We are positively thrilled to bring you this exclusive excerpt of Rebecca Halsey’s Notes of Temptation, out today!

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“My name is Oswald Dean.” He offered his hand, and she shook it. “People call me Oz.”

“Carrie Cooper,” she said. “I sing at the Hardyville Methodist—well, sang there until I came here.”

His brief good humor deflated a fraction. Of course she would be a choirgirl. He waited for her to ask about his venue and potential auditions. Girls like this came into the city by the busloads each day—daughters of farmers and migrants escaping the countryside, yearning to brush up against fame or make it big themselves. These girls were as shiny as new pennies and just as easily spent by hucksters eager to take advantage of their innocence. If she had done her homework on industry magazines, she would drop names and pump him for details.

But Carrie Cooper did not brag or beg. She took a sip of the coffee and winced at the bitterness. Not a regular drinker of the cheap swill, he noted. He assumed she drank it to be polite since he refused her effort to repay him. A country girl’s values. He could understand that. He didn’t want to be beholden to anyone either.

“You got good pipes, then?” Oz said. He couldn’t help himself.

“Aw, applesauce, maybe for Hardyville’s standards. It’s so different here. Mama said it would be. She said it would be like Denver, although I’ve never been there. I’ve only been as far as Hardyville. Until yesterday, of course. I had to go through Needles to—” She stopped. “I’m sorry. I’m babbling.”

“I can tell,” he said, but he didn’t want her to stop. A faint white-yellow halo framed her face. To Oz these auras marked people and objects as having a musical quality.

He’d called them “ghosts” when he was a little boy, too young to understand how different he was. Premonitions, signs from God, Uncle Jim had declared. A zealous interpretation at best. Jim’s belief was so akin to the superstitious routine that kept him gambling, Oz spent most of his twenty-five years distrusting his own eyes. Eventually he had to admit the auras didn’t lie. The instruments with a clearer halo had better tone. The venues with faint outlines had appreciative owners.

Music lived inside Carrie Cooper, despite her modesty.

“Came to try out for the talkies?” Oz said. He had to keep her talking. The shimmer around her had dissipated.

“No,” Carrie said. She laughed with the same melodic tone that she spoke with, and her aura blossomed, catching the light of the sun.

Oz’s heart sped up. He looked into his cup of coffee to keep from staring. If only he could get her to hum, he would know for sure. The same way he knew for Frenchy Lou. Oz had picked him out of a crowd at Smitty’s joint when he had whistled at a quiffy dame, sending a bright green bolt through Oz’s field of vision. Uncle Jim approached Lou on the spot before he could get too hotsy-totsy with the enterprising gal. Lou’s taste in women hadn’t improved, but he was a natural at the clarinet.

“How silly,” Carrie said. “I am here to be a secretary.” She attempted a look of professionalism as she reached for the satchel at her feet. With some amount of awkward juggling, she managed to slip a piece of paper out of her suitcase. “I’ve been studying,” she added, handing it to him. Los Angeles Correspondence College for Professional Ladies.

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Unquenchably curious, Rebecca Halsey travels around the country looking for souvenirs and experiences to include in her fiction. For Notes of Temptation she curated mementos from a voodoo museum in New Orleans, a ghost town in Arizona, and the beach at Santa Monica.

She holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Criminal Justice from the University of Georgia. When not writing, she works in cybersecurity and enjoys running, cooking, and painting portraits. She resides in Maryland with her husband and three children, all of whom tolerate her immersion into jazz music and black-and-white movies.

Notes of Temptation is her debut novel.

Rebecca can be found on Facebook, Twitter, and RebeccaHalsey.com.