Deadly Déjà vu

by Flo Fitzpatrick

After 17-year-old Natalie Willis is dropped off at her Birmingham, Alabama home following a Halloween party, she discovers that the house has been ransacked and her parents and younger twin siblings have been brutally murdered. Natalie is attacked by one of the killers, but rescued by the police who arrive in time to save her.
Fast forward seven years to another Halloween night. Natalie, now a reclusive author of children's books, stumbles onto another crime scene when she checks to see how her neighbors fared during a tornado. She sees the bodies of Emma And Craig Hadley lying lifeless in their own blood. Their young son, Aiden, is missing. Terrified, Natalie flees the house, but is grabbed by a masked man who whispers "Where is he?" before choking her into unconsciousness.
Moon Valley Chief of Police, Gil Acosta, arrives on the scene in time to save Natalie from further harm, and quickly becomes intent on soothing her fears. Natalie soon realizes she's entertaining possibilities of romance with the handsome cop. Gil also would prefer to spend his time developing a relationship with the fragile author, but is kept busy determining why two separate, yet eerily similar, murders happened within less than 80 miles of each other, seven years apart.
As Natalie joins in the hunt to find Aiden Hadley, she avoids more threats and dangerous situations from murderers intent on retrieving a priceless object, no matter the cost. All the while Natalie is determined to overcome the brokenness inside herself and be willing accept the love Gil clearly wants to give.

288 pages, Paperback

Published July 30, 2020

About the author

Flo Fitzpatrick’s first attempt to enter the field of literature was a work of science fiction called “The Bug on the Wall.” It consisted of two sentences. “There was a bug. It was on the wall.” She was five at the time, so perhaps the brevity of this piece was understandable.

She grew more adventurous and at age eight wrote two chapters of what was intended to be a full-length novel entitled, “The Skinner Family goes to Ireland.” The plot consisted of the Skinner family heading over to Ireland to visit their Aunt Donna who lived on a potato farm and owned a swimming pool. Flo’s older brothers, twins, were somewhat skeptical that the Skinners would make it to Ireland traveling across the Atlantic from New York to London by train. (Flo has since pointed out that the English Channel now boasts an underwater transportation system leading from England to France and that she was just ahead of her time.)

She earned a B.F. A. in Dance and an M.A. in theatre, then spent her years after college shuttling back and forth from New York to her native Texas working as a dancer/singer/actress, teaching dance and acting, and choreographing for various theatres and community colleges. During her career in theatre, Flo has played nice ladies (Nellie-South Pacific), not-so-nice ladies (Lily St. Regis-Annie), funny ladies (Jane-Fallen Angels) singing ladies (Cherie -Bus Stop), dancing ladies (Vibrata - A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum) and even dead ladies (three murdered hookers in Jack the Ripper!) The last, she claims, was tough. She had to spend the first ten minutes of the show lying on the floor not breathing. Flo still loves wacky characters both on and off stage.