Lisa Ricard Claro, who posts a weekly photo and challenges us to “write a book jacket blurb (150 words or less) so enticing that potential readers would feel compelled to buy the book.” That’s quite a challenge, but it’s a lot of fun as well. Click on the image at the left to read more blurbs or enter one of your own.
This week’s blurb has 150 words.