ANNOUNCING - "PJ AND THE PARANORMAL PURSUERS - THE MACKENZIE POLTERGEIST" by Jacqui Dempster Available for pre-order on Amazon.co.uk

I'm really excited to announce the publication of my first middle grade/young adult book, the first in a series of adventures with PJ and his friends, The Paranormal Pursuers. 

More news soon but the book can be pre-ordered on Amazon at the following link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/PJ-Paranormal-Pursuers-Mackenzie-Poltergeist/dp/1913913147/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=pj+and+the+paranormal+pursuers&qid=1621877964&sr=8-1

RELEASE DATE: 28/07/2021  

The publishers (The Book Guild Ltd) have done a fab job in creating this spooky trailer. Thanks to Philippa Iliffe for her great film production skills and to Jack Wedgbury who indulged me in ensuring Smudge lives on in his brilliant cover design. Smudge, of course, remains the centre of attention, as you can see on the book cover and at various times in the trailer! Naturally he has a cameo appearance in the book!  See if you can spot him when you read it.

SYNOPSIS

• A paranormal adventure for middle grade and early young adult readers. 

• Addresses themes such as bereavement and death and the importance of friends. 

• With a strong Scottish setting. 

After his mom dies, PJ reluctantly leaves his New York home and everyone he loves, to live with his Aunt Katie in Edinburgh. A series of strange events begin, when his aunt’s elderly neighbour and her cat Azrael convince him that his mom, weirdly, is still very much with him. 

At a bereavement counselling group, PJ makes a new group of friends, all of whom have lost loved ones. Drawn together by their shared experiences, they soon discover they have something else in common; an interest in the supernatural. Freya is the daughter of a white witch, Sunny has a scientific and enquiring mind and Shuggie, a superfan of ghost hunting programmes. Led by PJ, they try to prove that there is life after death and that their loved ones are still with them.

The team receive strange messages leading them to investigate Greyfriars Kirkyard where they experience terrifying paranormal activity and PJ is drawn into the clutches of the evil Mackenzie Poltergeist after reciting a famous rhyme which invites the restless spirit to draw back the bolt of his scary mausoleum to allow him entry. There, he finds himself in a fight of good against evil with the ghost of Sir George Mackenzie. 

ISBN 9781913913144 . £8.99  Paperback 216x138mm, 200pp BIC: YFC – Adventure Stories (Children’s/ Teenage) Orca Book Services. Tel: 01235 465521 Email: tradeorders@orcabookservices.co.uk 

Born and raised in Glasgow, Jacqueline Dempster has a law degree and qualified as a solicitor in 1999. She worked as a partner in her own firm, specialising in employment law and also ran performing arts schools, directing and producing shows at the Edinburgh Fringe. She has an interest in all things paranormal and took the Koestler Parapsychology course through Edinburgh University to gain insight into the science of the paranormal and the themes that run through PJ and the Paranormal Pursuers. She has written two adult fiction novels, Charon’s Children and The Thirteenth Pillar of Artemis.